![CLIFF HANGERS](/images/headline/7010.png) The story's on the verge of ending badly for all of them. ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_01.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_02.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_03.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_04.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_05.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_06.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_07.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_08.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_09.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_10.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_11.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_12.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_13.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_14.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_15.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_16.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_17.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_18.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_19.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_20.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_21.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_22.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_23.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_24.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_25.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_26.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_27.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_28.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_29.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_30.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_31.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/cliff_hangers_32.jpg)
The above issue of Adam once again features two men about to fall to their deaths while fighting. The magazine used this idea often, including on our last example. The art, which is probably by Jack Waugh, illustrates Eric. J. Drysdale's tale, “Ransom Double-Cross,” about a rich man whose wife is kidnapped for $200,000 ransom. He later learns that she's in on the scheme and wants to have him murdered so she can inherit everything. But you can't keep a good man down. His wife goes over a cliff, as do her two accomplices. The inside front cover of this issue is graced by Italian actress and occasional space femme Ornella Muti, while the rear cover model, just above, is familiar, but unidentified for now. We'll have more from Adam later.
![FLASH IN JAPAN](/images/headline/4953.png) Ahh-ahh! He'll save every one of us! ![](/images/postimg/flash_in_japan.jpg)
Back to the Japan bin today with a colorful poster painted by Renato Casaro for Flash Gordon—’80s version—with Sam J. Jones as Flash, Max von Sydow as Ming, Ornella Muti as Princess Aura, and Queen on the theme music. Flash! Ahhh-ahhh! He's a miracle! We liked Muti so much we featured her in costume not once, but twice. Muti! Ahh-ahh! She's even more miraculous than Flash! Often the Japanese titles of western flicks are wild digressions from the originals but this one seems to be literal—Furasshu gōdon. After opening in the U.S. at the end of 1980 it landed in Japan today in 1981.
![AURA BOREALIS](/images/headline/4374.png) Outer space is a cold, empty, indifferent void. But only in places. ![](/images/postimg/aura_borealis.jpg)
Way back in 2009 we shared a production photo of Italian actress Ornella Muti from the 1980 schlock space opera Flash Gordon. It was a nice shot, but we recently acquired this much better promo image of her in the same crazy costume as Princess Aura and thought we'd bring her back. As celestial bodies go she's one of the best.
![SYSTEMATIC APPROACH](/images/headline/4181.png) Sex Stars System uncovers erotic cinema around the world. ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_01.jpg)
Here's a little treat for Monday, because Mondays are universally acknowledged to suck. Above is the cover and below are a ton of scans from the cutting edge cinema magazine Sex Stars System, which billed itself as “Le Magazine du Cinema Erotique.” It was published out of 55 Passage Jouffroy, in Paris, France, and for a while it was the top magazine with reviews and features on the new, sexually liberated mainstream cinema of the early 1970s, and the new pornography of the same era. Because porn was taken seriously as an art form back then (hard to imagine, we know) certain magazines discussed and critiqued the films and regarded the performers as equal with those in mainstream cinema. We talked about this phenomenon with Cine-Revue a few years ago. Sex Stars System was similar, but much edgier, as you'll see.
On the cover and in the centerfold you see Croatian born star Sylva Koscina (a mainstream actress), and elsewhere you get Emmanuelle Parèze (porn), Dany Carrel (mainstream), Valérie Bosigel (mainstream), Karin Schubert (both), Catherine Spaak (mainstream), Ornella Muti (mainstream), Chesty Morgan (porn, obviously), Marilyn Monroe (mainstream, though some scam artists claim she was the other too), et al. They don't make magazines like this anymore, because they don't make cinema like this anymore. Sex in U.S. movies is strictly taboo, unless, generally speaking, the actors keep their clothes on. You do see it on cable television, however, though such shows generate reams of online criticism about how terribly wrong it is (we agree, however, that more sex and nude scenes need to be filmed from the vantage point of the female gaze). In Europe, as always, things are a bit more liberated.
We aren't sure how long Sex Stars System published. It debuted in 1975. Also in 1975, or possibly 1976, a magazine called simply Stars System appeared. Stars System had a softer editorial approach and featured solidly mainstream cover celebs such as Jane Fonda and Romy Schneider. At some point it changed its name slightly to Star System and, thus rebranded, published at least as late as 1982, which seems to be longer than Sex Stars System was on the scene. The information online about these magazines is, as you can probably guess, a jumble, but we'll keep looking into it and maybe have something more concrete to report later. There's also a Star System celeb magazine around today, but it's Canadian and presumably unrelated. Many scans below, and we have a few more issues we'll post later. ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_02.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_03.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_04.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_05.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_06.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_07.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_08.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_09.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_10.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_11.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_12.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_13.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_14.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_15.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_16.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_17.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_18.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_19.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_20.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_21.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_22.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_23.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_24.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_25.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_26.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_27.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_28.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_29.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_30.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_31.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_32.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_34.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_35.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_36.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_37.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_38.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_39.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_40.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_41.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_42.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/systematic_approach_43.jpg)
![BITEY APHRODITE](/images/headline/1862.png) She’s a vampire and so much more. ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_01.jpg)
It’s Halloween in the U.S., so we thought we’d feature something macabre today by doing another post on the sexiest vampire ever created—Sukia Dragomic. In the comic, she’s born in Transylviania, dies in the 13th century, is accidentally revived in 1724, moves to America, dies again in 1801, and finally ends up residing in the Big Apple. The keen-eyed may notice she is modeled after Italian actress Ornella Muti (check here for comparison). If you’re interested in Sukia, you can download issue one, in English, at comixland.blogspot.com. ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_02.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_03.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_04.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_05.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_06.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_07.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_08.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_09.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_10.jpg) ![](/images/postimg/bitey_aphrodite_11.jpg)
![NEAR AND FUR](/images/headline/665.png) The Tyrant has no clothes. ![](/images/postimg/near_and_fur.jpg)
Today, nudie mags seem to be the last refuge of women whose careers are failing, but back in the day such publications were instrumental in launching careers. This photo of Italian actress Anita Pallenberg appeared in the Italian nudie mag Playmen in 1965, two years before she scored her first film role, and three years before her iconic turn as The Great Tyrant in the cult classic Barbarella. Other women who used Playmen as a stepping stone to stardom include Brigitte Bardot, Patty Pravo, Ornella Muti, and Barbara Bouchet. Pallenberg, in addition to acting, became a famous companion to Keith Richards and moved briefly into fashion design. But fame was a turbulent ride. She dealt and consumed drugs, became involved in the occult, and was even acquitted of manslaughter charges in 1979. There's too much to tell in one small post. Maybe we'll revisit this interesting person at a later date.
![ICE PRINCESS](/images/headline/564.png) See how sad my little pet is since they passed that terrible leash law? ![](/images/postimg/ice_princess.jpg)
Italian actress Ornella Muti as the gold and diamond encrusted Princess Aura from Flash Gordon,1980.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
2003—Hope Dies
Film legend Bob Hope dies of pneumonia two months after celebrating his 100th birthday. 1945—Churchill Given the Sack
In spite of admiring Winston Churchill as a great wartime leader, Britons elect
Clement Attlee the nation's new prime minister in a sweeping victory for the Labour Party over the Conservatives. 1952—Evita Peron Dies
Eva Duarte de Peron, aka Evita, wife of the president of the Argentine Republic, dies from cancer at age 33. Evita had brought the working classes into a position of political power never witnessed before, but was hated by the nation's powerful military class. She is lain to rest in Milan, Italy in a secret grave under a nun's name, but is eventually returned to Argentina for reburial beside her husband in 1974. 1943—Mussolini Calls It Quits
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini steps down as head of the armed forces and the government. It soon becomes clear that Il Duce did not relinquish power voluntarily, but was forced to resign after former Fascist colleagues turned against him. He is later installed by Germany as leader of the Italian Social Republic in the north of the country, but is killed by partisans in 1945.
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