Directed with a sense of tranquil serenity and grounded maturity one might be accustomed to finding in the work of a seasoned director, Allen Sunshine is, quite remarkably, the debut feature of 25-year-old Harley Chamandy. The Montreal-born, New York-based filmmaker received the 2024 Werner Herzog Film Prize for his feature following its Munich Film Festival […]

The post Allen Sunshine Review: A Tranquil Debut Feature with a World of Feeling first appeared on The Film Stage.

TheSailingChannel.TV President, Tory Salvia, interviews circumnavigators, Lin and Larry Pardey at the New York Yacht Club in New York City about their selection as recipients of the 2009 Cruising Club of America's Far Horizons Award. For more information about the Pardey's, visit landlpardey.com and thesailingchannel.tv/pardey. Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY At the 2010 United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD, TheSailingChannel interviews Edson Marine President, Will Keene. Will demonstrates Edson's break through product, the Edson Wheel with Clutch & Brake. For sailing yachts with autopilots the helmsman can clutch out the wheel, removing its fly wheel effect, dramatically decreasing the load on the autopilot. This is especially useful on yachts with dual wheel systems. The wheel also includes a traditional brake to lock the steering system. Watch free and paid how-to sail and maintenance videos on TheSailingChannel.TV. https://www.thesailingchannel.tv/how-to-sail-instructional-videos/ Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Sail Atlantic Islands with famous French sailor and TV personality, Antoine. A highly entertaining destination video that explores the islands of the Atlantic from the cost of South Africa to Bermuda with stops at St. Helena and several islands in the Caribbean. Available in English, French, and Italian. One of a series of extraordinary documentaries about exotic destinations for cruising sailors hosted by famous French sailor and TV personality, Antoine. Enjoy beautiful images, relaxing music, and entertaining narrative as Antoine takes you on his voyages to the islands of the Atlantic. Sail with Antoine aboard his 40 foot catamaran, Banana Split starting in Cape Town, South Africa then across the Atlantic to the Brazilian isle of Fernando de Noronha. Next, sail north to the Caribbean with visits to Barbados and the infamous French penal colony of Devils Island. Then east across the Atlantic to Britain's island jewel, Bermuda. From there, continue sailing east to the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the Cape Verde Islands. Complete your voyage with a return sail across the Atlantic to the tropical waters of the West Indies. On TheSailingChannel.TV, the documentaries are available in English, French, and Italian. Antoine Videos on Vimeo Sailflix TheSailingChannel.TV offers several of Antoine's Once Upon an Isle videos through Vimeo On Demand. Titles include: Islands of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Polynesia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY TheSailingChannel.TV presents the second in a series of extraordinary documentaries about exotic destinations for cruising sailors hosted by famous French sailor and TV personality, Antoine. This is a destination video for cruisers interested in exploring the islands of the Mediterranean. In this 54 minute wide screen film, your voyage starts in the Balearic Islands off the eastern coast of Spain. Next visit the Italian islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Elba. Then sail down the west coast of Italy to Capri. Continue south to the Aeolian Islands off the northeastern tip of Sicily and the port of Messina. Next visit Venice, the most romantic city-island in the world. Then stop off at Malta before sailing to the Greek Islands. Visit the Cyclades in the southern Aegean, stopping at Mykonos, known for its beaches and nightlife. Then tour Crete and its ancient Minoan ruins. End your Med island tour on the picturesque island of Santorini with its colorful cliff villages overlooking the Aegean. On TheSailingChannel.TV, the documentaries are available in English, French, and Italian. Antoine Videos on Vimeo Sailflix TheSailingChannel.TV offers several of Antoine's Once Upon an Isle videos through Vimeo On Demand. Titles include: Islands of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Polynesia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Ice Blink is a film by Gregory Roscoe, Seaworthy Productions, Falmouth Maine. Life as a Canvas is a chapter from Ice Blink, a remarkable PBS documentary about a conventional family of five living a very unconventional life afloat. In this clip, Jaja and Dave Martin discuss why they chose a cruising lifestyle for their family over a conventional one ashore. Follow Dave, Jaja and their crew of three children from their beginnings aboard a 25-foot day sailor circumnavigating the globe to their most recent voyage on a 33 foot steel sloop to the Arctic, then on to their current homeport in Maine. Available on Vimeo on Demand https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/559621792/0/thesailingchannel Download-to-Own $9.99 | Streaming Rental $4.99 Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY TheSailingChannel.TV presents Secret Caribbean, an extraordinary 1 hour, 44 minute documentary about exotic island destinations for cruising sailors hosted by famous French sailor and filmmaker, Antoine. The documentary is available in English, French, and Italian.. Sail with Antoine on his catamaran, Banana Split, from Guadeloupe’s outer islands, north through the southern French Antilles, then on to Roatan, the Bay Islands of Honduras, the secluded atolls of Belize concluding with a dramatic fly-over outer atolls of extensive reefs where lies the Blue Hole, a major geological wonder of the Caribbean. Continue your voyage off the coast of Venezuela visiting the archipelago of Los Roques, consisting of over 300 small islands. Then its onto Bonaire, part of the Dutch Antilles, and reminiscent of the Caribbean before mass tourism. Next visit Williamstadt, the brightly colored Dutch capital on the isle of Curacao. Then make an off-shore passage north towards Panama with a stop at the small, out of the way, English speaking isle of Providencia. Arriving in Panama waters, pay an extensive visit to an island group out of the past: the San Blas, home to the Kuna Indians. Continuing north towards the Panama Canal, stop along the coast to visit a small colony of beach side bungalows. Here, passing sailors often spend some months of land time before continuing on their voyages. Finally, make the passage through the Panama Canal to the busy Panama City, a jumping off port for voyages across the Pacific. Available at Vimeo On Demand. https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/557876310/0/thesailingchannel/ Download to own $7.99 | Streaming Rental $3.99 Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY 23 minute documentary. Voyage with Amy and Kenny aboard their 1984 Morgan 384 sloop as they explore Newfoundland's Southwest Coast. Sail past grand vistas of rock bound shores into stunning fjords. Visit remote outports frozen in time and learn the sad story of their slow decline. Meet the locals who tell of vanishing fisheries and a government that's eliminating their support including mail, mainland ferries and electricity. Witness a homecoming celebration in the small island village of Ramea where a traditional way of life is quickly disappearing. Then sail east to the small island of St. Pierre & Miquelon, the last remaining French position in North America. Available at Vimeo On Demand. Download: $9.95 | $4.99 Streaming Rental Sailing Videos from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY In this 5-part, 56 minute series, sailing writer, Contributing Editor to SAIL Magazine and charter skipper, Wally Moran tackles his first sail repair project using Sailrite's powerful yet easy to use Ultrafeed LSZ-1 sewing machine. In Part 5, Wally bends on the mainsail, reviews his repairs, and takes his boat out on the creek where he hoists the repaired main for inspection. 5-Part Series Available on Vimeo On Demand https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/557582082/0/thesailingchannel HD Download $9.99 | Streaming Rental $3.99 The series begins in the Sailrite booth at the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD. There, with the help of Sailrite's Matt Grant, Wally assess the repairs to a torn batten pocket and leechline on his mainsail. In realtime, we watch Matt make the batten pocket repair with the LSZ-1 sewing machine. In the next 3 episodes, Wally takes on the leechline repair, working outdoors at a local Annapolis marina. He uses the LSZ-1 and Sailrite's proven techniques to repair the leechline. Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY This is the initial trailer for the Public Television documentary produced by Amy Flannery and TheSailingChannel about Matt Rutherford and his record setting, solo non-stop sailing odyssey around the Americas on a 27-foot sailboat in support of Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB). For more information about the documentary, visit reddotontheocean.com. Purchase the Digital Download on Vimeo on Demand Purchase the DVD or Blu-Ray on TheSailingChannel.TV Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Preview for 52-minute how-to sailing video. U.S. Coast Guard certified skipper, Capt. Jack Klang, combines innovative classroom models with real world sailing situations to explain the skills and techniques required for singlehanders to dock with confidence in any wind or current, trim cruising sails for power and speed, and retrieve a mooring alone. In a bonus segment, Capt. Jack demonstrates how a crew of two can fly, trim, and retrieve an asymmetrical spinnaker, making light air cruising faster and more fun. The QuickTime Video Download is "Chapterized" so you can easily reference different sections, just like a DVD. Purchase at Vimeo on Demand Download $9.99 | Streaming Rental $4.99 Purchase the 2-video set: Sailing Instruction with Capt. Jack that includes Cruising tips and Singlehanded Docking. Download for just $15.99. Purchase 2 DVD-US set: Singlehanded Docking and Sailing Instruction: $29.95 plus S&H. Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Preview for 53-minute HD voyaging video. In 1978, photographer and writer Gene Anthony achieved a personal quest. His sea story takes us on an inspirational odyssey to Cape Horn Island at the southern tip of the Americas. We voyage by way of Gene's lifelong fascination with all things nautical and his highly successful career as a maritime photojournalist. Narrated by actor and Emmy Award-winning narrator, Peter Coyote. Purchase Download or Streaming Rental at Vimeo on Demand HD Video Download $9.99 | Streaming Rental $4.99. Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Preview of 2-hour documentary. Transatlantic with Street - A film by Gavin Shaw. A classic Atlantic ocean 5,000 mile trade wind passage shot in 1986 aboard noted sailor/author Don Street's 1905 engineless 44 foot yawl, Iolaire. Documents Iolair's ninth Atlantic crossing from Ireland with eleven ocean islands along the way. First landfall is Vigo in dense fog. Next, a short-handed 800 mile passage to Madeira. Then enroute to the Canaries, the desolate and dangerous Salvage Islands. The trade winds fill in at 20 N and it's an easy reach to the Verdes. From there, a fast 14-day run of 2100 miles with whales, water rationing, a leaky bilge bring Iolaire safely into Antigua just in time for Christmas. Available at https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/557582054/0/thesailingchannel Streaming Rental $2.99 Video Download (mp4 & wmv) $12.99 DVD $24.95 Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Preview of Part 1. Originally shot in 16 mm color, the film has been restored and converted to HD video. Completed in 1976, this is a two part sailing documentary by skipper and noted Hollywood cinematographer, Gene Evens (Roots, Jeremiah Johnson, Lady Sings the Blues, Batman and many more movie and television productions) and his wife Josie aboard their 32 foot sloop, "Discubridor" ("Discoverer"). Their two-year sailing adventure takes them over 10,000 miles from southern California south to Costa Rica, offshore to Cocos Island and the Galapagos Islands, then home to San Diego. Along the way they explore remote locales, fish, struggle against storms, and on a few occasions fight for survival. In Part 1, Gene and his wife Josie, sail "Discubridor" ("Discoverer") south from San Diego down the coast of Baja California, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica where they are joined by their son Ron and a couple of friends for a 300 mile off shore sail to the mysterious Cocos Island. In Part 2, the crew explore Cocos Island, sail onto the legendary Galapagos Islands for more exploration, then Gene and Josie sail back across the Pacific alone and home to San Diego. Available at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/600days HD 1280 x 720 (Original format: 16mm color) Pt. 1: To Cocos & the Galapagos Islands Running Time: 90 Minutes Pt. 2: Cocos & the Galapagos Islands Running time: 65 Minutes Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Preview of Part 2 Originally shot in 16 mm color, the film has been restored and converted to HD video. Completed in 1976, this is a two part sailing documentary by skipper and noted Hollywood cinematographer, Gene Evens (Roots, Jeremiah Johnson, Lady Sings the Blues, Batman and many more movie and television productions) and his wife Josie aboard their 32 foot sloop, "Discubridor" ("Discoverer"). Their two-year sailing adventure takes them over 10,000 miles from southern California south to Costa Rica, offshore to Cocos Island and the Galapagos Islands, then home to San Diego. Along the way they explore remote locales, fish, struggle against storms, and on a few occasions fight for survival. In Part 1, Gene and his wife Josie, sail "Discubridor" ("Discoverer") south from San Diego down the coast of Baja California, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica where they are joined by their son Ron and a couple of friends for a 300 mile off shore sail to the mysterious Cocos Island. In Part 2, the crew explore Cocos Island, sail onto the legendary Galapagos Islands for more exploration, then Gene and Josie sail back across the Pacific alone and home to San Diego. Available at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/600days HD 1280 x 720 (Original format: 16mm color) Pt. 1: To Cocos & the Galapagos Islands Running Time: 90 Minutes Pt. 2: Cocos & the Galapagos Islands Running time: 65 Minutes Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Don Street Antigua Race Week 1985 Preview From Don Street Antigua Race Week 1985. A one hour award-winning documentary by Charles Croft which lets you share the intense sailing action aboard Don Street's 80 year old, 44 foot, engineless yawl, "Iolaire" during Antigua Sailing Week, 1985, Iolarie's final appearance in one of the world's top sailing events. Built in 1905, Don had sailed and raced "Iolaire" throughout the Caribbean for forty years while he developed his famous Imray-Iolair charts and the first comprehensive cruising guides that opened up the Caribbean to modern sailors. Antigua Sailing Week races became an annual event for Street and Iolaire since the first regatta in 1957. In 1985, Street decided to retire Iolaire from racing and they both went out in style, finishing only 5 points out of first place at race week's end. This award-winning documentary shows you what Caribbean racing was like in its golden years when the skippers all new each other and racing was more fun than business. Available at https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/557582042/0/thesailingchannel Streaming Rental $4.99 | Download-to-Own (mp4) $9.99 Get The Complete Street - all 5 Don Street Videos for just $49.95 Sailing Documentaries from $2.99. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Voyage of Entr`acte: The San Blas Islands and The Panama Canal - Trailer Trailer for 71-minute cruising video. A Film by Ellen & Ed Zacko. Join the crew of Entr'acte for a journey between two oceans. "The San Blas and Panama Canal" begins in Grenada and crosses the Caribbean Sea to the enchanting San Blas Islands. There Ellen and Ed Zacko re-unite with old friends Paula and John on Mr. John VI to explore the jungle of Panama and transit the Panama Canal together. Travel with them to this un-spoiled, primordial area inhabited by the Kuna Indians. Experience the magnificence of the Panama Canal from the deck of a small sailing vessel. Available at https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/557582034/0/thesailingchannel Streaming Rental $1.99 | Download-to-Own (mp4) $9.99 Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Sail Trim & Performance Sailing with Gary Jobson From the popular Sailing Quarterly Series, this 66 minute how-to sailing video, features America's Cup champion Gary Jobson covering all aspects of sail trim that will help you improve the performance of your boat whether you race or cruise. Gary takes you aboard a variety of sailboats from Solings to Maxis, demonstrating how to use your sails to get the most out of your boat's performance. Detailed graphics show the finer points of adjustments. Watch now and get your boat out in front. Topics include Mainsail trim, Headsail trim, Spinnaker trim, Spinnaker sets and takedowns, Downwind mainsail trim, Light air racing upwind and downwind, and Trimming for performance. (R1Z) Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Sailvation: Charter Boat Hand-Over This 39 minute how-to video provides background on all technical aspects of a typical charter boat hand-over. The video is not designed to replace your live hand-over, but with the information it provides, you'll be better equipped to understand the hand-over process and ask more detailed questions about your charter yacht when you arrive. Sailvation was formed by a team of dedicated sailors with years of experience, not only in cruising but also in chartering and managing boats from popular base stations. They know what sailing is about, what life aboard entails, and what you will experience while chartering. They are the people that you meet on the first day at your charter briefing. About the Founder Sailvation was founded in 2008 by Incila Oezmert. Following a circumnavigation in 1999, Incila has been involved in the charter business as operation manger and base manager with several charter companies in Turkey. She consults in setting up the operations department of charter companies, and has extensive experience with technical problem solving for charter sailors. Incila has been a professional charter skipper since 2002. Introductory special for the first 100 buyers through our Vimeo On Demand store. https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/74988843/0/thesailingchannel One week only: Sept. 20 − 27, 2014. Download-to-Own (mp4) 20% off (normally $18.99 USD). Click BUY. Sign into Vimeo.com or join if you don't have an account. It's free. In the BUY window, click Have a discount code? and enter: SAILVATION-SPECIAL Sailvation downloads also available as mp4 and wmv at www.thesailingchannel.tv/sailvation Download free technical tips and other useful information about chartering. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Around Santa Cruz Island A film by Marc Hersch. This 68 minute production is THE video cruising guide to southern California's Santa Cruz Island. Positioned in the middle of the Channel Islands National Park just 25 miles off the Santa Barbara coast, Santa Cruz Island is often referred to as "the Galapagos of North America". The Island is home to twelve species found no where else on earth and more than a thousand species of other plants and animals. Sail along with Captain Marc Hersh and his crew as they cross the Santa Barbara Channel aboard Songline, a beautiful J42 fitted out with all the cruising amenities. Over the next 5 days, they circumnavigate Santa Cruz Island, explore some 15 pristine anchorages, and take day-hikes ashore. Santa Cruz Island offers its visitors 96 square miles of natural wonder. The largest of the eight Channel Islands, Santa Cruz is administered by the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy. It's surrounding waters are part of the Channel Islands NOAA Marine Sanctuary. FREE EXTRAS include interviews with island officials. DVD available at www.thesailingchannel.tv/store2 under Cruising & Visitor Guides. https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/79426718/0/thesailingchannel Special Vimeo discount to TheSailingChannel eNewsletter and Video Podcast subscribers through our Vimeo On Demand store. Until December 31, 2014 get 20% off the regular price on rentals and downloads. Click RENT or BUY. Sign into Vimeo or join (it's free). Click Have a discount code? and enter: ASCISPECIAL Around Santa Cruz Island also available as a download and DVDat www.thesailingchannel.tv/santa_cruz_island Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Boat Maintenance DIY with Gary Jobson A video by Rob Dubin with Gary Jobson. From the Sailing Quarterly Video Magazine library. Hosted by America's Cup Champion, this 76 minute how-to sailing video contains a wealth of expert information about boat maintenance for the do-it-yourselfer. Topics include: DIESEL ENGINE MAINTENANCE & TROUBLE-SHOOTING including periodic checks and how to troubleshoot common problems. Taught by engine experts from Mastery Engine Center, Florida, using floor model engines and graphics for hard to see details. HOW TO CLEAN A WINCH What products to gather before you start, how to disassemble, clean and reassemble to keep your boat's winches working smoothly. RIGGING CHECKS FROM MASTHEAD TO DECK Find trouble spots before fittings and shrouds break. FIBERGLASS REPAIRS Step-by-step instructions from filling the holes to polishing the gelcoat. HOW TO FIX A MARINE HEAD Step-by-step instructions on assembly, on repairs and maintenance so fixing the head is no longer such a dreaded task. VARNISHING Step-by-step instructions on varnishing to keep your boat's brightwork shining. All practical and well explained procedures that you and your crew can use to keep your boat in tip top shape. Download to your computer, tablet, and phone for onboard use. See how to do it yourself. Learn about your boat and save money. (M1Z) Boat Maintenance DIY with Gary Jobson is also available as a download and DVD at http://www.thesailingchannel.tv/boat-maintenance-diy/ Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Jean-du-Sud in HD Trailer A film by Yves Gélinas NOW IN HD. 100 Minutes. Professionally scanned from a pristine 16mm print to 1920x1080 full HD. Rent / Buy at https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/99136944/0/thesailingchannel Update for FREE if you previously purchased the SD version on Vimeo. TheSailingChannel is honored to offer what many consider to be the finest sailing film ever made. Jean-du-Sud is a two-time winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Larochelle Sailing Film Festival as well as eight other international film awards. Both English and French versions included. This 16mm feature-length documentary celebrates the filmmaker's 28,000 mile single-handed circumnavigation through the roaring forties and around Cape Horn aboard his Alberg 30 sloop. Shot in 16mm color film with sync sound, Jean-du-Sud puts you in the cockpit: Yves speaks as he would to a fellow crew member. Unless you do it yourself, this is as close as you'll ever get to a solo circumnavigation. Jean-du-Sud in HD is also available as a HD Download, Blu-Ray disc and DVD at http://www.thesailingchannel.tv OTHER CLASSIC 16 MM DOCUMENTARIES IN HD… Beyond the West Horizon - Eric & Susan Hiscock's 1959-61 circumnavigation. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/beyondthewesthorizon 600 Days to Cocos & the Galapagos Islands - Gene & Josie Evan's 1973-75 voyage to remote islands. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/600days The Sailing Podcast speaks with Yves Gelinas about the re-release of his classic sailing movie 'With Jean-du-Sud around the world' in High Definition (HD). Yves also discusses the Cape Horn windvane, a self-steering device he first designed to meet his needs while sailing solo around the world and has since sold to thousands of ocean sailors. Presented by TheSailingChannel.TV Browse our VOD collection Join our eNewsletter for news and discount offers. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY Suliere: Cuba and the Ragged Islands https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/106054766/0/thesailingchannel A film by Paul Burgess In this 2.5 hour cruising guide series, Sail with Paul and Leslie Burgess aboard Suliere, their 50 foot ocean-going catamaran as they voyage to Cuba's Hemingway Marina, tour old Havana and the Cuban countryside, then sail on to the remote Ragged Islands of the Bahamas. Part 1 provides comprehensive information about entering Cuban waters, navigating the tricky entrance to Havana's Hemingway Marina, and yacht provisioning and maintenance facilities within the marina complex. From the marina, travel with Paul and Leslie as they tour old Havana. Learn about shopping in local markets, finding good restaurants, and living cheaply on the CUC, Cuba'a local currency. In Part 2, go inside Cuba with Paul and Leslie as they drive a rental car deep into the interior, staying with local Cuban families in particulares, the Cuban version of a bed & breakfast. Tour the countryside by horseback, visiting farms and a local cigar factory. Then it's on to Trinidad, the Salsa music capital of Cuba. Traveling back along the coast, learn that most harbors are closed to foreign sailors. Finally, explore the charming town of Sancti Spiritus before returning to Hemingway Marina. In Part 3, sail with Paul and Leslie aboard Suliere from Havana, south along the Cuban coast, then offshore to the Bahama's sparsely populated Ragged Islands in search of paradise. FAMILY EDITION Included is a 2-hour, two-part version of Paul and Leslie's visit to Cuba and the Ragged Islands of the Bahamas for non-sailors, which excludes some 40 minutes of detailed sailing and navigation information. FREE EXTRA - watch the extended 7-minute preview. https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/106054766/0/thesailingchannel/135744915?autoplay=1 Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY A film by Rob & Dee Dubin U.S. - Canada lakes cruising with Gary Jobson as your host. Cruise from the Great Lakes to Utah including Canada's Georgian Bay, Lake Superior's Apostle Islands, Lake Michigan's Traverse Bay, and Utah's Lake Powell. From the Sailing Quarterly Video Magazine series. Your cruise starts in the North Channel of Canada's Georgian Bay. Located on the north coast of Lake Huron, this rugged cruising ground features forested shorelines and scattered islands. Onboard an ODay 35 sloop, we take brisk daysails to picturesque anchorages. Next we're off to Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore, a collection of 22 pine-covered islands, mostly undeveloped. We provision in Bayfield, a quaint town that is the gateway to cruising the Apostles. Using mostly line of sight navigation, we island hop through this remote archipelago featuring dramatic north woods scenery. Our next stop is Traverse Bay in northern Lake Michigan. In Traverse City, we meet expert sailing instructor and charter skipper, Captain Jack Klang, who acts as our guide on a chartered Morgan 38. The area features two bays with numerous islands, inlets, harbors and small towns to explore. Clear waters, and a northern landscape of alternating rolling fields and forests greet the cruising sailor. Our final segment is a family cruise on southwest Utah's Lake Powell. This man-made lake offers a desert landscape with 1900 miles of meandering shoreline for trailer boaters. Lake Powell features warm waters, sandy beaches and dozens of canyons for both water and onshore exploration. (D6Z) Check out more Sailing Quarterly destination and how-to videos ABOUT SAILING QUARTERLY Produced in the late 1980's, Sailing Quarterly Video Magazine's 24 one-hour programs set the standard for sailing television. It's content represents over 200 years of sailing knowledge from its hosts and presenters such as Gary Jobson, Don Street, Tristan Jones and John Rousmaniere. We've taken individual stories, and grouped them under instructional categories and cruising destinations. The complete series includes nine instructional volumes, eight destination volumes, and the 24 original SQ one-hour programs. This is timeless content that will benefit every sailor, racer or cruiser. Presented by TheSailingChannel.TV. Browse our VOD collection Join our eNewsletter for news and discount offers. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY A Video Series with John Rousmaniere Based on his famous book and hosted by the author, this award-winning instructional DVD series is now available as a Digital Download. As the old salt says, "rocks don't move." Though made nearly 15 years ago, Rousmaniere's milestone series teaches basic sailing techniques handed down by generations of sailors. A must for newbies and a solid reference for those who want to freshen up their sailing skills. "Will help Sailors be more confident and even enjoy sailing in heavy weather." - Gary Jobson. New sailors may want to begin with Volume V, Sailing Daysailors. This video provides a great introduction to the principles and mechanics of sailing, which is much easier to grasp and understand sailing a small boat. You can then apply these basic skills to larger craft and having a solid foundation for the sailing skills presented in the other four volumes. View trailers for each volume. New sailors may want to begin with Volume V, Sailing Daysailors. This video provides a great introduction to the principles and mechanics of sailing, which is much easier to grasp and understand sailing a small boat. You can then apply these basic skills to larger craft and have a solid foundation for the sailing skills presented in the other four volumes. The five program series includes: Vol I: Cruising Under Sail Vol. II: Heavy Weather Sailing Vol. III: Safety At Sea Vol. IV: Sailboat Navigation Vol. V: Sailing Daysailors About John Rousmaniere As one of the sport's most acknowledged authorities, John Rousmaniere has covered more than 30,000 miles of blue water and written fifteen books about the sea and sailing. Yacht Racing and Cruising World Magazine awarded Rousmaniere its Medal of Achievement for his Contribution to Yachting. Presented by TheSailingChannel.TV Browse our VOD collection Join our eNewsletter for news and discount offers. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY A film by Claire Roberge and Guy Lavoie.A human adventure meeting the indigenous people of the North. Join Claire and Guy aboard their steel-hulled sailboat, BALTHAZAR as they sail 7000 nautical miles from Gaspé, Quebec Canada to Alaska's Bering Sea via Greenland and the legendary Northwest Passage. Purchase or rent the full 81-minute documentary on Vimeo On Demand. Version française incluse. Un film documentaire de Claire Roberge et Guy Lavoie. Une aventure humaine qui rencontre les peuples indigènes du Nord. Rejoignez Claire et Guy à bord de leur voilier à coque d'acier, BALTHAZAR alors qu'ils naviguent à 7000 milles marins de Gaspé, au Québec, en passant par la mer de Béring en Alaska par le Groenland et le légendaire passage du Nord-Ouest. TESTIMONIALS: "Brilliant, your movie, impeccable, intelligent and very relevant story. I learn a lot, thank you" -- F. Rousseau “A movie to be seen! Thank you, it is really a great privilege to witness this great adventure. You shared it with a big generosity." -- M.R. Lepage ABOUT CLAIR, GUY, & BALTHAZAR After spending 7 years building their 10.5 meter sailing vessel, Claire Roberge, Guy Lavoie and their 2 daughters, Joelle and Chloe set off in September 1999 on a 5 year circumnavigation. Crossing 3 oceans the family sailed to 34 countries. Ten years after their return, Claire and Guy set off once more, this time to take on the mystical Northwest Passage - Canada's Arctic archipelago linking the North Atlantic with the Pacific. Presented by TheSailingChannel.TV Browse our VOD collection Join our eNewsletter for news and discount offers. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

CLICK TO PLAY TRAILER Lin Pardey resides on a picturesque island along New Zealand's coast. Recently, New Zealand TV filmed Lin as she reminisced about her sailing career with husband, Larry. Lin and Larry Pardey are among America's (and the world's) most knowledgeable and recognized cruising sailors. During their 40 plus year career, they sailed over 200,000 miles, including two circumnavigations east to west and west to east aboard two self-built, wooden, engine-free cutters under 30 feet. Authors of a dozen books, countless magazine articles, and co-creators of five cruising documentaries, Lin and Larry have shared their sailing experiences with tens of thousands around the globe prompting many to take up sailing and live the dream of the cruising lifestyle. The Pardey's motto is "Go simple, go modest, go small--just go". Check out the Pardey Offshore Sailing 5 Video Series. Presented by TheSailingChannel.TV rowse our VOD collection of destination and how-to sail videos. Join our eNewsletter for news and discount offers. Sailing Documentaries and How-To Videos. Brought to you by TheSailingChannel.TV

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It looks like this time, Paramount's decades-held hopes of making a movie out of Tom Clancy's epic saga Without Remorse are really going to happen! Last month, Variety reported that Jamie Bell will join the previously announced Michael B. Jordan (playing frequent Clancy hero John Clark) in the movie from director Stefano Sollima (helmer of the very Clancy-esque Sicario: Day of the Soldado). Bell will play a familiar character from the Tom Clancy universe, CIA Deputy Director of Operations Robert Ritter. Henry Czerny memorably essayed the role in 1994's Clear and Present Danger, in which Willem Dafoe played Clark.

Today, several more actors joined the cast, making this Without Remorse more and more of a reality! (Forgive my incredulity. It's just hard to believe this movie is finally happening after literally decades of development!) Deadline reports that Luke Mitchell (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys For Life), Cam Gigandet (Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden), Jack Kesy (12 Strong), and Todd Lasance (Spartacus) are all signing on as members of Clark's SEAL team. Nearly all of them have played special forces operators before. Additionally, Jodie Turner-Smith (The Last Ship, The Neon Demon) has been cast as a potential love interest for Jordan.

According to the trade, "Without Remorse is the origin story of John Clark, played by Jordan, a Navy SEAL-turned-CIA ops officer, who seeks revenge after his girlfriend is killed by a Baltimore drug lord." That sounds more or less like the novel, so if this capsule summary comes from the studio (and not just a Deadline writer Wikipedia-ing the book), then perhaps we can expect a fairly faithful adaptation. What I'm guessing we won't get is a period piece. I doubt Clark will serve in Vietnam in this version; I suspect they'll make it contemporary. (This was the plan back when Tom Hardy was supposed to play Clark in a series intended to cross over with Chris Pine's intended Jack Ryan franchise.) Paramount are very eager to launch a new film franchise with this movie, already eyeing Clancy's Rainbow Six as a follow-up. Also unclear is whether there will be any crossover with Amazon's Jack Ryan TV series, which hails from the same producers. The Clark character has been kept out of that series so far because of the percolating film franchise, but that doesn't necessarily preclude a cameo from John Krasinski in Without Remorse....

Without Remorse is slated to open September 18, 2020.

I've never quite understood the concept of "James Bond Day" (or "Global James Bond Day?"). But maybe that's because since I was 11, I don't think there's been any day I haven't thought about James Bond! Maybe there are people out there who need reminding? Anyway, to mark this year's James Bond Day, MGM and EON have released the first poster for Daniel Craig's final outing as Bond, No Time To Die. No Time To Die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Billy Magnussen, David Dencik, and Rory Kinnear, opens in the U.S. on April 8, 2020.

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A whole decade after the release of his second OSS 117 spy spoof, Lost in Rio (review here), Jean Dujardin (who picked up an Oscar for Best Actor in the interim) has at long last stepped back into the role that brought him international fame. Cameras began rolling this week on a third OSS 117 comedy, as announced by director Nicolas Bedos via video of a clapperboard on Instagram. OSS 117: Alerte rouge en Afrique noire (literally translated as OSS 117: Red Alert in Black Africa, which very much has the ring of a Jean Bruce novel title, but the ultimate English title is unlikely to be a direct translation of the French one) is scheduled to film in Paris and Kenya, with Bedos (La belle époque) taking the reins from Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), who helmed the first two. Hazanavicius and Bedos both contributed to the controversial 2012 sex comedy portmanteau The Players, which also starred Dujardin. Jean-François Halin, who co-wrote the first two OSS 117 comedies with Hazanavicius and went on to create the very funny, Sixties-set comedic spy series Au service de la France (known as A Very Secret Service in America, where it streams on Netflix) handles solo scripting duties on this one. Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent), Fatou N'Diaye (Spiral), and Wladimir Yordanoff (currently appearing with Dujardin in An Officer and a Spy) are also among the cast.

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, code name OSS 117, began life long before Dujardin. The redoubtable secret agent was the brainchild of French author Jean Bruce, and starred in a series of 234 novels (of which only a handful have ever been translated into English) beginning in 1949 (and thus predating Ian Fleming's more famous superspy). The books are serious spy stories, and the character was initially treated seriously on screen, too, beginning in the 1950s, but most famously in a series of five exceptional Eurospy movies directed or produced by André Hunebelle (Fantomas) between 1963 and 1968. (Read my review of my favorite, OSS 117: Terror in Tokyo, which presaged many James Bond moments, here.) Once notoriously hard to track down in English-friendly versions, Kino Lorber has now, happily, released a set of those five films on DVD and Blu-ray. For a more in-depth history of the character and links to my reviews of all the films, see my post OSS 117: An Introduction.

In 2006, Michel Hazanavicius revived the character in the hilarious send-up OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (review here). That first spoof was set in the Fifties and brilliantly parodied the early Bond films (with Dujardin partly channeling young Sean Connery) and Alfred Hitchcock movies... along with the prevalent casual racism and sexism of that era. The 2009 sequel was set in the late Sixties, spoofing the Sixties Bond movies and Eurospy movies.

A third film has been mooted ever since, always intended to be set in Africa. At one point it was supposed to be set in the Seventies and parody blaxploitation movies, Jason King, and Jean-Paul Belmondo action flicks, as well as the Roger Moore Bond movies (and fashions) of that period. Now, presumably since so much time has passed, Premiere reports that OSS 117: Alerte roughe en Afrique noire will be set in the 1980s. While I'm sorry we won't see Dujardin sporting Peter Wyngarde-style fashions, the Eighties setting will still provide ample opportunity to spoof the Moore Bond films and Belmondo, whose own African spy epic The Professional was made in 1981.
Thanks to Jack for the red alert on this one!

The spy genre has lost a Great today. The Guardian reports that Honor Blackman has passed away at the age of 94, "of natural causes unrelated to coronavirus." It's crushing to lose two of the key Bond Girls in a matter of months, Blackman's death coming on the heels of Thunderball's Claudine Auger in December. And while she will probably be best remembered for her definitive portrayal of Pussy Galore opposite Sean Connery in Goldfinger, Blackman's mark on the spy genre is far greater. For me, she'll first and foremost always be Cathy Gale, John Steed's first regular female partner on the UK TV classic The Avengers.

Cathy Gale was ultimately overshadowed by Steed's more famous subsequent partner, Emma Peel (played to perfection by another future Bond Girl, Diana Rigg), but Gale's and Blackman's place in television history cannot be overstated. Cathy Gale was television's original badass, leather-clad female spy, paving the way not only for Mrs. Peel, but for Honey West (producer Aaron Spelling was inspired to create the show by Avengers episodes he saw in England, and reportedly first offered the role to Blackman, who turned it down), The Bionic Woman, Alias's Sydney Bristow, and every other leading lady of espionage to throw an attacker over her shoulder, as well as non-spy heroines like Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Quite simply, there had never been an action-oriented female protagonist on television before Honor Blackman's groundbreaking performance. She changed the game. In part, this was due to Blackman inheriting scripts that had been originally written for another male partner for Steed (following his first season foil, Ian Hendry's Dr. David Keel), which were hastily rewritten for her, but kept the character involved in the action in a way women hadn't been previously on TV. But in a larger part, it was due to Blackman's undeniable and very physical presence: she played Cathy as a woman definitely not to be trifled with! And she learned judo for the role, impressively dispatching stuntmen twice her size on a regular basis on episodes that were at the time taped live. Her obvious talent even led to the publication of a book, Honor Blackman's Book of Self-Defense.

Prior to playing Cathy Gale, Blackman was known for glamour more than ass-kicking. But she'd already racked up a pretty impressive roster of spy roles. Foremost among them was a regular role on the 1959-60 ITC wheel show The 4 Just Men (review here), in which she played Nicole, secretary to Paris-based Just Man Tim Collier (Dan Dailey). That was a series very much of its time in all respects, so Nicole was no Cathy Gale, but Blackman nonetheless imbued her with the quick wit and spark that would later define her more famous character alongside her martial arts skills. She also made pre-Avengers appearances on other ITC series like The Saint, Danger Man,  and The Invisible Man, as well as U.K. spy and detective series like Top Secret (sadly lost), Ghost Squad, and The Vise, while also turning up in spy movies like Conspirator (with Elizabeth Taylor), Diplomatic Passport, and the original 1953 TV movie version of Little Red Monkey (penned by wartime BSC spy Eric Maschwitz and adapted two years later into a feature film version). Other notable film roles during this period include Jason and the Argonauts (1963), the Eric Ambler-penned Titanic drama A Night to Remember (1958), the Dirk Bogarde suspense drama So Long at the Fair (1950), and the Hammer noir The Glass Tomb (1955). Following the international success of Goldfinger, Blackman surprisingly didn't make many more spy appearances. The notable exceptions were the superior 1968 Goeffrey Jenkins adaptation A Twist of Sand (a movie in dire need of a Blu-ray or at least DVD release!), opposite Deadlier Than the Male's Richard Johnson, and a 1983 TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence mystery The Secret Adversary. In the late Nineties, Mike Meyers dreamed of getting Blackman and Connery to play Austin Powers' parents, but that didn't happen and Michael Caine ended up playing his dad. While not playing spies, though, Blackman continued to have a robust post-Bond career, including a re-teaming with Connery in the 1968 Western Shalako, a pair of 1970s cult horror movies, Fright ('71), and Hammer's final genre flick of that incarnation, To the Devil a Daughter ('76), opposite Christopher Lee, and, more recently, a very memorable comedic turn in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). She also continued to make her mark in television, too, with recurring or starring roles on Doctor Who, The Upper Hand, and Coronation Street, and guest appearances in Columbo, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, Midsomer Murders, and New Tricks.

Her early fame from The Avengers brought her an unlikely career milestone in 1990 when an infectious novelty single she had recorded with Patrick Macnee in the early Sixties, "Kinky Boots," became a dubious Top 10 radio hit at Christmastime. Some have described it as "embarrassing," but as far as I'm concerned both of those stars had enough infectious charisma to pull it off even if they're not really singers! (I'm also partial to the B-side, "Let's Keep It Friendly," about the characters' platonic relationship on the show.)

Blackman has also had a successful theater career, including productions of "The Sound of Music," "My Fair Lady" and "Cabaret," and a couple of touring one-woman shows. It was one of these performances that brought her into my out-of-the-way neck of the woods when I was in high school in the mid-Nineties. I took in the show, which was amazing, and then managed to meet her backstage. Blackman was the first Bond celebrity I'd ever met, and she did not let me down. She seemed genuinely happy to meet with fans, and gladly signed a Goldfinger trading card for this starstruck teen while regaling me with stories from her days on The Avengers. She even weighed in with a decidedly non-PC answer on a debate I'd been having at the time with a friend about whether Bond and Pussy's roll in the hay was truly consensual. "Darling," she told me, eyes sparkling, "it was Sean Connery. Any woman would have wanted it!"

That sparkle remained ever-present as she remained a public figured right up to the end, always reliable for some media appearances whenever a new Bond movie came out. She never turned her back on the franchise, or publicly showed any resentment for the "Bond Girl" label that followed her throughout her career. She also continued to be a cheerleader for The Avengers, despite having left the series just before its transition to film and color... and the American broadcast that cemented its global fame.

In Blackman's final episode of The Avengers (after her Goldfinger casting was already public news), Steed bade farewell to Cathy Gale with a typical request of a favor, beginning, "And as you're going to be out there anyway, pussyfooting along those sun-soaked shores..."

"You thought I might do a little investigating," she finishes, knowing him all too well. She demurs, asserting her well-earned right to a vacation. "You see I'm not going to be pussy-footing along those sun-soaked shores," she corrects her partner, "I'm going to be lying on them." Pussyfooting or lounging, Honor Blackman has certainly earned her trip to those sun-soaked shores. While more terrestrially, the modern spy genre forever owes her an enormous debt. Blackman was a true trailblazer, who transformed the role of women in the spy genre from femme fatales who relied exclusively on their sexuality to equal participants in the action, undaunted by superior force and unmatched in combat skills.

It's a real spies' reunion for the miniseries version of Ben MacIntyre's superb non-fiction book A Spy Among Friends! Nearly everyone involved has some serious spy experience on their resume--and many of them have worked together before. It's no wonder the book has attracted such an array of veteran talent; for my money it's a strong contender of the best spy biography ever. MacIntyre uses the close friendship between the notorious double agent Kim Philby and loyal MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott to frame the story of the notorious Cambridge spy ring that shook the foundations of British Intelligence--and the Cold War at large. 

Deadline reports that Marv Films (Matthew Vaughn's UK-based production company) "is plotting 'something like seven more Kingsman films' as part of the company’s expansion plans." That's... ambitious! But other spy franchises have certainly sustained that many or more. At least one of those seven films is expected to be a spinoff centered on the American spies (including Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges) introduced in the second movie, Statesman. If previous plans mooted by Vaughn are still in effect, another is likely to be a third and supposedly final movie about the characters from the first two films, Eggsy (Taron Edgerton) and Harry Hart (Colin Firth), said to close out that trilogy. 

The next Kingsman movie we see will definitely be the WWI-set prequel The King's Man, long in the can and delayed by the global pandemic. That's currently slated for February, but likely to change again. It stars Harris Dickinson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Tom Hollander, and Daniel Brühl. With a cast like that an an exciting new time period less well mined by other spy franchises (and even a more serious tone judging from the trailers), I'm hopeful some more of these upcoming Kingsman films are sequels to The King's Man. Perhaps Dickinson and Fiennes will get as many movies as Edgerton and Firth.

According to Marv Group CEO Zygi Kamasa (per the trade), the company also has a Kingsman TV series in the works. 

Theodore J. Flicker's 1967 James Coburn satire The President's Analyst is one of my very favorite spy movies. (It's also Coburn's best spy movie... Sorry, Derek Flint.) When describing it to people, I always say that the comedy holds up surprisingly well today... sadly. America is still facing many of the same social  issues Flicker sent up over fifty years ago (from institutional racism to monolithic Big Tech), and it's easy to imagine a remake. Now, Paramount is imagining one... with The Daily Show host Trevor Noah on board to produce and potentially star. According to The Hollywood Reporter, former Obama White House staffer Pat Cunnane will write the script. The premise, about a psychotherapist burdened with all of the President's top secret stresses, will obviously be familiar ground for him! According to his publisher, Cunnane served as "President Barack Obama’s senior writer and deputy director of messaging at the White House, where he worked for six years in many roles."

A few weeks ago, Paramount announced a remake of The President's Analyst was in the works. Now comes even better news.... The 1967 original, starring James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, and Severn Darden, is at long last coming to Blu-ray! Australian label Via Vision will release the title via its Imprint imprint (yes, you read that right: two "via's" and two "imprint's") on May 26. It' can be imported from the Via Vision site, and is available to pre-order from American outlets like Amazon (from which this site receives a kickback) and DeepDiscount. Imprint Blu-rays are region-free. The 1080p HD presentation of the film with LPCM 2.0 mono audio comes with brand new special features including an audio commentary by the great Tim Lucas (who recently provided the company with an updated audio commentary for their release of Danger: Diabolik to supplement his classic original DVD commentary with John Philip Law) and an appreciation of the film from Kim Newman, as well as the original theatrical trailer and optional English subtitles. The first 1500 copies will come in a limited edition slipcase. The President's Analyst is one of the all-time great spy comedies, and remains as timely as ever. If you love it as much as I do, you'll already have pre-ordered. If you've never seen it... now's your chance!

AIP’s Vincent Price vehicle Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine was one of the first Sixties Bond parodies I ever heard of, long before I actually saw it. In a way, that was a good thing, because it afforded the movie years to percolate in my imagination, growing far beyond a potential it could possibly live up to when I finally saw it. Ultimately I was bound for disappointment, because, let’s face it, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a far better title than it is a movie. But because of all those years that it lived in my mind as pure potential, I went into it for the first time after college (during college I had tried in vain to track down a 35mm print to program on campus) with a pre-built nostalgia, and nostalgia is a wonderful—and possibly essential—cushion for a movie like this. If you remember it from your childhood, you’ll probably enjoy it more than it deserves to be enjoyed. And the same can be said if you’ve somehow approximated such a nostalgia like I did. But even after that lengthy apologia for liking the movie, I have to admit that I only really like certain parts of it. Most of it is pretty bad.

Made at the height of the Sixties (and here I’m grudgingly conceding that that phrase, which I usually use very positively, can also have negative connotations), Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine is a as much a blend of what was popular then as those Seltzer and Friedberg “parody” movies (usually with “movie” in the title) were in the early 2000s. (Though to be fair it’s a lot better than those!) And since it was made by American International Pictures, it’s a blend of its time that particularly reflects that studio’s output. Therefore it’s as much a parody of their two bread-and-butter genres—Frankie and Annette beach movies and Poe-inspired Vincent Price horror movies—as it is of James Bond. While I’m indifferent to beach movies, I do love those Poe movies… so I’m not being an espionage chauvinist when I say that the only bits that really work are those inspired by the spy craze. And even then the hit-to-miss ratio is probably 50/50... at best.

Appropriately, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine opens with one of the strangest title sequences of any Sixties spy movie. Under a rather great and undeniably infectious theme song performed by the Supremes (available on the stellar Ace Records Sixties spy theme compilation Come Spy With Us), instead of the Bond-style credits most spy spoofs opted for, Bikini Machine treats us to Claymation, courtesy of Gumby creator Art Clokey. And the entire Claymation sequence is built around the stupidest thing in the whole movie: a pair of stupid gold elf shoes with little bells on their pointed toes that Price’s character wears to justify his name, Dr. Goldfoot. I’m aware that I just used the word “stupid” twice in that sentence, but that’s because these shoes are seriously stupid. I don’t know whose idea they were, but I sure am glad that Ken Adam wasn’t struck by a similar necessity to equip Gert Frobe with jingling golden thimbles.

After the titles, we meet an attractive robot woman (Susan Hart) in a trenchcoat and fedora walking through the streets of San Francisco. We learn that she’s a robot woman through a series of stupid gags (there’s that word again… are you detecting a pattern?), like a car crashing into her and getting wrecked (because she’s metal, get it??), or two bank robbers escaping and crashing into her and getting knocked down (because she’s metal!), then shooting her full of holes with no discernable result (because… you’ve figured it out by now, haven’t you?). Then we meet Frankie Avalon being annoying in a restaurant and sporting a really annoying helmet of hair. (Uh-oh. There’s another word that bore repeating twice in one sentence!) The robot woman comes in and drinks a sip of his milk and then spouts out gallons of the white stuff (all from that one sip, apparently) through the “bullet holes” in her body. (John Cleese would recycle the same questionable gag years later in that Schweppes commercial on the original Licence to Kill VHS.) Despite her leakage, the holes (which aren’t visible) don’t seem to have damaged her mechanics one bit, and in minutes she’s successfully picked up Avalon and is heading back to his apartment with him.

Avalon is Craig Gamble, a bumbling agent of Secret Intelligence Command (or SIC, which I think is supposed to pass for a joke) who decorates his walls with a picture of Sherlock Holmes, apparently for inspiration. The robot woman is named Diane, and she talks with an annoying put-on Southern accent and, we and Gamble soon come to learn, wears only a gold lamé bikini underneath her fashionable spy trenchcoat! (The latter makes up for the former.) But what made her pick him?

The answer comes back at Dr. Goldfoot’s lair, where we meet the diabolical mastermind and his sidekick, Igor (occasional Elvis cohort Jack Mullaney). While Vincent Price deserves an iconic entrance in any movie he makes, it’s kind of undercut here by those stupid gold shoes, which really are quite stupid. (Have I mentioned that?) I am not a production designer, nor a fashion maven, but I am confident I could have designed much better gold shoes for the same purpose. And regular readers will know that I am not given to making such claims. Anyway, it transpires at Goldfoot HQ that the idiotic Igor programmed poor Diane to go after the wrong man. While Gamble hasn’t got two pennies to rub together, she was supposed to be seducing Avalon’s beach buddy Dwayne Hickman, as millionaire playboy Todd Armstrong. (As either an inside joke or laziness, Hickman’s character is named after Avalon’s character in Ski Party, and Avalon’s Craig Gamble is named after Hickman’s character from that movie.) To Igor’s credit, the two actors do look a lot alike (in a very generic Sixties heartthrob way), and that fact actually makes the movie a little bit confusing. The fact that Gamble turned out to be a secret agent was just bad luck—or bad scriptwriting. Luckily Dr. Goldfoot can operate Diane by remote control, and he’s able to reprogram her to suddenly walk out on Craig and set off to lay a trap for Todd.

Diane’s trap for Todd involves bending over and pulling her trenchcoat far enough aside to expose a glimpse of that golden behind as she pretends to inspect a flat tire. It also involves Dr. Goldfoot somehow taking remote control of Todd’s car, and driving him backwards until he sees Diane. (Dr. Goldfoot possesses a magical universal remote long before its time, and uses it primarily for making cars drive the wrong direction and various things blow up. He also threatens people with it a lot, though I’m not sure if he’s threatening to blow them up or to reverse them.) One glimpse of Diane, however, is enough to make Todd forget that it might be a little suspicious and just a tad weird to find yourself suddenly pulled backwards by an unseen force while driving. Their meeting also offers the movie’s choicest bit of dialogue—and, yes, it’s every bit as sexist as you would expect/hope for from a movie called Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.

“Thank heavens you came along, darling, I’m completely flat!” declares Diane as she opens the front of her trenchcoat.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” replies Todd, ogling her gold bikini-clad breasts jutting out of the London Fog.

So what’s all this about? Well, sadly all of Dr. Goldfoot’s ingenuity is expended on a simple gold digging scheme. Diane is supposed to get millionaire Todd to marry her and then make him sign over power of attorney to her (which is of course the same as signing it to Dr. Goldfoot). Honestly, I find it a little disappointing that Dr. Goldfoot has the ingenuity and the wherewithal to build perfectly human-looking robots and universal remotes that control anything, and yet the best scheme he can come up with is gold digging. Why not aim higher, Dr. G? Why not strive for world domination? (Well... that's what sequels are for!)

Anyway, Igor’s error with the target has accidentally tipped off an agent of SIC to the mad doctor’s big gold digging plot. Fortunately for Dr. Goldfoot, though, he’s not a very good agent.

Gamble’s code number is only Double O and a half. “Why they won’t even let you carry a gun until you get a digit instead of a fraction!” yells his boss and uncle, Uncle Donald (genuine comic genius Fred Clark, of Zotz! and Hammer's Curse of the Mummy's Tomb). Donald’s not really in any position to berate his nephew, though, because he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer himself. When Igor shows up in his office dressed in what looks like a Sherlock Holmes Halloween costume (deerstalker and Inverness cape) claiming to be SIC director Inspector Abernathy, Donald believes him despite Gamble’s protestations.

The gags in this movie are mostly lame (as opposed to lamé), and recycled for the hundredth time. When an upper file cabinet drawer is closed, a lower one pops out knocking someone on the head. A beautiful girl robot is mis-programmed (Igor!) and starts talking like a Brooklyn gorilla. When Igor tries to spy on his boss using a periscope, Dr. Goldfoot splashes some ink on the top end giving Igor a black ring around his eye from the viewer. (Actually, that one's still kind of funny.) Even the spy-specific jokes tend to fall flat a lot of the time. Igor shows Dr. G a new attaché case (pronounced the American way, not the British “attachee”) with its own From Russia With Love-style gadgetry. What surprises does it have in store?  Would you believe a fist with a boxing glove that pops out and punches someone when they open it? (Neatly and obviously accomplished by situating a stuntman underneath the table the case is set on, easily able to reach through a hole in the table and the case.)

While the jokes often fall flat, highlights come in the form of random outbursts of go-go dancing, whether from Dr. Goldfoot’s bikini girls (whose default mode seems to be set as “go-go,” befitting their gold bikini costumes) or in nightclubs. (There’s a odd number from a band all dressed up as Fred Flintstone credited as Sam and the Apemen and accompanied by—you guessed it—go-go girls. But for some reason the go-go girls aren’t dressed in fur bikinis, just regular bikinis.)

Price himself camps it up to the extreme (surprise, surprise), parodying his own other AIP performances and even donning costumes from a few of them at times. To that end, the movie becomes more and more of an AIP in-joke as it proceeds (complete with an Annette Funicello cameo), and eventually Gamble and Todd end up in Dr. Goldfoot’s torture chamber, getting a tour that includes portraits of all his illustrious forebears (again bearing certain resemblances to famous Price roles past) and lots of familiar torture implements. It’s poor Todd who ends up strapped down beneath the swinging pendulum from The Pit and the Pendulum.

But then, in its final act, something unexpected happens. The movie becomes… really fun! The undisputable high point of the film is the fifteen-minute-long final chase through the streets of San Francisco in which the heroes and villains keep changing vehicles. It’s accomplished mostly through obvious rear projection, but the San Francisco scenery is quite real. The heroes (Gamble and Todd) start out in a gadget-laden Cadillac spy car whose gags include inflatable seats that inflate when you don’t want them to and a steering wheel that switches sides between the driver and the passenger at inopportune moments. The villains start out in a motorcycle and sidecar that become detached in the course of the chase and eventually manage to re-attach themselves. When Dr. Goldfoot uses his magic remote control device to blow up their spy car, the heroes swipe a red convertible (a Sunbeam Alpine, like Bond drove in Dr. No), and when the motorcycle and sidecar end up smashed on the front of a train, the villains (their faces coated in black soot, just like a cartoon character’s after surviving such a collision) appropriate an E-Type Jag. Eventually the heroes are on a bicycle while the baddies commandeer a San Francisco cable car—and manage to drive it right off its tracks and all over town! By the end the good guys are in a boat on a boat trailer careening wildly down San Francisco’s steep hills. It’s all pretty fun, really, in a typically zany way.

The end titles feature those stupid gold shoes again (though not Claymation this time), performing a disembodied dance (accomplished simply—and effectively—enough with a dancer dressed all in black dancing in front of a pitch black background) alongside gold bikini-clad go-go dancers—and similarly disembodied writhing gold bikini tops and bottoms. (That’s actually a really cool effect!) All of which handily beats (and makes up for) the Claymation opening in my book.

Even though Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine leaves things open for a sequel with Dr. Goldfoot and Igor surviving their cable car crash (and subsequent bombardment by gunboats) and turning up on the plane winging our victorious heroes off to Europe, the end credits instead tout the next beach movie, The Girl in the Glass Bikini. Which kind of brings us back to this movie’s title. Say it out loud to yourself. Think about it. Based on that title more than my (or any) review, I suspect you already know if this movie is for you or not.

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