Chrysanthemums for a Bunch of Swine / Crisantemi per un branco di carogne (Sergio Pastore, 1967)

They are for sale on the Italian ebay. Been there a while as I think I stumbled upon them at least a couple of months ago :slight_smile:

http://www.ebay.it/itm/M2-FOTOBUSTA-ORIGINALE-CRISANTEMI-PER-UN-BRANCO-DI-CAROGNE-PURDOM-MANERA-1-/201373433278?hash=item2ee2cabdbe

Yeah, just this morning I found the images (8 lobby cards = complete set) on Google and quickly corrected them.

Well somebody had to do it. I purchased the Chrysanthemums-material. A couple of ones not shown above are:

Locandina + Soggetone (1-sheet) + 2-sheet:

They can all be seen here in better resolutions and including the 8 fotobuste:

http://spaghetti.tangora.net/page5.aspx?recordid5=66667

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Thanks, the Soggettone on the right is very interesting, I never saw it before!

I noticed that the the best known poster appears in the 38 minute documentary from 1968 Western, Italian Style.

Poster size
Locandina / Playbill Approximately cm. 33x70 (inches 13x27)
Fotobusta / Lobby card Approximately cm. 50x70 (inches 19x27)
Soggettone / 1F (un foglio) / 1SH (one sheet) Approximately cm. 70x100 (inches 27x39)
2F (due fogli) / 2SH (two sheets) Approximately cm. 100x140 (inches 39x55)
4F (quattro fogli) / 4SH (four sheets) Approximately cm. 140x200 (inches 55x79)

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Will have to check that one out. Does the poster in the documentary have a different motive than the 2-sheet shown above? A 4-sheet probably exists and that could well have a different motive.

Those 4-sheet Italian posters are not be taken lightly by the way. They take up a whole living room almost :slight_smile: I’ve got one 6-sheet (140x300 cm) Italian poster in my collection for an Italian sex-comedy and boy that is almost totally unmanageable.

Nobody’s seen it, nobody can get a copy… this is the Spaghetti Western Database, dammit! If the cineasts here can’t find it, it’s gone.

Sooo…

We could just make it. Make it, stick it out there, and we’d stitch ourselves irrevocably into the fabric of Spaghetti Western History.

Don’t say no straightaway, just chew on it awhile. Roll it around the palate. Savour it.

I may be several Boddington’s over the usual line and giddy from the sweet nectar of a West Ham victory over truly world class opposition (again), but it’s not outside the realms of feasibility.

Regarder:
List Your Favourite Spag Actors: Clint Eastwood, Gianni Garko, Rev Danite, Tomas Milian, Lee Van Cleef, Scherpschutter, Franco Nero, Stanton, Giuliano Gemma, ENNIOO, Terence Hill, Mickey…

Tempting when you say the names out loud, isn’t it?

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This is an idea that I find to be rather… deviant :wink: Perhaps the lack of existence of a print is a sign from the Spaghetti gods for us to embark on a project in the vein of Shoot in Any Direction and You’ll Hit a Bastard?

[quote=“last.caress, post:26, topic:2298”]Nobody’s seen it, nobody can get a copy… this is the Spaghetti Western Database, dammit! If the cineasts here can’t find it, it’s gone.

Sooo…

We could just make it. Make it, stick it out there, and we’d stitch ourselves irrevocably into the fabric of Spaghetti Western History.[/quote]

Jus’ say the word El Caressimo, and this loyal subject will be yours to command on this. Of course I only really answer to the good Lord, but for a few dollars, a supply of cider a couple of dancing girls I can temporarily switch allegiance. :slight_smile:

Of course, first’ve all we’d have to flesh out that (very brief) synopsis in the database…
“A bandit kidnaps the belle of a village and hides with her and his gang in a monastery. The priest refuses to marry them, and then chases the gang after they have left.”
Not a lot to go on.

We know Edmund Purdon is the bum-chinned priest, and Livio Lorenzon looks all mexican-bandito-y (oh joy - I’m seeing Texas Addio over-the-top stuff here) 8) :slight_smile: , but what’s that be-robed character (on them lobby-cards)'s part in all this, with his Django-ed-up hands?
He they all are again on another poster I found (sold) on Italian ebay…

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Looks like another soggettone.

Suddenly it’s raining posters of all kinds, I’d say it’s a good sign!

“An outlaw and his gang kidnap a bride during a wedding ceremony and take her to a monastery and demand that the padre marry them. He refuses and when they leave he follows them and is a witnesses to their crimes and eventually helps end their reign of terror and rescues the bride.”

…a bit more info from Tom B. from…

But… where did this synopsis originate? Is it only wishful thinking bare-faced lying from Weisser? :stuck_out_tongue:

I suppose this has nothing to do with it? ::slight_smile: (same blonde haircut as Aiche Nana though in CFABOS). It’s a giallo? But I thought I’d stick it up anyway.
I suppose what I am asking is - Is this an expression much like the similar phrase I’m familiar with… “casting pearls before swine” ???

“Give something of value of someone who won’t appreciate it, as in The old professor felt that lecturing on Dante to unruly undergraduates would be casting pearls before swine . This term comes from the New Testament (Matthew 7:6), appearing in Tyndale’s translation (1526). It was repeated often by writers from Shakespeare to Dickens and remains current.”

There’s a bit more info here…
“Western del regista sceneggiatore e produttore Sergio Pastore, che nel 1968 fondò la casa di Produzione “Mezzogiorno Nuovo d’Italia”, realizza così un buon numero di film aiutato dalla moglie Giovanna Lenzi (che in molti casi ne firma la regia, in altri la sceneggiatura e in altri è attrice). Tra cui anche thriller dal calibro di “sette scialli di seta gialla” nel 1972. Questo è il suo unico film di genere western. Pellicola divenuta un vero cimelio, perchè Pastore all’epoca investiva nella distribuzione solo per le pellicole che avevano più successo. Questo film che non ebbe un buon riscontro al botteghino e quindi portò Pastore a mettere di canto sia questa pellicola che tutto il genere western, infatti non produsse più altri western. Così pian piano questa pellicola è caduta nel limbo più assoluto. Tanto da arrivare ai giorni nostri, e far diventare questo western un vero"cult”, no perchè sia un grande film o meno, ma semplicemente perchè è stato visto da pochissimi… tanto che ormai non se ne conosce più neanche bene la trama o la storia. Anche questo fù cinema italiano."

from http://www.spaghettiwestern.altervista.org/crisantemi.htm

Something about adding songs to the film?

I think this film could be something like Matalo or Requiem para el Gringo or El puro. A Spagie with the something special gene.

By the looks of it, subpar stuff to me.

My thoughts as well, with lots of “funny” moments on top of that.

Yes, it is the cover of a mystery/crime picture-book published in January 1969.

Certainly not, it isn’t a common expression.

casting pearls before swine = gettare perle ai porci

‘Occhio alla vedova’, a rare comedy from 1975 directed by Sergio Pastore with 0 votes on IMDb and a thread on Italian genre cinema Forum Gente Di Rispetto started… yesterday (!), will be on Rai Movie in the early hours of Monday morning.

Another sign? :slight_smile:

[quote=“JonathanCorbett, post:36, topic:2298”]Yes, it is the cover of a mystery/crime picture-book published in January 1969.

Certainly not, it isn’t a common expression.

casting pearls before swine = gettare perle ai porci[/quote]

As the similar name has now been seen in print twice (and I suppose the giallo book may have paid homage knicked the cool title) then I was asking is this an Italian phrase - and you think not? Or at least not a common one.
But, what I was really asking for was not for a literal translation of ‘pearls before swine’ but wondering whether it was about a similarity of metaphor, as in the example I gave - which was about giving something of value (aesthetic) to ‘swine’ that wouldn’t know how to appreciate it. Or could the Chrysathemums in question hold another significance that a non-Italian speaker such as myself wouldn’t understand?

What I’m trying to do is to understand the metaphorical significance of such a great title, that may give some hint or clue to the storyline of the film. Even still, I recognise that this is spaghetti-land and titles can mean very little (and sometimes the better the title, the worse the film) ;D

Let’s hope so :slight_smile:

I had understood the question perfectly, Reverend. There is no similarity of metaphor, the second option is the right one. :wink:

From English page on Wikipedia:
Cultural significance and symbolism
In some countries of Europe (e.g., France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Croatia), incurve chrysanthemums are symbolic of death and are used only for funerals or on graves (…)
In Italy chrysanthemums traditionally represent death and are often placed on a person’s tombstone as an offer, especially on All Souls’ Day. Because of this, giving someone a bunch of chrysanthemums is a taboo and may be regarded as a sign of disrespect (associated with a sort of “death wish”).

On other countries I do not know, but in Italy that is the way things are. I thought this symbolism was widely known.

Interesting JC - thanks. I suppose I should’ve done a bit more of my own research, but hey! what are forums for if you can’t pick another’s brains? :slight_smile:
It just didn’t really occur to me that they were funerary flowers. In our household they’ve always been associated with cheerfulness and I would think nothing of giving a bunch of ‘mums’ to my mum especially as she’s a November gal and this flower is her birthday flower (as according to these American and U.K. websites)…


“The chrysanthemum: a flower packed with symbolism… To your happiness and your health… If you are given a chrysanthemum as a gift, you know that the giver wishes you the very best, since the chrysanthemum symbolises happiness and health.”

So - as with a lot of symbology - different strokes for different folks - but of course, the Italian stuff holds court here… a funeral it is! :o