Joan Crawford in a Strait-Jacket

Before the credits even roll in Strait-Jacket (1964), a narrated flashback provides all the background information we need to know. It starts with Frank Harbin hooking up with ex-girlfriend Stella while his wife Lucy is out of town. Frank takes Stella back to the farm for some hanky-panky, even though his daughter Carol is there (and not asleep). Lucy returns early, of course, and peeks through a window to see Frank and Stella asleep in bed. So, she picks up the ax planted in a nearby stump, enters the house, and slaughters the couple while daughter Lucy looks on.

Twenty years later, an adult Carol (Diane Baker) greets her mother Lucy (Joan Crawford), who has been released from an asylum. Carol, a sculptor, lives with her aunt and uncle who have raised her. She is "almost engaged" to nice guy Michael. She realizes her mother faces a difficult transition to "normal" life. As Lucy peers into the chicken coop, she remarks: "I hate to see anything caged."

Still, things seems to be working out except for the two severed heads Lucy claims appeared in her bed. Lucy also hears a nursery rhyme in which her name has replaced Lizzie Borden's. And did I mention two new ax murders....

Joan Crawford as Lucy.

Written by Robert Bloch, who penned the novel Psycho, Strait-Jacket is one of the many B-suspense films produced in the 1960s--mostly by William Castle or Hammer Pictures. This one is a Castle production and, while it pales next to his classic Homicidal (1961), it provides a juicy role for Joan Crawford. She is quite effective as the unbalanced Lucy, who shifts from withdrawn former patient to protective parent to confident, flamboyant woman (who awkwardly comes on to Michael in front of Carol).

One suspects that Crawford was surprised when bigger roles didn't come her way after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? scored big at the boxoffice. She began filming Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte, but was replaced with Olivia de Havilland (read this Vanity Fair article for more details). She subsequently signed with William Castle to do two pictures: Strait-Jacket and I Saw What You Did (1965).

William Castle is probably best-known as a prolific B-movie producer and for introducing gimmicks such as the life insurance policy given to viewers of the "frightening" Macabre. However, he was also an above-average director, as evidenced by Strait-Jacket. His scene transition from sculptor knife to carving knife shows some Hitchcockian style. The dark slaughterhouse, where two victims meet their ends, provides a stark contrast to the brightly-lit farm. An unhinged Lucy casually striking a match on a record on the turntable is a brilliant touch (it has been clipped for YouTube...more than once).

Diane Baker as Carol.

Naturally, Strait-Jacket features a twist ending, though I doubt if it will surprise many viewers. I must say, though, that it leads to a great scene for one cast member.

Incidentally, Joan Crawford and Diane Baker also played mother and daughter in the same year's Della. They were also guest stars (separately) in back-to-back episodes in the fourth season of Route 66. In Joan's episode, "Same Picture, Different Frame," her character was stalked by a homicidal ex-husband just released from an asylum!

The Old Dark House: "It's not good to be frightened on an empty tummy"

Fenella Fielding and Tom Poston.

William Castle's 1963 adaptation of J.B. Priestley's novel Benighted has little to do with the book or James Whales' 1932 film version. Screenwriter Robert Dillon jettisons the original premise of a group of travelers forced to spend the night in the ancestral home of the unusual Femm family. Instead, we have Tom Poston as an American car salesman who is invited by his "friend" Caspar Femm to spend the weekend at Femm Hall in Dartmoor. Given that Tom Poston is the lead, you may have surmised that the emphasis in this version is on comedy.

The Femm family is still an unusual lot, but that's to be expected when you're home-bound. It turns out that the Femm children's great, great grandfather was the pirate Captain Morgan who, before being hanged, wrote a will with a peculiar provision. Each family member must appear at a midnight gathering or forfeit his or her share of the family fortune. Thus, every time a Femm dies, the survivors grow richer.

Joyce Grenfell as Agatha Femm.

Yes, The Old Dark House boasts a creaky old plot that eventually wears out its welcome. However, that's not to say that the cast, peppered with seasoned pros, don't make it mildly entertaining. Robert Morley makes a dry, surly head of the house, while Joyce Grenfell (the "lovely ducks" lady in Hitch's Stage Fright) has fun as the matriarch (who knits "by the mile"). She has many of the best lines, including the sage remark that "it's not good to be frightened on an empty tummy."

Janette Scott as Cecily Femm.

Mervyn Johns (Dead of Night), Fenella Fielding (you'll recognize her voice instantly), and the lovely Janette Scott round out the supporting cast. Scott, who also starred in The Day of the Triffids and Paranoiac, became a cult movie star of the 1960s. She was immortalized in the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Singer Mel Torme was the second of her three husbands.

As the hero, Tom Poston executes the required pratfalls and looks of distress. However, he lacks the comic flair necessary to carry off this kind of role (Bob Hope and Lou Costello did it much better). Poston was always more at home as a TV series supporting player, where he found great success. For the record, he also starred in another William Castle picture: the previous year's fantasy-comedy Zotz!

The Old Dark House boasts an unusual production pedigree in that it's a co-production between Castle and Hammer Films. The film's crew includes many names familiar to Hammer fans: set designer Bernard Robinson, editor James Needs, cinematographer Arthur Grant, and others. Allegedly, Hammer's Anthony Hinds co-produced The Old Dark House at Bray Studios in Great Britain. However, his name is missing from the credits. Furthermore, the last two credits are very unusual: "Produced and directed by William Castle" is followed by the redundant "Directed by William Castle."

Speaking of the stylish credits, they were done by the famous cartoonist Charles Addams (creator of The Addams Family). His hand appears on screen as he signs his name in cursive. Hey, even Saul Bass, the most famous creator of credits, never got to do that.

Mr. Sardonicus: The Look of (Not) Love

This unusual foray into Gothic horror is one of William Castle's strangest films--and that's saying a lot. Typically, the gimmicky Castle focused on contemporary plots, enhanced with offbeat humor, aimed at teen audiences. Mr. Sardonicus (1961) is so different that one might suspect it wasn't a William Castle film...except that the producer-director appears on-screen at the beginning and end. And yes, he somehow manages to incorporate one of his famous audience gimmicks.

Ronald Lewis as Sir Robert.

Mr. Sardonicus opens in London in 1880 with Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) "curing" a crippled girl at Queens College Hospital. Sir Robert is more than a gifted physician; he is a renowned pioneer in the field of medicine. Still, he quickly cancels all appointments when he receives a letter from Maude (Audrey Dalton), an old flame who has married a baron. Obviously, his love still burns strongly for her, for he hops aboard a train to Gorslava at her first sign of distress.

Remember how villagers treat strangers when they learn folks are traveling to Castle Dracula? That's the same kind of response that Sir Robert gets when he arrives in Gorslava and mentions Baron Sardonicus. Fortunately, Krull (Oscar Homolka), one of the Baron's servants, is at the train station to drive Sir Robert to the castle.

The Baron wearing his mask.

Things are revealed to be a bit odd at the spooky mansion. Sir Robert rescues a servant girl who has been covered in leeches as part of an "experiment." Maude acts initially like nothing is wrong. And Baron Sardonicus arrives at dinner wearing a full facial mask because he has been horribly disfigured. The Baron wants Sir Robert to cure him--which leads to a lengthy flashback that reveals how the Baron became the man he is today.

Up to this point, Mr. Sardonicus is an atmospheric, engrossing, well-acted tale. Unfortunately, the Baron's bizarre flashback answers the central question that propelled the film. Once we know what happened to Sardonicus, it's like director Castle let out all the air of the film and it deflates quickly.

Homolka as Krull.

The cast is one of Castle's best, with Ronald Lewis exhibiting the kind of commanding presence that made me wonder why he didn't have a better career. He did appear in a nifty Hammer thriller called Taste of Fear (1961) and in the big budgeted Billy Budd (1962). Other acting honors go to the always-reliable Oscar Homolka, whose Krull proves to be scarier than Sardonicus, and Erika Peters in a small role as Sardonicus' first wife. Sadly, the talented Audrey Dalton has little to do as Maude and isn't in much of the film. (When I interviewed Ms. Dalton earlier this year, she did say it was one of her most enjoyable films to make.)

Castle explaining how to vote in the poll.

As for the gimmick, Castle appears near the end of the film to introduce a "Punishment Poll" in which audience members are supposedly given the opportunity to vote on the fate of Baron Sardonicus. There have been periodic discussions over the years as to whether Castle actually shot two endings for the film. But, to date, no one has found the footage of a second ending.

For the record, I think the make-up for the Baron's skull-like smile was inspired by the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "The Eye of the Beholder." You be the judge below:

Well, the noses are similar!

Finally, Mr. Sardonicus played a key role in a storyline on the 1987-90 critically acclaimed TV series Wiseguy, in which a character was obsessed with the film. That reminds me that the title is really misleading...no one calls him Mister Sardonicus...because he's a baron!

William Castle Asks If You Believe in Ghosts--13 of Them!

Illusion-O...a nifty gmmick!

I first saw 13 Ghosts on television as a youth. It was my introduction to producer-director William Castle. And even though Castle's famous Illusion-O gimmick was lost on my family's black-and-white TV, I still have fond memories of this ghostly variation of a wholesome family picture.

The Zorba's are your typical sitcom family--except for the fact that they're broke. It's so bad that Hilda Zorba calls her husband at work to complain: "The moving men are here...taking away the furniture again." Apparently, Cyrus doesn't earn much as a tour guide in the paleontology department at the Los Angeles Museum. Their kids, college-age Madea and youngster Buck, don't seem to mind. However, when Buck blows out his birthday candles that night, he wishes for "a house with furniture that no one can take away from us."

Charles Herbert as Buck.

Almost on cue, Cyrus receives a mysterious telegram from attorney Benjamin Rush. It turns out that Cyrus' Uncle Plato has left him a haunted--but furnished--house, complete with ghosts and a housekeeper that doubles as a medium. Their financial situation compels the family to move into the old house. The apparitions are a nuisance, especially the former chef that periodically empties out the kitchen cabinets onto the floor. However, there is also something evil afoot--and that spells trouble for the Zorba family.

As stated previously, 13 Ghosts is a pleasant little picture that didn't need a gimmick. Still, Castle came up with one of his best: a cardboard viewer with blue and red filters that allowed the audience to see the ghosts. At various points during the film, text appeared on screen telling the audience to "Use Viewer." The screen then turned blue and the ghosts appeared in red. If you wanted to "see" the ghosts, you looked through the red filter on your cardboard viewer. However, if you were afraid of ghosts, you could look through the blue filter and see all images on screen except for the ghosts. Castle, in one of his most entertaining introductory scenes, explained all this to the audience.

Audience members were prompted when to use their ghostly viewers.

This is what you saw if looking through the red filter.

When the ghosts departed, you didn't need to use your viewer!

Surprisingly, the top-billed member of the cast was Charles Herbert, who played Buck. Herbert was a busy child actor who appeared previously in Houseboat, The Fly, and The Boy and the Pirates. 13 Ghosts marked his final film role, but he remain in demand on television in the 1960s. He died last year on Halloween.

Margaret Hamilton look like Miss Gulch.

Other cast members included Martin Milner, Jo Swerling, and Margaret Hamilton. Milner started his four-year stint as the Corvette-driving Tod Stiles in Route 66 shortly after 13 Ghosts. Margaret Hamilton has little to do as the creepy housekeeper, but I was struck by her appearance. Her face looked the same as it did 21 years earlier in The Wizard of Oz (only it wasn't green). Pretty Jo Swerling retired from full-time acting in 1964 to raise her deaf daughter. She still remains popular enough to appear at nostalgia conventions.

13 Ghosts was remade as the R-rated Thir13en Ghosts in 2001 with Tony Shalhoub as the head of a family that inherits a haunted house. As you can imagine, the tone is quite different--and there's no Illusion-O.

Project X: A Bit of Mission: Impossible, a Pinch of Forbidden Planet, and a Dash of Jonny Quest

Chris George as Hagan Arnold.

One of William Castle's final films as a director, the seldom-shown Project X is a science fiction film brimming with innovative ideas--perhaps too many.

Set in 2118, it has a team of scientists trying to retrieve a forgotten secret from deep inside the mind of government agent Hagan Arnold (Christopher George). As a safety precaution prior to taking on an important mission, Arnold was injected with a drug that would erase his memory if tortured by the enemy (extreme pain activates it). The problem is that, shortly before he lost his memory, Arnold reported that Sino-Asia had developed a weapon that would destroy "the West" in fourteen days. But only Arnold knows what the weapon is and it's locked away in the bowels of his brain!

Greta Baldwin in the "kinery"--where
they turn milk into pills.

To stimulate him into remembering, the scientists provide Hagan with a "matrix"--a false identity complete with memories. They place him in an "anxious environment" by making him a bank robber in the 1960s hiding out with his cronies at an isolated house in the country. Every night, they affix electrodes to his brain and "watch" his subconscious memories, trying to gain information. Meanwhile, there's a mysterious man (Monte Markham) in the woods who's spying on Hagan and a pretty blonde at the nearby "kinery" that quickly befriends the amnesiac spy.

I originally saw Project X on network TV in the early 1970s. My memories of it turned out to be a little false as well. I recalled solely the portion of the plot in which the scientists create the fictional world for Hagan--a trick employed effectively in multiple episodes of TV's Mission: Impossible as well as the excellent James Garner outing 36 Hours (1964). But, as it progresses, Project X takes several unusual turns, even unleashing a sort of id monster reminiscent of Forbidden Planet near the climax. Best of all, the "secret weapon"--when revealed--turns to be a diabolically ingenious one.

A Hanna-Barbera scene.

Unfortunately, a protracted running time, a low budget, and an overabundance of bright ideas keep Project X from standing alongside superior late 1960s sci fi efforts like The Power and The Forbin Project. Certainly, director William Castle deserves kudos for taking an out-of-the-box approach to keeping the production costs reasonable. He employed animation studio Hanna-Barbera to design some of the sequences visualizing Hagan's memories. Thus, in lieu of using miniature models to represent an underwater prison, we get an animated sequence. Sometimes, this works amazingly well and other times...well...it looks like a scene out of Jonny Quest (which it was in one sequence).

Henry Jones admires a brain.

The screenplay was adapted from two novels by Leslie P. Davies: The Artificial Man (1965) and Psychogeist (1966). Another Davies novel, The Alien (1968), served as the basis for the 1972 thriller The Groundstar Conspiracy, which also features a central character with amnesia.

I haven't read Davies' books, but hope his plots are tighter than Project X. Honestly, I can't imagine that any security team would be as inept as the one that guards Hagan. First, they don't re-route the telephone, thereby allowing a potential enemy agent to call Hagan--twice. Then, they let Hagan wander off from the house on his own and interact with a contemporary woman (which should have destroyed the illusion of the 1960s). These are mistakes that the IMF would never make!

Still, despite its flaws, Project X remains a sporadically interesting sci fi feature. And, as mentioned earlier, the enemy's plan to destroy Western Civilization is a decidedly clever one.

Interview with Jacqueline Scott: The Classic TV Actress Discusses Raymond Burr, Walter Matthau, and Curly Hair

Jacqueline Scott and David Janssen in The Fugitive..

With over 100 credits, actress Jacqueline Scott has forged a remarkable career in film and television. She has worked with legendary directors such as Steven Spielberg, Don Siegel (multiple times), and William Castle. She made her biggest impact, though, with her guest appearances in many of the finest television series of the 1960s and 1970s. Here's a small sample, to include the number of episodes per series if more than one: Perry Mason (3 episodes), Have Gun--Will Travel (5), The Outer Limits (2), Bonanza (3), Gunsmoke (8), The F.B.I. (4); The Untouchables, Twilight Zone, Mission: Impossible, Route 66, The Virginian, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Her most famous role may be as Donna Kimble Taft, the sister of Richard Kimble, on five episodes of The Fugitive.We spoke with the delightful Jacqueline Scott recently at the Williamsburg Film Festival.

Jacqueline Scott in 2016.

Café:  What was it like playing Richard Kimble's sister in five episodes of The Fugitive?

Jacqueline Scott:  It was fabulous. It was wonderful. I finally had a brother!

Café:  Didn't you star with David Janssen earlier as a guest star on Richard Diamond?

JS: Yes, but he didn't remember me and I didn't remind him. I don't why I didn't. David Janssen was very sweet and friendly. He probably would have been happy to know that.

In "The Case of the Daring
Decoy" on Perry Mason.

Café:  You guest-starred on Perry Mason--another terrific series--three times. Between scenes, did you spend much time with series regulars Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, or William Hopper?

JS:  Primarily Raymond. I also worked with Raymond on Ironside. He was a very special man. We shot court scenes on Perry Mason for two days. And on those days, he would have someone there to cue him the day before or else they worked at night. When he shot his scenes, he never used a script or a teleprompter. He knew his lines like the back of his hand...every single episode.

Café:  One of your first film roles was in William Castle's Macabre.

JS:  I was brought to California from New York for that role. It was my first part in film. The producers had seen me on live television. I had lived in New York for about six years. I'm originally from Missouri.

Café:  What were some of the live television series you did?

JS:  Armstrong Circle Theatre, Omnibus with Geraldine Page, and several others.

Café:  When I interviewed Piper Laurie, she said she loved live television because there was no margin for error. She thought it was exciting.

JS:  It was exciting. You had about three or four days for rehearsal. On filmed television, you rarely have any rehearsal at all. When you do the script all the way through for the first time, it's the last shot of the show. On television, they generally shoot for the weather, not the script. Anything that has to be done outside is done quickly before it rains (laughs). So, it's shot out of sequence and you have to put your scenes in context as you go along. It's a challenge. I loved the rehearsals for the live shows.

Looking concerned in Castle's Macabre.

Café:  Back to Macabre, didn't you meet your husband Gene Lesser on the set?

JS:  Yes, we met on that film and we have been married for 58 years.

Café:  Did you think he was good-looking?

JS:  Oh, yes! He has naturally curly hair and they had pumped water and mud onto the Macabre set. The water made his hair curl even more and I thought I was going to have a heart attack! (laughs) Fortunately, I lived through it. He thought I was cute, too.

Café:  You've appeared in some movies which have become very famous over the years, such as Charley Varrick and Duel. What is your favorite film role?

JS:  I've enjoyed them all, but I loved working with Walter Matthau on Charley Varrick. I had admired his work for years. Don Siegel was the director. Charley Varrick was the first time I worked for him. I think I did about three or four movies with him and then he retired. He was a wonderful director and a funny and kind man. One day, he told me: "I don't know what your husband thinks about you working with these two crazy, old men"--referring to Walter Matthau and himself. They were both just nuts (laughs), but a wonderful actor and a wonderful director.

With a disguised Walter Matthau in Charley Varrick.

Café:  You're introducing one of your films at a screening tonight: Empire of the Ants with Joan Collins and Robert Lansing. Any special memories of that film?

JS:  It was filmed in Florida, so when I was offered the role, my first response was: "I'm not getting in the water with any alligators!" The director (Bert I. Gordon) was odd. He would get us up at 5 a.m. for a casting call and then not start filming until 4 p.m. It rained during some scenes, so they had to spray us with hoses in later shots so everything would match. Of course, the real star of the movie were the giant mechanical ants.

Café:  You appeared in some of the truly great TV series of the 1960s. How would you compare television today with what it was like in the 1960s?

With Brad Dexter on Have Gun--
Will Travel.

JS:  I just think that too many people are getting their fingers into the soup these days. You see these credits with six producers and I don't think it's good for the scripts. I don't think the writers are any less good than they used to be. I think all the producers have the option of changing a couple of lines and that's not good for the script. I can remember when scripts, like for Gunsmoke, were "white." Everybody didn't get their own opinion in the script.*

Café:  Did you ever turn down a role you wished you'd taken?

JS:  No. I wanted to do The Waltons. I tested for the mother. Other than that, I never wanted to be a regular on a TV series and I don't think that was too smart.

Café:  Were you offered a series?

Cliff Robertson and Scott in "The Galaxy
Being" on The Outer Limits.

JS:  Yes, but not necessarily anything great. I wanted to play all different characters. And I got to do that. Once I'd be the good girl and once I'd be the bad girl. You wouldn't want to hear: "While she's a good actress, she isn't able to do this kind of role." One director, Leo Penn--who is Sean Penn's father--would call me for anything. We had worked together when we were kids in New York and he was fabulous. Sometimes, there would be a part that people didn't think I could do. And Leo would say: "Well, it's the last minute and I don't have time to mess around meeting actors I don't know. I want Jacqueline." He'd push me for the part--and the producers would be happy he did.

Café:  What did you think of the young Steven Spielberg when he was directing Duel?

JS:  He was a youngster. He looked like he weighed about 150 pounds dripping wet. (laughs) But he sure knew what he was doing.

Café:  Thanks so much for taking time to do this interview.

JS:  It was terrific talking with you, Rick.


* It's a common practice in film production to use color pages to indicate new pages added to scripts. Hence, a "white script" is one with no changes.

An Interview with Audrey Dalton on Olivia & Joan, Bob Hope, and William Castle

Born in Dublin in 1934, the beautiful and talented Audrey Dalton fashioned a film and television career that spanned three decades. In the 1950s, she acted alongside screen legends such as Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton (My Cousin Rachel), Bob Hope (Casanova's Big Night), Barbara Stanwyck (Titanic), and Alan Ladd (Drum Beat). She also starred in cult film favorites The Monster That Challenged the World (1957) and Mr. Sardonicus (1961). In the 1960s, she was a frequent guest star in classic television series such as Wagon Train, Thriller, Perry Mason, and Gunsmoke. Ms. Dalton recently appeared at the Williamsburg Film Festival in Williamsburg, Virginia, and graciously agreed to an interview.

Café:  How did you get into acting?

Audrey Dalton at the 2016
Williamsburg Film Festival.

Audrey Dalton:  I had always wanted to ever since I was very little. I was fortunate enough that my family moved to London when I was 16. I later auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and was admitted. I was trained there and, while still at the Academy, a scout from Paramount Pictures saw me in a theater production. That led to an audition for a film in Hollywood. I came over for six months...and here I am. I'm not going to tell you how many years later (laughs).

Café:  So you had a contract with Paramount?

AD:  I was on contract to them for two years. I did loan-outs to Fox and then I became a free agent--not under contract anymore.

Café:  One of your first film roles was My Cousin Rachel. What was it like starring opposite Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton?

Audrey Dalton and Richard Burton.

AD:  Olivia de Havilland--I was awestruck. It was Richard Burton's first movie in Hollywood. He was a character, such a raconteur. He'd talk and talk. I think he was a little intimidated by Olivia de Havilland, too. She was always so gracious for a major star. It was Richard Burton's first film and he had trouble shooting, as we do, in segments. He wanted to do the whole scene. He didn't like to do it again for different shots and different cuts. But he learned to do it. I saw My Cousin Rachel for the first time in about 30 years just the other night on television. I sat and watched it when I should have been packing to come here. It was a good movie and Richard Burton's performance was wonderful--all that fire and energy and with that wonderful speaking voice.

Café:  His character should have stuck with you instead of Rachel.

AD:  Well, who knows what might happened later after Rachel died? It was all shot on Twentieth Century-Fox's backlot except for the ocean scenes, on what is now Century City. If you have been in Beverly Hills, that's a huge shopping center. So, the place where I shot Titanic and My Cousin Rachel is now all buildings and hotels.

Café:  You starred with Olivia's sister, Joan Fontaine, in Casanova's Big Night. Did you get a feel for the relationship between the sisters? I have read where it was very cool.

AD:  I have heard that, too. But the subject never came up. Those were the kinds of things you didn't talk about. They were so different, in looks and personalities. Joan was very effervescent and a great match for Bob Hope. They just traded barbs all the time and laughed and joked.

Café:  What was it like playing in a Bob Hope comedy?

AD:  It was fun. On the set, he always had the same group of small-part players with him. He knew all these people and would make sure that they were included somewhere in his movie so they always had a job. He took care of people. He was very, very sweet. In fact, when I first came here, I was 18 and on my own. He had a son and a daughter, who were a little younger than me by a couple of years. On Sunday evenings, he would sometime take me to dinner with his wife. They would come pick me and take me to dinner because they figured I needed a little looking after. He and Dolores were kindness itself.

Café:  Did Bob Hope stick with the script when filming?

AD:  Oh, no! He drove the writers and the director crazy. He kept twisting lines to try to make them funnier. He would say "gon-dole-la" instead of "gondola," which the writers wanted him to say. It goes back and forth a bit in the movie.

Café:  How well did you get along with Alan Ladd on Drum Beat?

With Alan Ladd in Drum Beat (1954).

AD:  Alan Ladd was wonderful to work with--very professional. He was very quiet off the set, very much a gentleman. I knew his family in Los Angeles. My father had known Alan because they were both into race horses. When I came here, Alan was asked to keep an eye on me. He took me into his family. He had a daughter who was a student at UCLA and she and I became good friends. We're still friends.

Café:  Delmer Daves is one of my favorite 1950s film directors. How would you describe his working style as a director on Drum Beat?

AD:  He was very tall and gregarious. He had a wonderful background of stories. He knew every day what he was going to shoot and he coaxed and pulled to get people to do what he wanted. He was very upbeat, never down, and always smiling. The world was wonderful. I was so sad when I heard that he had passed away.

Café:  The Monster That Challenged the World has become a well-regarded science fiction film of the 1950s. What was your initial impression when you read the script?

That's not Audrey on the poster!

AD:  I was puzzled by it. I was a working actor. I believed that was my job and you did your job. In those days, I was not picking and choosing. I never really did, unless it was offensive or something I didn't want to do. I thought it was a very interesting experience--as all my movies were in different ways. The director, Arnold Laven, had formed a production company with Jules Levy and Arthur Gardner. The monster stuff was fun, crouching behind a desk with a monster breaking down the wall. But you had to play it very straight. Once you start seeing the funny side of it, it doesn't work. Tim Holt had come out of retirement to do this movie. He was a quiet, very nice man--the most "unactor" actor that I ever worked with. The film's poster features a woman in a bathing suit. People think it's me, but it was the actress whose character was drowned in the opening sequence. She's pulled into the water by the monster. We shot down on the beach for that. I think the rest of it was filmed along the California Aqueduct.

Café:  You and Jacqueline Scott both worked with William Castle on different films. What was it like working with William Castle on Mr. Sardonicus?

Dalton in Mr. Sardonicus.

AD:  William Castle loved those kinds of movies. He got such a kick out of enticing the audience. He would literally giggle and laugh. I even have shots at home of him in the torture chamber of Baron Sardonicus. One of the devices was called an iron maiden, which was like a sarcophagus tomb standing on end. But when you opened it, it had all these nails sticking out. I have a picture of William Castle going into it. Oscar Homolka was the butler and had this face that he could pull in five different directions and he'd threaten young maidens. The clothes, especially the gowns, were beautiful. I had a very good time making that movie.

Café:  You've appeared in a number of fine films and classic TV series. What are some of your favorite roles?

AD:  Usually, I loved the one I was in at the time...which is not giving you an answer. I loved going back to Wagon Train, because I knew everybody. I think I did eight episodes of Wagon Train. There was one where I had to sing an aria from La Traviata. I am one of those people who has been blessed with not having a voice to sing with...at all. I can't carry two notes. I needed to be singing this aria. So, the studio gave me a recording of it and I had to learn it by rote so you could see the throat muscles work during the scene. Later on, of course, they substituted a singing voice for mine. But the poor crew had to listen to me sing it on the set. They deserved some extra money for having to put up with the awful screeching.

Café:  I recently saw one of your Wagon Train episodes. It was one where you fell in love with a man who may have been John Wilkes Booth. We never know for sure.

AD:  I also remember "The Liam Fitzmorgan Story" episode, which had an Irish feel to it.

Café:  Can you still do an Irish accent?

Audrey Dalton and her daughter Tara.

AD:  Well, it's not too hard (spoken in an Irish accent). In fact, if I'm talking on the phone to people at home, it comes without even trying.

Café:  When people come up to you at conventions like this, are there one or two roles that they ask you about the most?

AD:  Titanic (1953) is a big one. People are interested in it and, of course, the Westerns. One of my favorites was a Bonanza episode with Mercedes McCambridge (1962's "The Lady from Baltimore"). I was trying to marry Little Joe and big brother knew what I was up to.

Café:  Were you bad?

AD:  Oh, I was bad! And with a scheming mother.

Café:  Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to share with our readers?

AD:  I enjoy events like this and do them every once in awhile. We have great grandchildren now and I love to take care of them. My life is more domestic now.

Is "Homicidal" William Castle's Best Film?

Castle introduces the movie.

Best known for fanciful gimmicks like "Emergo" (a skeleton on a wire that flew over audiences), producer-director William Castle also made some very good suspense films. Two of his finest, Homicidal and Strait-Jacket were produced in the 1960s and are relatively gimmick-free. While the latter features a first-rate Joan Crawford performance, I recently watched Homicidal and believe it may be the better of the two. It's often described as a Psycho "knock off," but that's doing this underrated fright flick a disservice.

Glenn Corbett as Karl.

After an amusing introduction featuring Castle (in which he references several earlier films), the story starts with a prologue set in 1948. A young girl is playing tea with her doll when a boy walks into her room and grabs the doll. The action shifts to present day and we learn that the children, now adults, are step-siblings Miriam and Warren Webster. Miriam (Patricia Breslin) owns a flower shop and is romantically involved with family friend and druggist Karl (Glenn Corbett). Warren lives in his childhood home with his former nanny Helga, who is mute and wheelchair-bound, and Emily, the young woman that cares for Helga.

Jim, the bellhop, and Emily.

We first meet the blonde-haired Emily when she registers under Miriam's name at a Ventura hotel. She pays the handsome bellboy Jim $2000 to marry her that night. He agrees (well, it's a quick way to make some money and he's attracted to Emily, too). However, when they call on a justice of the peace to conduct the nuptials, Emily pulls a knife out of her purse and viciously stabs the judge multiple times. She leaves her new husband and the judge's widow gaping in shock as she steals Jim's car, ditches it, and returns to Warren's house.

It's a masterful opening sequence that's as good as anything done by Alfred Hitchcock. It not only pulls the audience in right from the beginning, but it makes us a witness to the gruesome crime. We know Emily is a murderer, but we don't know why and we don't know who else has knowledge of her homicidal tendencies.

Warren confronts his sister.

If Homicidal focused solely on Emily's bloody plan, it would have been a highly effective chiller. However, Castle and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Robb White, have come up with a doozy of a twist that may inspire you to watch the film a second time. (I actually guessed the twist...and still enjoyed Homicidal immensely).

Joan Marshall on Star Trek.

Much of the cast went on to successful TV careers, with Patricia Breslin becoming a regular in Peyton Place and Glenn Corbett replacing George Maharis on Route 66. They give respectable performances, but are overshadowed by Jean Arless as the killer. It was the kind of role that should have jump-started her film career. Sadly, it did not, although she also established a successful career on television, appearing under her real name of Joan Marshall. One of her best-known guest appearances was on the "Court Martial" episode of the original Star Trek.

The Fright Break clock.

Castle does inject a gimmick into Homicidal, although it's one of his less elaborate ones. As Miriam is about to enter a darkened house at the climax, the action stops and a clock is superimposed on the screen. Viewers are given a 45-second "Fright Break" and afforded the opportunity to leave the theatre and get a full refund. During the theatrical run, Castle provided yellow cardboard booths labeled "The Coward's Corner." Anyone demanding a refund had to stand in the Coward's Corner and sign a statement that they were "a bona fide coward."

Homicidal doesn't need any gimmicks, though. It's a first-rate shocker and, if you enjoy this genre and films like Psycho, then I strongly encourage you to seek it out.

The Five Best Movie Gimmicks

The "Golden Era of Movie Gimmicks" was in the late 1950s and 1960s when producer William Castle came up with some very innovative ways to lure audiences to his low-budget thrillers and horror films. Although Castle remains the undisputed King of Gimmicks, there were memorable ones before and after him. The Cafe takes a shot at listing the five best movie gimmicks:

The shadow of the Tingler. Scream,
scream for your life!

1. The Tingler - Vincent Price stars as a doctor who discovers a crustacean-like creature that grows at the base of the spine during moments of intense fright. When one screams, the creature reduces in size and becomes harmless. However, if you’re too afraid to scream, the Tingler snaps your spine, causing instant death! At the film's climax, Price surgically removes a Tingler, which subsequently escapes to a movie theater below him.  The screen goes black and Price urges the real movie audience to: “Scream!  Scream for your lives!” To heighten the effect, some patrons at selected movie theaters received mild electric shocks (yes, Castle had actually wired some of the seats!). 

2. House on Haunted Hill - If five guests can spent the night in Vincent Price's haunted house, each will receive $10,000. Castle's big gimmick, dubbed “Emergo” (love the name!), was simply a skeleton on a wire which projectionists dropped over unsuspecting viewers during the film’s big shock scene. Again, the gimmick was only used in selected theaters, although it was recreated for a New York City film festival in 2010. 

3. Scent of Mystery - Mike Todd, Jr. produced this light mystery about a novelist trying to save an heiress (an unbilled Elizabeth Taylor) from a murder plot. In selected theatres, over 30 aromas were piped in via plastic tubes at appropriate points in the film--this was dubbed “Smell-O-Vision.” There have also been other attempts to create smelly movies, the most famous being John Waters' campy Polyester, which took the low-tech route with scratch-and-sniff cards (Waters, who has a great appreciation of "B" cinema history, called his gimmick Odorama).

If you can see these ghosts, you
must be wearing your glasses!

4. 13 Ghosts - This second haunted house movie (albeit a family-friendly one) from Castle was filmed in "Illusion-O." With this gimmick, Castle provided viewers with filtered glasses which allowed them to see the movie’s “invisible” ghosts.

5. Earthquake - The most expensive and large-scale gimmick (short of 3-D) was Sensurround, in which a film's soundtrack was amplified in certain scenes to cause a rumbling sensation. It also caused headaches.  The first Sensurround film was the disaster flick Earthquake in 1974. It was followed by Midway (1976) and Rollercoaster (1977).

Honorable Mentions:  Macabre (Castle offered a $1000 life insurance policy if anyone died of fright while watching the movie); Homicidal and Ten Little Indians (1965) paused the action momentarily for a "Fright Break" and a "Murder Minute," respectively; the otherwise forgettable thriller Wicked, Wicked was shot in "Duovision," meaning that  almost the entire movie was shown in split-screen so the audience could follow simultaneously-occurring events; and, finally, Robert Montgomery filmed all of the Philip Marlowe mystery The Lady in the Lake in first-person (Marlowe is only glimpsed via reflections).

A William Castle Double Feature: The Tingler and Mr. Sardonicus- An Undertaker Is Standing By In Case You Die Of Fright!

William Castle and his signature stogie!

How can you not love this face?  William Castle, director extraordinaire -- not that his movies are masterpieces for the ages, but that they are just so much fun!  He has been responsible for some of the best movie nights of my young life.  Actually, to this day, if I see that 13 Ghosts or House on Haunted Hill are to be shown on Channel 4 Friday Macabre Theatre, I instantly start rearranging my social schedule so that I will be in front of the screen precisely at the stroke of the hour.  I always wish I had a pair of the special glasses handed out in theatres for 13 Ghosts so I could see the ghosts clearly, and certainly wish a skeleton would whoosh over my head as Castle rigged up for certain theatres showings of House on Haunted Hill.

That was Castle, guru of gimmicks, who could make even bad movies fun with his shenanigans.  Most of his low-budget horror movies were pretty darn good, though, in my eyes.  Two of my special favorites, besides the ones I already mentioned, are the double feature I have created for myself, and will enjoy at home with my own DVDs this weekend.  The movies:  Mr. Sardonicus and The Tingler.

The Tingler (1959) starred my favorite scary movie master, Vincent Price.  Price plays Dr. Warren Chapin, a pathologist who is convinced that people can die of fright because of an actual creature that forms in their body when they are terrified.  I don't know how he got that idea, but it makes for a great movie.  The Tingler has the honor to be the first movie in which a character uses LSD (still legal in 1959) to try to induce hallucinations.  Price was joined in the movie by Judith Evelyn, playing an easily-frightened deaf-mute (you may remember her as Miss Lonelyhearts in Hitchcock's Rear Window); Patricia Cutts as Isabel, Price's lovely and unfaithful wife; Phillip Coolidge as Ollie, the deaf-mute woman's suspect husband; and Darryl Hickman, who received almost no pay because Castle convinced him that being in the movie at all would enhance Hickman's career.  (Castle was obviously a man of many talents -- one can see him standing at the back of a covered wagon selling Dr. Castle's Miracle Elixir.)



Vincent!  LSD?  Wow, the colors!

The gimmick for The Tingler was called Percepto, by which some members of the audience would feel tingling when the Tingler was near.  Most fans think that Castle had certain theatre seats wired for low-level electricity, but that was not the case.  Selected seats had World War II surplus vibrating buzzers placed under them, and at certain times during the movie, the projectionist would set them off.  Castle also would plant fake audience members to start the screaming when appropriate.  One really fascinating part of the movie is the famous bloody red bathtub scene.  The movie is black and white, and in order to create the scene of red blood in a bathtub, Castle used color film, then had the set painted in white, black and grey, and had actress Judith Evelyn wear grey makeup.  It is a startling effect.

Like Hitchcock, Castle liked to appear in his own movies, and his scenes are the ones I look forward to the most.  Because only Castle can really showcase Castle, I'm providing here the funny prologue Castle filmed of himself explaining what might happen to certain audience members during the showing of The Tingler:

http://youtu.be/7FQm30eQn7I

The second film of my double feature is just about my favorite -- Mr. Sardonicus (1961).  A very strange, Gothic tale of horror, it stars Guy Rolfe as the main character; Oskar Homolka as his manservant Krull (Krull? What kind of name is that for an Eastern European butler?); Ronald Lewis as Dr. Robert Cargrave; Audrey Dalton as Mr. Sardonicus' unfortunate wife Maude; and various lusty, busty maidens.  Who is that mysterious masked man?  Why is his wife so afraid of him?  What does he do with the bevy of village maidens invited to the lower level of his skull-shaped castle by the one-eyed Krull?  We do know that Mr. Sardonicus has hired Dr. Cargrave to help him with a facial problem.  I can say no more except to tell you that finding out Mr. Sardonicus' secret is the best part of the movie!  And the moral of the movie is -- don't play the lottery!
 


Mr. Sardonicus wearing his special mask

Castle's special gimmick for this one was the Punishment Poll.  Audience members were handed glow-in-the-dark cards as they entered the theatre.  Each card could be turned to show a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.  Just before the last scene of the movie, Castle comes on-screen and explains that it is completely up to the audience to decide the ultimate fate of Mr. Sardonicus by holding up their cards while he counts them.  The truth is that Castle only filmed one ending, punishment of course, but it was a great idea!  As before, the best way to experience this Castle gimmick is to view Castle's scene:
http://youtu.be/ZJjK9njAwu0

Castle loved to engender fear.  Besides the audience shills who would scream on cue, Castle would also hire professional fainters, who would be carried out of the theatre on stretchers by fake nurses.  He once offered a $10,000 insurance policy to any audience member who might die of fright.  Castle said of himself:  "We all have a common interest, bigger and more horrible monsters - and I'm just the monster to bring them to you."  I doubt if this fun and creative father of 3 was a monster, but boy did he know how to make memorable movie experiences and scare everybody while they had the time of their lives!