"Τhe girl from Corfu"

 
   Corfu had been always a favourite shooting location for many films. Among them, a 1956 comedy film, starring Rena Vlachopoulou and directed by Yiannis Petroulakis named "The girl from Corfu" (original greek title "Πρωτευουσιάνικες περιπέτειες").
    It is about a corfiot girl whose uncle invite her to live with him in Athens, teach her good manners and become part of the athenian high society. The film was shot in Corfu and Athens and it had been the very first colour greek film. It was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film festival.


You can watch the full film below.

Corfu then and now 7: The Palace film theatre

   It is a phenomenon of our times: many film theatres had been closed down because fewer and fewer people prefered to watch a film at the cinema. The reasons? Firstly, it was the growing popularity of video clubs in the early 80s but the second and most fatal one, was the illegal internet downloading. Nowadays, quite a few people spend their night out at the movies. 

   One victim of that crisis, was Palace film theatre on Georgiou Theotoki street. As far as I remember, it was the biggest cinema in town. It closed down in late 1998 to become a "Marks & Spencer" shop which, in my opinion, it is of low quality compared to those found in Britain. The Palace theatre had been used as a concert venue as well. As late as the early 90s, many local wind bands and orchestras performed there, as an alternative venue to that of the Municipal theatre across the street. 

  I loved the neon sign with the theatre's name written in greek using a kind of font popular in the 60s. That neon sign survived intact until its last day. The last movie I watched there was the 1998 film "Great Expectations" starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethen Hawke but I will never forget the long queues that blocked the central throughfare traffic when "Titanic" was screened. 

   Below, there is a vintage 1960s picture showing the film theatre with people outside waiting for the next screening and a second one showing the site as it is today,

   I found a third photo showing a bit of its interior, as it was in the 70s during an electional campaign.

Three pieces from the "Le Mepris" soundtrack

I made this video with Windows Movie Maker. It's three pieces out from the "Le Mepris" soundtrack, a Goddard film featuring Brigitte Bardot. Personally, I consider this soundtrack to be one of the most important film music ever made - serene, passionate, longing and sensitive. Have a look at the video and tell me what you think of the music and what were your impressions of the film (if you have seen it of course).

Corfu goes to Hollywood...!

I accidentally found this link from Youtube:



It is from the movie "Executioner", probably a b-movie from the 1970s, starring George Peppard and the unknown back then Joan Collins. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065711 ). The film is about a British intelligence agent who has to track down a fellow spy suspected of being a double agent. It also stars Gisela Dali, a well known greek soft porn actress, famous in the 70s.

Note in the youtube video provided how Corfu Town looked back in the 70s with traffic flowing through the now pedestrianised Liston.

Do you have any more infos and stories about that particular film? Any memories from the shootings?