“There is one place for everything glamorous and daring, and that is the Riviera….”
Which is exactly how this MGM Studios Promotional Film for a film by Renee Clement starring Alain Delon, Jane Fonda, & Lola Albright begins. (You love it already!)
Alain Delon, a favourite style star, is at his prime as the ridiculously handsome criminal on the run from the French Underground ( Yikes! The French Underground!), and Jane Fonda (“a foremost star of Europe”) is fiestier, sexier, and younger than you’ve ever seen her! Amazing!
One of the most interesting aspects is definitely getting to see some of the filming process! Check out how they shoot some incredible action right in the sea! No CG this time Movie!
The film was released as ‘Les Félins’ in Clement’s home country France, while in the US and UK it was released under two DIFFERENT names: “Joy House” (US), and “The Love Cage” (UK).
Promotional shorts like this one for MGM Studios, were not uncommon for the 60s, but you gotta love the special oomph the devil they chose to narrate this has with the gusto and punch he adds to his script. Maybe that’s the best part, but see for yourself!
I like that they mention “creating a spine chilling thriller is a painstaking, often dangerous business…”, as we at The Eye of Faith experience this almost everyday creating spine chilling thrillers in our minds for you to enjoy!
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost. . .
Those were the first words we hear Don Draper speak in the season 6 premier of AMC’s hit show, “Mad Men” which aired last night. Dante Alighieri’s legendary Medieval poem is not one’s expected choice to be reading on the beaches of Mauii, but for Don Draper it seems to have opened many questions of himself.
You could even point out that throughout the series, Don has endured through many of the nine circles of sin described in Dante’s “Inferno” (such as gluttony, lust, and sin), so to capture the man of perceived strength and self confidence bring alongside with him a poem about the author’s personal midlife crisis really speaks volumes. Don, however, doesn’t speak for another 10 minutes into the episode.
Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno” is a piece of Dante’s collection of poems known as “The Divine Comedy“. Written between 1308 and his death in 1321, the work is still seen as a pinnacle in literacy for mankind, and is still read today by students and scholars around the world. Split into three parts: Inferno, Purgatoria, and Paradiso; the story tells of the author’s descent into hell before ascending to paradise.
And as Don puts it, “Heaven is a little morbid. How do you get to heaven? Something terrible has to happen”.
As Dante had Virgil at his side, Don has Sterling; and like Dante’s muse Beatrice, Don seems to have found a new muse in his latest mistress who leant him the copy for his vacation. It’s strange life he is living, but luckily he notes he must stop “doing this”, before he never figures it out.
We got a chance to see one of first illustrated copies of Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Revealing the Early Renaissance: Secrets and Stories in Florentine Art, by The Master of the Dominican Effigies between 1325 and 1355. Today, it still one of the most important works written.
A season back, or so, Don criticized Universities as a “Medieval” system, in an almost dismissive way, so its interesting to see him now delving into the pinnacle of Medieval philosophy. I guess it’s always good to stay well-rounded. And 800 year old wisdom, is just as good as any.
One of the most famous publications of “The Divine Comedy” featured engravings by French artist Gustave Doré, offering fantastical and surreal visuals to compliment Dante’s classic words. We thought them a wonderful showcase to accompany Don Draper and his voyage of self-discovery, and maybe provide a little insight and intrigue into the world of Dante Alighieri.
Maybe we will go on one too. Anyone want to join us?
Thanks to the National Archives of Norway we found this beautiful series of photographs featuring a long ago lost afternoon dream spent on the beautiful Norwegian Sea.
The photos were taken by photographer Thomas Neumann, and are just a part of a vast faded wonderland, strange but endearingly and hauntingly beautiful.
These are memories past…Neumann was a member of the Norwegian Nazi Party, the Nasjonal Samling (NS), from the party’s earliest days. A trained engineer, these photos were donated to the Archives in 2007.
It’s just a summer by the sea. Candid moments caught in between…What we see is what we know. Everything else is lost along the way to getting here.
Upon a recent viewing of “Rebel Without a Cause” it completely struck us at E.O.F. that there was a certain style divinity that doesn’t recieve enough attention for his incredible panache, and undoubted influence on men’s style and fashion. Call him France’s own James Dean– Alain Delon may just write the books on how to be a truly stylish and effortless specimen of a man.
In history, the legend of James Dean was born on the faithful day of September 30, 1955 causing an international frenzy- and in moments, an idol of rebellion and male beauty was born that seemingly grows stronger everyday. There is no doubt, the rebel icon has paved the way, but it is an individual like Alain Delon who triumphantly carried the torch onward. And while James Dean’s memory lives on, this week’s profiled style star literally lives.
It’s everything to do with everything; his French charm, a je na sais quois, that particular brand of swag and easiness the French seem to bring to anything. Whether dolled up in a suit, or stripped down to the bone, Delon delivers his unique brand of masculinity. Perhaps it’s all in the eyes. People always seem to look better smoking cigarettes.
Dean was an eagear student of Sade, as should be any fallen angel-boy, but it seems Delon took a more jovial path in life following more in the footsteps of Casanova! He worked the screen with leading ladies like Marianne Faithful, Jane Fonda, and Brigitte Bardot. Better than that, his real-life romances were with some of the world’s most gorgeous faces- Romy Schneider, Mirielle Darc, Rosalie Van Breeman, Nathalie Barthelemey, and a love-child with none other than Nico herself. Quite the busy boy.
Discharged from the navy in 1956, Delon would be discovered by legendary producer David. O. Selznick (Yes, of ‘Gone with the Wind’ lore) who would kick off his career provided he learn English. Delon would stay in France and in 1960 would star in a dandy adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’, in a French picture by the name of “Purple Noon”.
This film is one of the singularly most stylish films you might come across when it comes to men’s fashion. Delon’s Ripley is a tour-de-force in quiet angst and alienation, not to mention practically picture perfect, and would pave his way in the limelight as one of the world’s most enigmatic and dashing leading gentlemen.
The dapper Delon would continue to grace the screen in other groundbreaking and style-wise pictures as Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard”, Michelangelo Antonionni’s “Eclipse”, Jack Cardiff’s “The Girl on a Motorcylce”, Jacques Daray’s “Le Piscine”, Louis Malles’ , Roger Vadim’s, & Fellini’s “Spirits of the Dead”, and of course, the ultimate embodiment of loner, drifter, outsiderness in Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Le Samourai”, a dark crime film fusing film noir with samurai and fantasy notions. Each film is rich in style inspiration and fashion and film history.
Delon was an instant smash and a puller of all heart strings. With his dashing looks, and unapolgetic demeanour, his rebel attitude gave French luxury a brand new flavour, as well as giving us here at the EOF plenty of amazing pictures to share with you! Use these as inspiration for a lifetime.
Keep it classic, keep it fresh, and keep it fun inside. Adapt a closet full of leisure, that make you feel comfortable, while at the same time easily make you the Prince of the Party. The secret to Delon’s success really lies deep within his own core. An unwillingness to be anything but true to himself. That is ultimately what reads through most, and is an important lesson to being the ultimate you.
So rent all his movies today, and show the world how dashing, dapper, and ultimately divine a bad boy can really be! As an E.O.F. Style Idol, Alain Delon’s timeless style is definitely here to stay.
Here’s some stuff from {THE EYE OF FAITH SHOP} so you grab the vibe!
