alyas batman en robin
I wanted to do two of these this month so I could squeeze this post in before the years end. This is just a bizarre film for me, it’s the Filipino Batman.
It’s obviously based on the 60’s show, but it was made in 1991 to try and ride the coattails of the Burton movie…except someone didn’t get the memo that Batman wasn’t supposed to be funny anymore….
Check it out if you’re a fan of the Adam West Batman. The villains in particular are really well done in that same goofy way.
Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde :Turkish Wizard of OZ
Filmed in 1971, This is one of the more loosely based version of OZ, with a poor production quality (a LOT of exterior scenes because apparently they couldn’t afford a studio….) that I forgive a lot more readily in Baum’s own films back in the 30’s and earlier.
A little girl named Ayşa lives with her grandparents on a farm, which is carried away by a terrible tornado. When the house lands, she opens the front door and peeks outside. Given a kiss by the Northern Sorceress and promised aid by seven…well I suppose they are supposed to be munchkins, though they are dressed as toy soldiers, she sets out to find the Great Wizard. She encounters Korkuluk the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion.
Keşkin Zeka demands that they kill the Wicked Witch (Kötü Cadı) of the South 
(Suna Selen) in order to receive their wishes. But Ayşecik and the Lion are imprisoned in the witch’s jail-house after their friends are destroyed by her army of soldiers. Aysecik comes into the jail-house, carrying a heavy, tin bucket but the sets it down as the wicked witch orders her to wash the floor. The girl trips over a string and her left shoe lands on the floor, the wicked witch picks up the shoe and teases Aysecik. Ayesecik picks up her bucket of water and throws it at her, the witch screams as her servants run away but then she begins to tremble, then she finally evaporates into thin air. Back at the Emerald City, Keşkin Zeka admits to being a fraud, delivers trinkets to Ayşecik’s friends, and leaves h
er behind in his balloon escape, so they set off on their journey again, meeting again the china dolls, the hammer-wielding cavemen and then start to dance, then Aysecik ends up home.
I’m fascinated by it as a bit of an OZphile, and it might amuse or terrify small children, but this is one of those movies if you have the original, why bother?
Scenes are available on YouTube.
Demir Yumruk: Devler Geliyor : Iron Fist: The Giants are Coming
This is actually another Turkish Superman film, though it bears less resemblance to him. if anything, this Suprerman is more like Batman, very depowered.
the flamboyant, wheelchair-bound criminal mastermind transvestite Fu Manchu is hunting a hidden cache of treasure and uranium. It is this that will enable him, somehow, to rule the world. When he kills the one archaeologist with a lead on the loot, the murdered man’s son joins forces with macho policeman Enver to get revenge. Enver fakes his death to trick the villains and dons the suit to defeat the bad guys.
Honestly this one is even more incomprehensible that the other T
urkish Superman based on the Donner film, but good news! I frequently see this one bundled in bootleg DVDs with that movie so it’s not hard to find! Watch it while your cleaning or reading a book.
Star Crash : Italian Star Wars
Like last month’s this film gets a little unfairly branded as the “Italian Star Wars” though premiering just one year behind Star Wars they are obviously trying to cash in on the imagery and look of it as we can see in the poster.
A pair of space smugglers pick up a castaway who turns out to be the only survivor from a secret mission to destroy a mysterious superweapon designed by the evil Count Zartham. The smugglers are soon recruited by the Emperor to complete the mission, as well as to rescue the Emperor’s missing son…
This is good in it’s own right, particularly since we get an early David hasslehoff appearance and the always delightful Caroline Munro. It’s easy to find. there’s even a MST3K if you’re interested.
The Man Who Saved the World : Turkish Star Wars
Well, we did Star Trek last month. it’s only fair we do Star Wars this month!
Two space Jockeys from earth are captured by an immortal wizard who wants greater powers by enslaving humans and taking their brain power for his own. The two escap and find themselves joining a group of freedom fighters accompined by an old man and a pretty blonde.
It’s a similar plot to Star Wars, but that’s got a lot to do with drawing on Archtypes. You could make the case that Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond the Stars is a similar rip-off. However, with both this plot and the fact that they are using footage stolen directly from Star Wars, this film had gotten a reputation as the Turkish Star Wars.
It’s got a cult audience and is beloved, even spawning a sequel.
Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda : Turkish Star Trek
This used to be rare, but thanks to the Internet, I noticed it made it up to YouTube a while back.
It’s interesting, you can tell someone making this really loves Star trek and was trying to create something good. They’ve even changed Spock into command gold!
I’ve seen worse bridge sets, though this still looks like cardboard and Christmas lights in someone’s basement. They’ve stolen some ship shots from the original series so we aren’t hampered with home made effects.
It seems like there’s an attempt to do the man Trap on the planet from “City on the Edge of Forever”, but that’s my best guess as to what’s going on with the plot. This is a curiosity. Nothing more.
3 Dev Adam (Three Mighty Men)
In an attempt to stop the evil Spider-Man’s organization smuggling from Mexico into the US, those respective governments enlist the help of Captain America and El Santo!
This was actually my first exposure to Santo, but it makes more sense if you already know him as a folk hero. Still, this is a little nuts, and Spidey is extremely evil in this, with eyebrows as big as the day is long and a fiendish mustache under that mask.
This one has been in circulation for ages now and shouldn’t be too hard to track down, but if you don’t want to spend an hour and a half slogging through it, just hit the highlights on YouTube!
The Chinese Popeye -The Dragon Lives Again (1976)
In Chinese Hell, Popeye goes on adventures with his friends Bruce Lee and Caine from Kung Fu, all the while vexing his arch-nemeses Dracula, Clint Eastwood, the Exorcist, and James Bond.
I don’t thinki I’ve ever been so disturbed. This one is a VERY recent find. Still, it’s really an attempt to cash in on the Bruce Lee xccraze of the late 70’s after his death so you have fun martial arts…
and popeye….
um. Lets just move along now.
Badi : Turkish E.T.
The guys over at Cracked.com came up with a far better description of this than I ever could.
The American Original:
E.T.
The Foreign Rip-Off:
Badi, a midget wearing a stained turtleneck and a mask resembling an uncooked prawn, lands in a Turkish slum and teaches the audience that the universe is filled with unremitting horror.
Basically that’s it. Aside from the unconvincing suit, this film has not need (or 
desire) to be charming, so we get a beer swilling E.T. that inspires far more fear than friendship. Recommended only if your very into these kind of foreign rip-offs.
Japanese Spider-Man
How do I describe the insanity that is Japanese Spider-Man? Basically in the 70’s Marvel licensed the likeness and name to a company called TOEI and said “Do whatever you want with it”.
And they did.
This Spider-Man is a dirt bike racer in his secret identity. Spidey uses supercharged race cars and a giant robot to do battle with Power Ranger-like villains.
Of all the foreign rip-offs I could cite, this is by far the most fun. it’s commercially avalible, though a region 1 DVD is hard to find, but I’ve also seen it on YouTube.
Biri Beni Gozluyor (Turkish Shining)
A couple of times I’ve done marathons of “The Shining”. You do both the Kubrick film, the TV mini-series, you throw in 1408 and I always include this : The Turkish version.
They’ve made a couple of changes to keep plausible deniability – A writer and his family go to a remote island to inspire his writing. To really get his juices flowing he decides to stay in a hotel where a writer previously killed his entire family. Gradually, his personality begins to take on sinister changes.
The biggest change here though is that I don’t think the place is actually haunted. Maybe it’s just t he translation, but I think he just goes crazy. The supernatural element isn’t really in play here. Nevertheless, you’ll see scenes lifted directly from the Kubrick film and it’s obvious that’s what this movie is trying to be.
If you’re a fan of the Shining (and seriously, I AM) you really need to see this!
Turkish Superman
We started off easy last month with Dracula, but this month I want to showcase one of my favorite bad movies ever – Turkish Superman.
After the success of the Donner film, Turkey moved quickly to get their own Superman film in their theatres, billed sometimes as a sequal (the way Fulchi’s Zombi was billed as a sequal to Dawn of the Dead)
Where Superman created some revolutionary special effects, this version actually sets film back a few steps with it’s effects. Flying in particular is laughable. We get a head and shoulders shot of the actor in front of a rear projection screen, which then 
cuts to a Mego doll on a string in front of that same screen. They don’t always remember to adjust the perspective either. We saw better effects than this back in the TV days of George Reeves.
They do try to keep fairly close to the story and aesthetic of the Donner film though, we get an origin story and very much a coming of age thing going on. Someone has their mythologies a little mixed up though since Jor-El appears to Superman in a cave and explains to him that his powers come from a bunch of old mythological gods….pretty much mixing in Captain Marvel’s backstory into Superman’s. Still Jor-El actually looks good in this film…which is more than I can say for Krypton…or the space scenes in general 
(which were achieved by hanging Christmas ornaments in front of a black sheet. Seriously. Check the graphic below).
This is fun. Especially at parties. It’s also a nice thing to have in your collection if you’re a Superman fan. Bootlegs abound at every con I’m at so I guarantee you should have not real trouble finding a copy!
Spanish Dracula
We’re starting a new colum this year called Forigen Film Fiasco. Ove the years a 
great many familiar properties have been remade for the forgien market. Sometimes legitimately, sometimes in outright violation of copyright, character and good taste.
We’re going to start off simple with a good one. Dracula.
This version is in Spanish and was being filmed at the same time as the Lugosi movie, on the same sets, at night. I’ve heard some folks say it’s superior. My best guess is that this comes from an over familiarity with the Lugosi film, not to mention never seeing it on the big screen.
I’ll admit I like the way this actor rises from the coffin, but that’s about it. The rest of his 
performance is stiff, he doesn’t have Lugosi’s character to fill up that screen. Still, it’s an interesting watch if only to compare and contrast, I enjoy it for much the same reasons I like Workprints. I occasionally see it online and I know it was released in the Universal box set a few years ago.
Argo City Comics 