Actress Spotlight: Ewa Aulin

Actress Spotlight: Ewa Aulin

Throughout the history of film, there is the "It" actress  that embodies sexual goddess for that time period. Who that actress is varies from person to person. Sometimes their goddess status does not last long. Some actresses like Sophia Loren are still remembered and have developed a sortof mythical like status. While others for some reason have become forgotten over time for whatever reason.

Today's spotlight is going to go to an actress who seems to be forgotten, but due to specialty home media companies like Arrow that releases older films with a high quality restoration actresses/actors can be rediscovered. Ewa Aulin fits perfectly into that forgotten category, but desperately is in the need to be rediscovered by Cinephiles.

Ewa Aulin, pictured  to the right of Miss Teen International 1967, is a Sweedish born actress who took the world by surprise in 1966. Aulin won the 1966 Miss Teen International, the inaugural show, in front of an international audience across the world on television at the age of 16.

Back then with a lot less channels to choose from, that contest made her an international sensation overnight. Unlike Miss America, she was free to take on projects that would exploit her beauty for money. Trust me the movie industry was knocking on her door before Ewa could even get back home.

Ewa made her film debut at the age of 16 in the Italian Comedy Don Juan in Sicily. That would lead to a career in which she was the main actress next to a list of leading men that would make the average person's mouth drop.

You think me an expert in film history would have heard of Ewa Aulin before now. Nope not the case, even though she starred opposite of Donald Sutherland, Marlon Brando, James Coburn, Gene Wilder, Klaus Kinski, Walter Matthau, and Ringo Starr to name a few. Why haven't I heard of this actress before now?

That is because her films never really caught on in the United States even though she was big in Europe. That is no fault of Ewa, Ewa was taking on roles in the birth of no Hayes Codes and the beginning of the rating system for theaters in the 60s. That meant the ability to take on crazy roles in productions that directors wanted to push the boundaries because of the new found freedom. 

So some of her films can be quite strange and the average person might not understand them. In a sense making it hard to broadcast on tv. So being born in 1979 Ewa was a few years before my time.

My actual discovery of her came when I was watching the TV at the Film Bar AZ, waiting for the theater to open up for the next screening. Andrea Canales the programmer for the Film Bar, has put together a list of clips from films, retrospectives, and music videos from all across the world. Quite honestly it can be an expensive TV for me, because I keep discovering films I want to see that is the fun of being a Cinephile discovering new material.

On that day I saw a music video for the band Cults. In that music video, I saw a film being played in which a man and women were being chased across London including the London Underground with scenes in color and black white. Any film that includes a chase sequence in London grabs my attention that I want to see more of. I left that day not knowing what I saw, but prayed I would see that clip again sometime there while waiting. A 3 month wait, but the clip came up again grabbed the remote and paused it.

Got the name of the video, did the research, and bought a copy of the film. The rest is history Ewa Aulin had become apart of my life in a film called Deadly Sweet. 

Deadly Sweet is weird combination of Giallo, Italian Gangster, and Cinema Fumetti pop art put together by Tinto Brass. At heart a very simple concept a man walks into a room to find his contact dead and a smoking hot lady next to him. The man instead of calling the police is going to protect this women all across the city while he investigates the killers himself to take then down. That doesn't sound weird, but it does when you throw in art from Guido Crepex and 3 way split screens with different action going on at the same time. In a way the first film of

its type that will be popularized by Barbarella.

One thing is for sure Ewa plays a lady who can come across deceptively dumb, but is really smart and cunning. Ewa wants you to think she is the dumb blonde. This is a characteristic she will bring to films for the rest of her career. It is what I love about her.

From there she went on to start in her most known role Candy in the self titled film Candy. A sexual comedy that sends an innocent young high school student on a sexual journey of discovery across the world where everyone wants a piece of Candy. Will she survive or be swallowed whole?

Quite a fun film that I'll do a larger in depth look to later.

Ewa remained in the Spotlight for 6 years, but didn't like the leading roles she was getting and called it quits from the industry at the age of 24. She settled down got married, had a few kids, and a became a teacher. Who knows maybe she was Van Halen's inspiration for Hot for Teacher. She came out of retirement for one role in 1996, but has since disappeared from the Spotlight again.

Luckily for us Ewa Aulin has had two of her films recieve a long awaited release this year.

Death Laid an Egg and Death Smiles on a Murderer.

Death Laid an Egg's release marked the first time the Director's fully restored cut was released onto any video format. About 14 extra minutes of footage. With an English/Italian score to choose from the English audio will switch to Italian with English Subs for those 14 additional minutes that were restored makes it very easy to tell the scenes you have never seen before.

Death is probably the strangest Giallo I have seen that is hard to describe, but has alot in common with April Fool's Day. Anna and Marco run an automated state of the art facility for a poultry farm that recently fired a bunch of its employees. On hand is a scientist who is determined to develop a mutant chicken. Marco is under pressure from his organization to make sure the experiments succeed and a successful ad campaign happens. Marco to release stress has an insane fetish that he does in private.

Anna on the other hand his her self a live in companion (Ewa) that seems to be there for a threesome and her diabolical plans. That seem to keep changing by the minute. Either way it seems like she wants to do experiments of her own as well. Yet Ewa has her own plans.

All this comes to a climactic full circle that will leave many people scratching their heads with the fast unexpected ending.

Honestly that is what I love about Ewa Aulin she is just in fun, unique, and in groundbreaking films. As I write this spotlight on Ewa Aulin, I am excited because tonight I'll be watching her in Joe D'amato's film Death Smiles on a Murderer starring Klaus Kinski. It's the only film Joe D'Amato was proud enough to be billed under his real name Aristide Massaccesi. I hope you catch her in a few of these releases myself.

For more info on Ewa Aulin I suggest checking out the Daughters of Darkness podcast and Kat Ellinger's Diabolique Magazine.