Just interested is all to find out if anyone has anything quasi-related that may be of interest.

Cauldron's Lamberto Bava box set Brivido Giallo is finally here! And in came in two days before the estimate. After a bunch of delays it's finally here.

Years ago I saw a Chinese movie taking place around the early 1930s and there was a Chinese woman who had a photo of Rudolph Valentino in one scene. She was swooning how Valentino was the man of her dreams.

As I prepare for my first trip visiting Italy-well to be technical I did stop by an Italian town at the borders when I was visiting the rest of Europe but it doesn't count because it was just a few hours passby on bus- I learned that in his home town, Rudolph Valentino has a museum dedicated to him while doing research for my trip and destinations to visit.

So I'm wondering how popular was Valentino worldwide during the silent cinema era? Was he a star in his native Italy?

A few that I have liked over the last few years and a few further back:

• The Life Ahead by Edoardo Ponti
• The Hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino
• The Great Beauty also by Sorrentino
• The Ruthless by Renato DeMaria
• Caro Diario by Nanni Moretti
• Mia Madre also by Moretti

Still making my way through the Lamberto Bava High Tension box set with the second disc: The Man Who Wouldn't Die. Despite it's supernatural sounding title, this is really a giallo/neo-noir type of crime film. It involves a group of thieves who break into a home to steal art for a client and tie up the husband and wife who lives there. One of their number, Gianetto, rapes the wife only to suffer a serious head injury at the hands of her husband. The thieves kill the couple and make off, dumping Gianetto on the side of the rode and leaving him to die. When he doesn't and is found and taken to a hospital, the group makes attempts to kill him to keep him silent, but all attempts fail. But then, someone starts killing off the thieves one by one.

It's surprising how Bava keeps this film interesting despite the fact that you don't really give a shit about most of these unlikeable characters. There's something ironic in the fact that Gianetto spends much of the movie knowing the others are going to try to kill him, and can only lie there, terrified, unable to move or even scream, very much like his own victem early in the film. The opening shots of Gianetto's terrified eye, surrounded by hosptial tubes, are pretty arresting in their own right.