Skip to main content

Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2016

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016

POW!!! Live Action Comic Strip Adaptations: The First Generation

This strand will be complemented by a POW!!! Live Action Comic Strip Adaptations: Origin Story talk event.

Programme

11 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

Baba Yaga (The Devil Witch, Kiss Me Kill Me)

A photographer falls in thrall to a witch.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 1973; Director: Corrado Farina; Writer: Corrado Farina, Guido Crepax, Giulio Berruti, François de Lannurien; Stars: Carroll Baker, George Eastman, Isabelle De Funès, Ely Galleani, Daniela Balzaretti, Mario Mattia Giorgetti, Sergio Masieri, Angela Covello, Cesarina Amendola, Mario Paolo Giordani, Carla Mancini, Giorgio Pellizone, Lorenzo Piani, Natalie E. Spleptzow, Rodolfo Zola)

Barbarella

Review preview for Barbarella

Fonda's resolutely straight-faced performance makes Barbarella a character who can charm you with more than just her physical assets.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Cult sci-fi sees a sexy space agent hunt down an evil scientitst.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 1968; Director: Roger Vadim; Writer: Jean-Claude Forest, Claude Brulé, Terry Southern, Roger Vadim, Vittorio Bonicelli, Clement Biddle Wood, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates; Stars: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea, Marcel Marceau, Claude Dauphin, Véronique Vendell, Giancarlo Cobelli, Serge Marquand, Nino Musco, Franco Gulà, Catherine Chevallier, Marie Therese Chevallier, Umberto Di Grazia, David Hemmings)

Batman (Batman: The Movie)

Review preview for Batman

Any dedicated film fan would be poorer for overlooking this comic gem.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Catwoman, The Joker, The Penguin and The Riddler hatch a dastardly plot. Hand me the bat-villain-repellant!

(Country: US; Year: 1966; Director: Leslie H Martinson; Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr, based on the characters by Bob Kane.; Stars: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Alan Napier, Neil Hamilton, Stafford Repp, Madge Blake) , Trailer

Danger: Diabolik (Diabolik)

Review preview for Danger: Diabolik

John Phillip Law is a bit wooden in the central role, though, like Roger Moore as Bond, he compensates by doing one particular expression really well.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An audacious, costumed thief seeks out new challenges despite knowing the authorities are out to capture him.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 1968; Director: Mario Bava; Writer: Angela Giussani, Luciana Giussani; Stars: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi)

Flash Gordon

Review preview for Flash Gordon

Max Von Sydow's magnificent Emperor Ming is a template against which all future alien rulers have had to measure up.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
An evil alien ruler plans to destroy the Earth, and only an American football quarterback can stop him.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 1980; Director: Mike Hodges; Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr and Michael Allin, based on the matinee series.; Stars: Sam J Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol, Brian Blessed, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton, Peter Wyngarde, Richard O'Brien, Peter Duncan, Robbie Coltrane) , Official site , Trailer

Friday Foster

(Country: US; Year: 1975; Director: Arthur Marks; Writer: Orville H Hampton, Arthur Marks, Jim Lawrence; Stars: Pam Grier, Yaphet Kotto, Godfrey Cambridge, Thalmus Rasulala, Eartha Kitt, Jim Backus, Scatman Crothers, Ted Lange, Tierre Turner, Paul Benjamin, Jason Bernard, Ed Cambridge, Julius Harris, Rosalind Miles, Carl Weathers)

Golgo 13 (Gorugo 13)

Golgo 13 is assigned to murder a man named Boss Goa.

(Country: Japan, Iran; Year: 1973; Director: Jun'ya Satô; Writer: Takao Saitô, K. Motomitsu, Takao Saitô; Stars: Ken Takakura, Mohsen Sohrabi, Jaleh Sam, Yadolla Shirandami, Jalal Pishvaian, Arezu, Siamak Atlassi, Arash Taj, Dariush Asadzade, Ezatallah Ramezanifar, Gorgi, Reza Azargun, Mashinchian, Allahyari, Carmen)

Lone Wolf And Cub: Sword Of Vengeance

Review preview for Lone Wolf And Cub: Sword Of Vengeance

Misumi employs a vibrant colour palette, making particularly striking use of red, from silk robes to gushing blood.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A ronin wanders the Japanese countryside with his child, having adventures.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1972; Director: Kenji Misumi; Writer: Kazuo Koike, Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima; Stars: Tomisaburô Wakayama, Fumio Watanabe, Tomoko Mayama, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Asao Uchida, Taketoshi Naitô, Yoshi Katô, Keiko Fujita, Reiko Kasahara, Akihiro Tomikawa, Kauji Sokiyamo, Teruo Matsuyama, Shun'ya Wazaki, Michimaro Kotabe, Saburô Date)

Modesty Blaise

Review preview for Modesty Blaise

When you're watching a film for the wallpaper you know you're in trouble.

Jennie Kermode · 1 out of 5
Sometime secret agent, sometime thief Modesty Blaise is set on the trail of stolen diamonds in this comic strip adaptation.

(Country: UK; Year: 1966; Director: Joseph Losey; Writer: Evan Jones; Stars: Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews)

Popeye

The spinach-loving sailor goes on a live-action adventure.

(Country: US; Year: 1980; Director: Robert Altman; Writer: Jules Feiffer, EC Segar; Stars: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Paul L. Smith, Richard Libertini, Donald Moffat, MacIntyre Dixon, Roberta Maxwell, Donovan Scott, Allan F Nicholls, Wesley Ivan Hurt, Bill Irwin, Robert Fortier, David McCharen)

Tintin And The Mystery Of The Golden Fleece (Tintin et le mystère de la Toison d'Or)

Review preview for Tintin And The Mystery Of The Golden Fleece

The somewhat uneven performances and machine-translator dubbed dialogue add to the sense of ramshackle charm.

Jeff Robson · 3 out of 5
The eternally youthful reporter/ detective and his chums find themselves involved in a treasure hunt when Captain Haddock receives a surprise inheritance.

(Country: France; Year: 1961; Director: Jean-Jacques Vierne; Writer: André Barret, Rémo Forlani, Hergé; Stars: Jean-Piere Talbot, Georges Wilson, Marcel Bozzuffi, Charles Vanel)