It was Nightmare Castle, one of the first Italian B-movies I saw, that introduced me to Italian horror and the lovely and talented actresses that starred in them such as Helga Line. Researching Helga Line, only expanded my horizons into Italian films and the discovery of a slew of actresses that I would soon come be thoroughly impressed with, actresses that aside from being in low budget international films making only a pittance, could run circles around half the "starlets" in Hollywood today. Marisa Mell was one of those actresses.
It was September 2011, that my interest into the life and filmography of Marisa Mell really began to bloom and another off shoot into Italian film began. It was the discovery of the Italian movie poster for City of Fear (La Diabolica Spia), that sparked a fire for vintage Italian movie posters, with a certain interest in those that featured Marisa Mell. Over a year later, I've managed to come across a wide variety of Marisa Mell film material, and recently I stumbled upon a collection of photographs that I doubt many people have seen.
The history of these photos is a mystery, one could only guess as to who the original owner was, for all I know these could have been personally owned by Marisa herself, as there does appear to be a few indications they may have been. Or at the very least these could have been in the possession of someone who was close to her, as there are quite a few vacation and personal photos that don't appear to have been taken for publicity purposes. Whatever their origin it's ironic, as Marisa Mell's life came to a somewhat sad and bitter end, this collection was discovered collecting dust in a antique shop in Italy, a testament really to the overall "value" of our worldly possessions when we ultimately die, and also somewhat sad confirmation of the fact that Marisa Mell died without very many friends or family who cared to carry on these memories.
Over the next year (starting January 1st) I'll be presenting these images. It's an interesting glance into the life of Marisa Mell, an actress who is not overly documented due to her limited recognition outside of Italy and Germany. Most of these photos are new to me, and in knowing there are many other more knowledgeable Mell fans out in the world it is my hope that some of you can help add some information to the photos, put some names to faces, or add any information that might enhance or solve the mystery of these photos.
For the sake of online storage space, and to prevent these photos from being copied and re-distributed, all the photos in this collection will be watermarked and uploaded at a manageable size. At this time none of the photos in the collection are for sale, though I would consider trading some unmarked high quality digital scans with any fans who have digital copies of Marisa Mell films that I am still in search of. Anyone interested can contact me via the contact button on the right hand sidebar.
Memoir Table of Contents
Updated (1/22/13)
The Early Years
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