One of the main contributors to the success of EUROPEAN TRASH CINEMA magazine was my good friend Robert Monell. He created the special edition of ETC devoted to Riccardo Freda, contributed lots of reviews and had a column titled TRASHMAN ON THE PROWL where he pontificated on all things EUROTRASH. Well, Robert has decided to revive his column for the newly revised ETC Blog and so I'm proud to present his interview with Eurotrash Icon Paul Muller!
INTERVIEW WITH PAUL MULLER by Robert Monell
I am reluctant to term the following an "interview" in the conventional sense, but it was the best Paul Muller and I could do considering circumstances of time, language and the gremlins of international long distance telecommunication. First, I would like to thank my dear friend, researcher and film historian par excellence Kit J Gavin, for making this possible. I didn't think I'd be able to reach Mr Muller, but after numerous calls to Francesco Cesari in Venice , also a key player whom I gratefully thank, I was able to finally contact my distinguished subject in Tivoli and conduct this interview.
PATIENT is the term which comes to mind first when attempting to describe the character of Paul Muller, tempered by a distinct Swiss formality which, in time, dissolves to reveal a very warm, kind human being who has seen it all, been there and done that, but remains humble about his own considerable gifts. There's a certain very low key frustration about his career, a certain wistfulness and sadness which is very difficult to describe in written words. Like his layered performances, he simultaneously and subtly, very subtly, suggests all the burdens and possibilities of human creativity in a world and business where extraordinary sensitivity can be a stimulus or a curse...
Paul Muller (b. 1923 in Switzerland) has appeared in well over 200 films since 1948 and still has an agent. He has been in Hollywood mainstream productions, obscure European genre films, TV dramas and has been a recognizable visage in Italian Cinefantastique from the seminal I VAMPIRI ( 1957 ) to the not so hot GATE OF HELL, the eminently forgettable Umberto Lenzi satanic adventure from 1990 where he appears very briefly as a murderous monk stalking scientists in a haunted cavern. Our conversation covered the films he made with Jess Franco from 1968 to 1975 .
"Pronto!" The voice was both high pitched and full of undefined emotion. Paul Muller speaks very loudly and clearly, immediately shifting to English when told I can't speak Italian . I report our conversation from the outset to give a feeling of the man himself and perhaps for entertainment value, as it seemed that at times Paul Muller was interviewing me:
PM: "Where are you from?"
RM: New York, well upstate New York.
PM: You have an American accent which is hard to understand.
RM: Yes, I've been told that. I'm sorry.
PM: No, don't be sorry. You'll have to speak slowly.
RM: I am writing a book about Jess Franco and wanted to interview you about your work in his films.
PM: You are writing a script about me?
RM: A book about Jess Franco.
PM: Ah, yes, Jessie. How old is he?
RM: He's about 75 now.
PM: Ah, that's younger than me [laughs]. Is he still making films.
RM: Yes, he just completed one.
PM: Does he still make them in the same way?
RM: Well, he still makes them quickly and inexpensively and in his own way.
PM: I thought so. What do you want to know about the films I made with him?
RM: Well, first of all, I'd like to say I'm an admirer of your extensive acting career. You are a very impressive actor.
PM: I don't understand.
RM: Well, I meant you are very good in all the films I have seen you in, but let me ask you about Jess Franco.
PM: What years do you want to know about? What exactly do you want to know?
RM: About your feelings about him as a director and the experiences you had while making these films.
PM: Jessie could have been a very good director. But he was never prepared. I think if Jessie had taken time to prepare, to work on the scripts he could have been a good director. But he never had the time or the money. These films never, ever had a script. There were all just ideas he had. He had plenty of ideas, but you need more than ideas. He had good ideas but they were never developed properly. He never shot with a script and he was trying to get the production money as they were being shot. He was very busy and the films were lacking many things.
RM: So, there was never any finished script or secured completion funds on ANY of the films of his you were in?
PM: No, never. That was the problem.
RM: Let's start at the beginning. I believe your first film for him was VENUS IN FURS in 1968 ? Do you remember that one?
At this point Mr Muller excuses himself and when he returns appears to be reading something which he often consults during the conversation.
PM: No, I only remember the years and the titles Jess called them by when we were shooting.
RM: That one was also called BLACK ANGEL or Paroxismus ... in Italy, I believe.
PM: No. I was in DE SADE 70 first then THE TRIAL OF THE WITCHES and THE NIGHT HAS EYES then DRACULA and EUGENIE. Later, in Germany I was in DR JEKYLL AND MRS HYDE and AKASAVA .
RM: I'm trying to get a correct chronology and I appreciate it that you have records. When was VAMPYROS LESBOS shot? With Soledad Miranda.
PM: I don't know that title. I made a film Jessie called UNDER THE SIGN OF THE VAMPIRE with her in Germany and Spain and then JULIETTE.
RM: Right, that's it. But lets go back.
PM: I'll try my best.
RM: Thanks. Now you don't seem to remember VENUS IN FURS but....
PM: No, I remember DE SADE 70 in 1969 as the first with Maria Rohm , Jack Taylor and Christopher Lee.
RM: OK, good, that's got a different title now, EUGENIE... HER JOURNEY... but was DE SADE 70 the shooting title?
PM: Yes, that was shot in Spain.These first films I made with Jessie were shot partially in Madrid, then in Barcelona and someplace else in Southern Spain.
RM: THE BLOODY JUDGE was shot partially in Portugal. Do you remember that? And where, exactly, in Southern Spain?
PM: All I remember is in southern Spain.
RM: Do you recall the cast of DE SADE 70 : Christoper Lee or the lead, Marie Liljedahl ?
PM: I don't know who Marie Liljedahl is.
RM: She played the leading character, Eugenie.
PM: I don't remember her. I remember being there with the cast who were all very nice, that's all. These films were made very quickly and sometimes he would make two films at the same time. And later they were all made in a row, one after another.
RM: I understand. What came next?
PM: Then there came THE NIGHT HAS EYES with Diana Lorys and Jack Taylor.
RM: Good, you remember the exact casting. That's also known as NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT. Diana Lorys is very good in that one.
PM: I don't remember her at all. That was also shot very quickly in Spain.
RM: How quickly.
PM: Maybe a week, maybe less. I don't remember much about that one.
RM: THE BLOODY JUDGE and EL CONDE DRACULA had more prominent casts including Christopher Lee. Were they bigger budgeted?
PM: I remember Soledad Miranda from DRACULA, THE VAMPIRE.
RM: I wanted to ask you about her.
PM: She died in a car accident. She could have been a great actress, a big star, if she had lived.
RM: Mr. Muller, which films do you remember the most about and which actors?
PM: EUGENIE, made in 1970 with Miranda, then UNDER THE SIGN OF THE VAMPIRE and DR JEKYLL AND MRS HYDE, also with her. She was called Susan Korda in those films. Then, later I made AKASAVA with her in Germany. Part of DR JEKYLL was also shot in Germany with Horst Tappert . Earlier I made SEX CHARADE with her and Jack Taylor.
RM: OK, let's go back to SEX CHARADE and EUGENIE. Were these the first of the series of films you made with her in 1970 ?
PM: Yes, I think so. But these two were made almost at the same time. I remember EUGENIE was a good film which could have been a very good film if he had more time to prepare the script. This was shot all in Germany.
RM: In Berlin.
PM: Correct. Also shot very quickly. I remember Jessie was writing all the lines on the set for the next scene as we were shooting. We would take a half an hour break and then shoot the scene he had just written.
RM: Dialogue and blocking?
PM: Yes, everything was written just before it was filmed.
RM: Talk about the day to day filming of EUGENIE. Was it all hectic, as you have suggested.?
PM: Yes, we didn't have any preparation or any rehearsal time. And no money for anything. It was all made up on the spot. As I said, Jess was writing as he was shooting.. He would be dictating lines which we would shoot shortly a half hour later. He was never sure about anything, never sure about thematic things. He had very good ideas but never had the time to work on them.
RM: Was EUGENIE filmed MOS? And what language did you speak your lines in?
PM: EUGENIE was shot in English. Miranda and I were given our lines by Jessie in English and we spoke them in English. They recorded our dialogue in English.
RM: That surprises me. I thought it may have been filmed in French.
PM: No, Jess spoke to me in French on the set. He spoke in German, French, Italian on the set to the crew when giving directions. I spoke to Jess in French and I spoke in Italian on the set to everyone else, but my lines were always given and delivered in English.
RM: "Given" by whom?
PM: Jessie, he always gave the lines in English but other directors to me in French.
RM: It sounds like the Tower of Babel? How did you communicate with Soledada Miranda? Did she speak English or Italian?
PM: No, she spoke just Spanish. But I talked to here in Italian, which she seemed to understand. There wasn't any trouble between us. She just spoke her lines of dialogue in English . She was good, as I said, and would have become a better actress had she lived
RM: On the EUGENIE set, did she speak her lines phonetically?
PM: Yes, she just repeated the way they sounded in English if that's what you are asking.
RM: She's very good in that. What did you think of her performance?
PM: She was very good, she was a very good actress in that, not timid.
RM: Can you discuss her as a person? How was she offset?
PM: A nice person, a very good working partner. Very friendly.
RM: Was VAMPYROS LESBOS filmed right after EUGENIE.
PM: Yes, if you mean UNDER THE SIGN OF THE VAMPIRE . We shot that in Germany and Spain.
RM: And Istanbul.
PM: No, just Germany and Spain.
RM: There's a lot of scenes set and shot on location in Istanbul.
PM: I haven't seen it and I didn't go there then. This and DR JEKYLL were shot close together in Germany and Spain. Fred Williams was also in DR JEKYLL and Howard Vernon.
RM: What do you remember about them?
PM: I just have it written down that they were there. I don't remember them.
RM: DR JEKYLL also has a different title now, SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY about a Doctor who is driven to suicide and how his wife avenges him.
PM: Yes, that was called DR JEKYLL on the set by Jessie.
You must understand I had forgotten about these films until you called. Look, they all could have been good films! But I keep telling you that he didn't take the time or didn't have the time to prepare or develop them or film them. I really can't tell you anymore than that, but thank you for asking about them.
RM: I wanted to ask you about the others.... You spoke of JULIETTE...
PM: Yes, that was filmed by never released. I think it was left unfinished at the time because of money problems. That's all I remember.
RM: You also made one with Christina Von Blanc called A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD in English. Do you remember her or that film.
PM: No, I don't remember her, I only remember making one called THE NIGHT THE STARS CRIED in Spain after the ones with Soledad Miranda. I don't recall anything about filming it, though. That's the last one I remember. I apologize but I think I have given you what you wanted to know and I'm sorry I didn't understand you at first. I wish I remembered more, but these were made many decades ago.
Then Mr. Muller said "Goodbye", a final bow shaded with that mysterious mixture of wistfulness, wisdom, sadness and humanity which we all remember from his many cinema incarnations..
contact the author of this post @ monell579 @ hotmail .com
(C) Robert Monell 2015
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