Julie Ege Movies

It wasn't as well received at the box office as the pictures that preceded it or followed it, but Peter Hunt's On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the finest of the James Bond movies and also arguably the last truly great movie in the series. James Bond, portrayed here by George Lazenby (in his only performance in the role) has spent nearly two years trying to track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), the head of SPECTRE. He has been taken off the case by his chief (Bernard Lee), an action the pushes him to the point of considering resigning from Her Majesty's Secret Service, just as he opens a possible new avenue of attack on his quarry. Whilst in the field, Bond has chanced to cross paths with the Contessa Teresa Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), a beautiful but desperately unhappy woman, whom he rescues from one apparent suicide attempt and an embarrassing moment at a casino gaming table -- the Contessa, who prefers to be called Tracy ("Teresa was a saint"), is the daughter of Marc Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), an industrial and construction magnate and also a crime boss, who is impressed with Bond personally as well as professionally, and would like to see him marry his daughter. Bond is, at first, unwilling to involve himself with a woman -- any woman -- on that level, but Draco's underworld contacts give Bond a vital clue to Blofeld's whereabouts that get him back on the case and hot on the man's trail. Journeying incognito to Blofeld's mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, Bond finds the criminal mastermind posing as a would-be nobleman and also as a philanthropist, running a clinic devoted to the treatment and eradication of allergies. It's all a front for a surprisingly sinister (and scientifically valid) plot for international blackmail that would make any previous Bond villain quake in fear. And in the process of staying alive long enough to have a chance of stopping Blofeld, Bond discovers the Tracy is truly like no woman he's ever known before -- one special enough that he finds himself willing to give up his life as a free-living, free-loving bachelor. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This offbeat comedy finds Teddy (Marty Feldman) as a television advertising man given a seemingly meaningless project. Slated to make frozen porridge commercials, he comes up with the idea to find an erotic Goldilocks to sell the product. Soon a nationwide search is launched for the female spokesperson. He has trouble at home because his wife is the leader of the "Keep Television Clean" movement. Teddy dreams up a wild bunch of commercials and his daydreams harken back to silent era comedies. This was the first full length film for Feldman, the bug eyed comic who parlayed his television success in Britain into a comedy film career in Hollywood. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Actor Frankie Howerd reprises his role from the British TV series Up Pompeii, in the tradition of the hugely popular Carry On series. The rest of the cast comes from these two series as well. There is a plot to kill the Emperor Nero (Patrick Cargill), and his loyal slave Lurcio (Howard) unwittingly comes into possession of a scroll which lists the names of the plotters. While he remains in the dark about it, both Nero's men and the original assassins pursue Lurcio, with many zany antics, through the streets (and orgies) of ancient Rome. Much of the humor comes in asides directed to the audience. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a married man in the fur business gets in trouble after he finds himself attracted to a gangster's moll. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this strange but fun genre hodgepodge, Prof. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is up against seven rotting vampires clad in gold masks. They were revived by Dracula (John Forbes-Robertson) at the behest of a Chinese priest in 1804 and a century later are terrorizing the village of Ping Kuei. One of the locals attends Van Helsing's lecture in Chungking and enlists the vampire-hunter, his son, and a pretty heiress (Julie Ege) in ridding the village of its curse. There's a lot of skillfully handled martial arts swordplay, hopping vampires, and more blood than usual before Cushing gets to run Dracula through with a spear. It's an interesting mix of Shaw Bros. martial-arts and Hammer gothic that doesn't always work, particularly with Forbes-Robertson's tarted-up Dracula apparently lingering way too long at the makeup table, but it's enjoyable enough for a rental. This was, sadly, Hammer's last Dracula film, despite plans to pit the vampire and Van Helsing in India the following year. Anchor Bay's widescreen video release contains both the original film and the hopped-up 75-minute 7 Brothers Meet Dracula, which played in American grindhouses. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The Freakmaker is a creepy horror film about a mad scientist who abducts college students for the subjects he needs in his attempts to crossbreed plants with humans. His failures are turned over to a dwarf who runs a circus freakshow. This film is also known by the title The Mutations. ~ All Movie Guide

The 1972 British farce Percy was about the world's first penis transplant; Percy's Progress constitutes the sequel, with Leigh Lawson taking over for Hywel Bennett in the leading role. The plot concerns a chemical that contaminates the world's water supply; as a result, every man is rendered impotent -- -except Percy. Percy's Progress was also released as It's Not the Size That Counts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lewis Flander and Carol Hawkins star in the hectic British farce Not Now Comrade. Flander plays a Russian ballet dancer who decides to defect. Unable to reach the British embassy, Flander hides out with London stripteaser Hawkins. There's an abundance of female flesh in this one, a fact that necessitated numerous snips in the TV version that made the UHF rounds in the 1980s. Watch for Not Now Comrade codirector Ray Cooney and veteran British funster Roy Kinnear in cameo roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide