Vintage Pulp

April 30 2020

TRIP AND FALL

Lana Turner and Co. stumble badly in counterculture drug thriller.

This Italian promo poster was made for the 1969 thriller Geometria di un delitto, better known by its original title The Big Cube. Plotwise a woman played by Lana Turner marries a rich man and comes into conflict with his twenty-something daughter, played by Karin Mossberg. Their problems worsen when the rich man dies and bequeaths his money to his wife, leaving only a monthly stipend for his daughter. However, according to the will—see if you can follow this—if the daughter marries she inherits everything, but only provided stepmom gives her consent.

No, it doesn’t make a bit of sense. The filmmakers wanted to generate conflict and tension, but a nonsensical stipulation in the will isn’t needed to do that. Families fly apart over money all the time, even when there’s plenty for everybody. But okay, you have to go with it. As the movie wears on the problems between stepmom and stepdaughter are exploited by Mossberg’s drug dealer boyfriend, who comes up with the bright idea of driving Turner insane by repeatedly dosing her with LSD. Instead of the perfect murder, he’s come up with the “perfect freak-out,” as he describes it. If Turner is certified insane she loses control of the fortune.

This is a movie you watch strictly for laughs, because it’s ridiculous. The script and acting are terrible, and the plot must have been conceived under the influence of whatever leftover acid Turner didn’t ingest. Basically The Big Cube is a drug scare movie, and like most examples from that sub-genre it’s fatally dumb. But you could do worse. Mossberg is radiant, and screen legend Turner is always worth a gander even when her non-elite acting skills are exposed. There’s no known Italian release date, but The Big Cube premiered in the U.S. today in 1969.

Italy, Geometria di un delitto, The Big Cube, Lana Turner, Karin Mossberg, George Chakiris, poster art, cinema, movie review, drugs

Femmes Fatales

November 16 2018

PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE

Are you seeing these weird lights too, or is it just me that's tripping balls?

Swedish actress Karin Mossberg made this psychedelic promo shot when she was filming the anti-drug thriller The Big Cube. The movie was one of only three she made. She played Lana Turner’s stepdaughter, and the psychedelic feel of the photo reflects the film’s plot, which deals with her trying to drive Turner insane with LSD. As you probably suspect, it’s one of the cheesiest and worst drug scare movies of the ’60s. It’s the Reefer Madness of LSD. We actually have it somewhere in our library, so maybe we’ll rewatch it and report back. Meanwhile, we’ve added a second promo shot below, made during the same session but before the drugs kicked in. Both images are from 1969.

Sweden, The Big Cube, Karin Mossberg, Lana Turner, drugs

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 17

1950—The Great Brinks Robbery Occurs

In the U.S., eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston, Massachusetts. The skillful execution of the crime, with only a bare minimum of clues left at the scene, results in the robbery being billed as “the crime of the century.” Despite this, all the members of the gang are later arrested.

January 17

1977—Gary Gilmore Is Executed

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States. Gilmore’s story is later turned into a 1979 novel entitled The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, and the book wins the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

January 16

1942—Carole Lombard Dies in Plane Crash

American actress Carole Lombard, who was the highest paid star in Hollywood during the late 1930s, dies in the crash of TWA Flight 3, on which she was flying from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after headlining a war bond rally in support of America’s military efforts. She was thirty-three years old.

January 15

1919—Luxemburg and Liebknecht Are Killed

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps. Freikorps was a term applied to various paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. Members of these groups would later become prominent members of the SS.

January 14

1967—Summer of Love Begins

The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with between 20,000 to 30,000 people in attendance, their purpose being to promote their ideals of personal empowerment, cultural and political decentralization, communal living, ecological preservation, and higher consciousness. The event is considered the beginning of the famed counterculture Summer of Love.

DON GIOVANNI

Giovanni Benvenuti was one of Italy's most prolific paperback cover artists. His unique style is on display in multiple collections within our website.

WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT