My, we certainly have Merle Oberon on the brain lately, don't we? Poseidon3 recently suggested we check out her final film, Interval (1973). It was co-produced by Merle herself, co-stars her much-younger, then-new husband, Robert Wolders, and was brought to the screen by Joseph E. Levine, the maestro responsible for such triumphs as the Carroll Baker Harlow (1965) -- we're sure we'll love it. However, we're even more eager to finally see Merle's legendary South American soaper, Of Love and Desire (1963).
An overheated stew of nymphomania, promiscuity, rape, incest, and an abrupt, morally-safe happy ending, Of Love and Desire sounds like the ultimate trashy Douglas Sirk rip-off, and We Must Watch It. Plus, it features a fifty-something Merle Oberon writhing around like a cat on a hot tin roof, and the always-watchable Steve Cochran as her swarthy knight in sweaty armor.
If anyone out there has a copy to lend us, we'll love you long time.
THANKS for the Of Love and Desire images.
Amazon is offering used VHS tapes starting as low as $6.76, I think a group purchase and round robin viewing are in order. Maybe the first of a film series....
ReplyDeleteOooh, you're on to something, ilduce...
ReplyDeleteI saw this finally about 3 years ago and LOVED it! It's so overheated and oddball. Steve Cockring.... er... Cochran, who would be dead soon after this, was still in pretty decent shape, especially for the era, and Merle's latter day projects always provide dollops of glamour and big hair. (See "Hotel," too, in which Edith Head decks her out in some delish gowns and her hair is higher than the St. Gregory!)
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