Musings!

Pierre Cressoy and Elena Klaus in FRINE - COURTESAN OF THE ORIENT (1953)

I got a new HD copy of this title, streaming in HD in Italy. Almost identical in style and story as APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE (1958) also directed by Mario Bonnard. The copy has English subs and the spelling of Frine is Phryne. It even stars some of the same actors. It's beautiful but the print is not new (full of scratches, and marks...) which is why I won't feature it under HD Alert!

Elena has an elegant look and in this dress, one can clearly see she's not wearing anything underneath it. There's something undeniably exotic about her but her career was short, consisting of only 6 movies. Pierre Cressoy is excellent in this. He appeared in many PEPLUM movies. Tamara Lees looks and dresses like Irene Tunc in APHRODITE. 

Frine was the model to Praxiteles' revolutionary Aphrodite of Knidos. Sculptures and models are also part of the story of APHRODITE. APHRODITE is not a remake of FRINE but there's a lot of it that's identical. Cinematic Confusion. I like both movies. There's even incidental nudity.