Author: dante_s_ghost@yahoo.com

The casting of Anthony Perkins was perhaps the most important decision that Alfred Hitchcock made while in pre-production on what would become his greatest and most notorious achievement. Perkin’s nuanced performance as Norman and Janet Leigh’s restrained portrayal of Marion Crane are among the finest performances either have given. The peculiar fact that Hitchcock said in an interview with François Truffaut, “People will say (of Psycho), ‘It was a terrible film to make. The subject was horrible, the people were small, there were no characters in it.’ I know all of this.” (Hitchcock by François Truffaut) cautions us not to take what the director says in interviews at face value. He was emphasizing his focus on technique. On shooting and editing, but before all of that came the careful preparation of the script and the casting.

Hitchcock always took special care in script preparation and casting, both very important steps in creating any film but even more so with one that defies description. It is a horror story in no uncertain terms, but it is also a love story gone terribly wrong. With very short brush strokes, Hitchcock and screenwriter Joseph Stefano create the characters of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin). There is no doubt that they are fully formed characters. Given the short amount of time that we get to know them, they’re three dimensional in our minds. Marion’s desperation is palpable, and we find ourselves cheering her on as she takes off with the loot.

The same can be said of Norman Bates as his character is revealed (if somewhat misleadingly due to its nature) through both his words and his actions. He has advised Marion that the hotel has “...twelve cabins, twelve vacancies…” yet when he goes to reach for a room key his hand hovers hesitatingly over room 2 and 3 and then slowly moves to pick room 1’s key from the board.

Norman’s hospitality to Marion is borne out of loneliness. His offer of a meal up at the house is derailed by the ravings of the woman that Marion saw in silhouette in the window of the house up the hill. We see Marion’s response to the old woman’s insinuating tirade. The voice is as much a shock as it is disturbing in what it conveys.

The later scene echoes the conversation that Sam turns lurid with his suggestions for being alone with Marion. In the scene with Sam we see Marion’s sandwich untouched and it hammers home the sadness of the tryst. Norman comes down from the house with a tray of milk, bread, and butter which is his pathetic attempt at being hospitable. They have a conversation during which Marion is moved to change her mind about what she is doing. When she suggests that Norman leave his mother he goes into a controlled rage. Marion tries to convince him, and though he comes back to his senses and admits that he has even thought about it, he remains unresolved:

MARION: “…She’s hurting you…

NORMAN: “…She needs me…She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you?

MARION: “Sometimes just one time can be enough…I have a long drive tomorrow, all the way back to Phoenix.”

NORMAN: “Really?”

MARION: “I stepped into a private trap back there I’d like to go back and try to pull myself out of it before it’s too late for me too.”

Marion goes back to her room and Norman checks the register and sees that although she told him her name is Crane while in the parlor with him, she signed it as Samuels. Then he goes back into the parlor and removes a picture from the wall exposing a hole, and through the hole we see Marion preparing to shower.

After this, Norman goes back up to the house. He stops at the stairs and it appears that he thinking about something–probably to go up and tell his mother that he is leaving? He thinks better of it and goes into the kitchen. Sitting down at the table, he fidgets with the lid of a sugar bowl.

Then we are back in the hotel room with Marion. She is also sitting as she tries to figure out how much of the money she has spent so she knows what she has left. It is clear that she intends to go back and return the money and face the consequences. She tears up the paper that she has been doing the figures on, and she flushes the scraps down the toilet. Then she closes the door of the bathroom, gets in the shower, and turns it on.

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The suddenness of the act is horrifying even after multiple viewings. It is also what makes the film so memorable. That, and the incredible performances by both Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.

The old woman runs out of the bath. We see the house and hear Norman’s horrified reaction to his mother returning spattered with blood. He bursts from the house and down to the hotel room where he is visibly repulsed, and yet he proceeds to clean up. We quickly realize that he is going to cover up for his mother. The methodical way that he does this gives us the idea that this may not be the first time his mother has gone a little ‘mad.’ After he clears the room of any trace of Marion (even taking the newspaper wrapped forty thousand dollars and throwing it into the truck), he pushes her car into a swamp behind the hotel and stands watching it sink. His nervousness brings our sympathy. What a horrid trap he was born into! When the process stalls and the car appears not to be sinking, we find ourselves hoping it does and that he is not caught. We have shifted our identification from Marion to Norman.

NEXT: The Investigation

The brainchild of Gene Wilder who then collaborated with Mel Brooks on writing the script, the film is greater than the sum of its parts; its parts being near perfect. The cast was the strong suit: Wilder as Frederick Frankenstein, Peter Boyle as the Monster, Marty Feldman as Igor, Teri Garr as Inga, Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher, and Madeline Kahn as Frederick’s wife, Elizabeth. There was also an inspired unbilled cameo by Gene Hackman (Hackman was not credited in the original theatrical release) as the blind hermit that has become one of the best known bits from the film. The Hermit’s last line, “I was going to make espresso.” was not in the script and the scene immediately fades to black due to the burst of laughter from the crew during the shot. They tried reshooting but Gene Hackman couldn’t get through it without laughing, so they used the initial take, adding the quick blackout. Also ad-libbed in the film to great success were Cloris Leachman’s (Frau Blücher) lines, “Varm milk” and “Ovaltine?” to Dr. Frankenstein.

It is my favorite of her films along with After Hours (1985). In addition to the exceptional cast, the beautiful production and exquisite black and white photography by Gerald Hirschfeld also deserve attention. Mel Brooks was able to get the original electronic equipment of the laboratory through Ken Strickfaden. Strickfaden had made the equipment for the original Universal Frankenstein films and still had it stored in his garage. He was never credited in the original film, but was finally credited in Young Frankenstein. The original components complimented the overall production design by Dale Hennesy (Logan’s Run). The score composed by John Morris was both dramatic and playful and avoided triteness. From the opening credits, the plaintive violin portends the grave parody of the tale about to be told.

Cloris Leachman was seriously sinister and slyly slapstick as Frau Blucher who was modeled on Mrs. Danvers from Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), and yet fit in perfectly portraying a new character she made memorably her own. This was not the only element not from a Frankenstein film. The climax where Fredrick and the Monster are on stage singing Putting on the Ritz is a parody of the famous scene in King Kong where Kong was displayed on a stage in front of a live audience. Wilder imagined this song and dance and got resistance from Brooks who fortunately gave in, because it is one of the funniest scenes in the film.

Madeline Kahn’s portrayal as Elizabeth, the fiancé of Frederick and mistress of the Monster was a high point in the film. From the moment she arrives at the castle, she is aware that something is going on between Frederick and Inga, his lab assistant. She asks just what assistance Inga provides in the lab, but Inga is quickly cut of by Fredrick before she can reply.

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Mel Brooks claimed that the film was based on the first five Universal Frankenstein films, but I found there are more similarities in Son of Frankenstein (1939). In fact, Young Frankenstein could have been called Grandson of Frankenstein because of the genealogy. First, there is an uncanny resemblance of Terri Garr to the actress Josephine Hutchinson who played Baron Frankenstein’s wife in Son of Frankenstein.

The last film in the Universal Frankenstein series was the comedy, Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein. It seems appropriate that following the Hammer series of Frankenstein films the most popular retelling of the story is also a comedy.

NEXT: Rocky Horror Picture Show, Gothic, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Hammer brought new life to the gothic horror that had produced some of Universal’s most successful films. Along with the many changes that came with the Hammer films which included colour and gore was a focus on sexuality that spawned the term Hammer Glamour. In 1957 Hammer released The Curse of Frankenstein and it was an international success. Not in small part due to the cast members, Hazel Court and Valerie Gaunt. In that film, the two became the first of the Hammer Scream Queens as cousin and betrothed to the Baron and the Baron’s maid and lover respectively. By shifting the focus away from the monster and onto Baron Frankenstein, Hammer created it’s own take on the Shelley story which was an immediate hit with audiences if not with the critics. The hint of a triangle between the maid and the Baron’s betrothed along with the Baron’s insistence on continuing his experiments against his mentor’s wishes took the Frankenstein saga in a different direction altogether. There was no mistaking this Dr. Frankenstein for the one that appeared in the 1931 film version.

Hazel Court (1926-2008)

After the exposure gained through The Curse of Frankenstein, Hazel Court appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1958-59 as well as a number of films including Breakout, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, and The Shakedown all in 1959. In 1960 Model for Murder was released and in 1961 she again appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and other TV shows as well as the British horror film, Doctor Blood’s Coffin. In 1959 Court also appeared in the last Twilight Zone episode written by Rod Serling titled, Fear.

Not just a beauty (she was a well known pin-up model in England), but an award winning actress as well, Court had received the British Critics Award for her performance in Carnival (1946) at the age of twenty. She was know in England for films including Champagne Charlie (1944), Dreaming (1944), Dear Murderer (1947), and The Root of All Evil (1947) among others. She was the only Scream Queen that has appeared with all of horror’s most well know leading men in the films of the 50’s & 60’s: Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee appearing as she did in both Hammer Films and Roger Corman Productions.

Valerie Gaunt (1932 – 2016)

Unfortunatly, Valerie Gaunt only appeared in two horror films, both for Hammer. After appearing in The Revenge of Frankenstein, she was featured in the 1958 Hammer Production of Horror of Dracula (aka Dracula) as a vampire who tries to take Jonathan Harper for her own hunger much to Count Dracula’s disapproval, which gave her the honor of being in both the first of the Hammer Frankenstein & Dracula films! She was cast in The Revenge of Frankenstein after the director Terrance Fisher saw her in the BBC TV production of Dixon of Dock Green. She retired from acting in 1958.

Eunice Gayson (1928 – 2018)

Eunice Gayson appeared in films and TV from 1948 to 1972. She was both a Hammer and Bond Girl appearing in The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Dr. No (1962), and From Russia with Love (1963). In the Bond films, Gayson was Sylvia Trench. Originally slated to be a recurring role, sadly the character was cut after the second film. Gayson was first cast to play Miss Moneypenny but ultimately that role went to Lois Maxwell (Lolita 1962). Gayson is considered the first ‘Bond Girl’ because she is the first woman to be seen with Bond in Dr. No.

Gayson went on to show up on TV shows like Secret Agent, The Saint, and The Avengers. Her daughter (Kate Gayson) appeared in 1995’s GoldenEye and was billed as ‘Casino Girl’

Yvonne Furneaux (1928)

Yvonne Furneaux appeared in only one Hammer film, 1959’s The Mummy. Playing the dual role of Isobel Banning/Princess Ananka proved to be a challenge that she was more than prepared to take on opposite Peter Cushing.

In spite of the bad reviews received on release, The Mummy is one of Hammer’s most entertaining films, and each cast member brings something special to the film. Furneaux is mesmerizing as Ananka and a strong heroine as Isobel. Cushing gives his usual careful performance bringing his professionalism to every scene. Although the story itself lacks the originality Hammer brought to the Frankenstein and Dracula films, the cast and the production bring it to colorful life. The weak point is the mummy itself played with heart by Christopher Lee who was let down by the make-up department. The make-up done on Boris Karloff for the Universal production far surpassed what was provided to Lee. The 1932 version of The Mummy still stands as the unsurpassed classic of the genre.

Yvonne Furneaux is perhaps the most fascinating of all the Hammer Scream Queens. Having begun her acting career in the early 1950’s she had already appeared in many British TV shows and films including 1956’s Lisbon with Ray Milland and Claude Raines.

Her talent and classic beauty did not go unnoticed and the following year she appeared in Federico Fellini’s, La Dolce Vita (1960) giving a wonderful performance opposite Marcello Mastroianni.

She would also appear in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion in 1965. Polanski’s film was somewhat ahead of its time, and is a horror classic that rivals and was undoubtedly influenced by Hitchcock’s Psycho. It is a submerged study of insanity that offers little in way of apology.

In 1967 Furneaux appeared in Claude Chabrol’s, Le scandale (The Champagne Murders) starring opposite Anthony Perkins, Maurice Ronet, and Stephane Audran.

NEXT:
Ingrid Pitt & Madeline Smith

Psycho (1960 Paramount Pictures) Continued

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Written by Joseph Stefano based on the Novel by Robert Bloch

Cast: Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), Janet Leigh (Marion Crane), John Gavin (Sam Loomis), Vera Miles (Lila Crane), Martin Balsam (Detective Milton Arbogast), Vaughn Taylor (George Lowery), Frank Albertson (Tom Cassidy), Patricia Hitchcock (Caroline), John Anderson (California Charlie), Mort Mills (Highway Patrol Officer).

The impetus behind Psycho was Hitchcock’s own divided psyche, and it is important here to define the relationship between the two distinct parts of his personality. The frightened schoolboy and the exhibitionist showman were constantly at odds with each other. The question was, how far would the schoolboy allow the showman to go? Hitchcock loved telling the tale of his fear of policemen (in almost every interview he recounted how his father had sent him with a sealed note to the police station where he was put in a cell and the officer said, “This is what we do to bad little boys.”). In this, both of his personalities were in accord. This was the schoolboy speaking through the showman as a way of explaining the stories he chose. They were all about guilt and retribution, but not always for real crimes. Mistaken identity and confusion reigned in many of his films. The best of both the early British films as well as the later Hollywood films dealt with mistaken identity and misdirection.

The 39 Steps and North by Northwest are two of Hitchcock’s most popular films that exemplify this paradigm. Both deal with a man pulled into an intrigue he knows nothing about as he is implicated in a crime. He is then forced to flee and at the same time try to figure out what is happening. Both run into a woman who to varying degrees aid and abet and threaten and hinder. Both of the women are of a type, blonde and beautiful and smart.

The year before North by Northwest, Vertigo was released (more about all three of these films later) and it exemplified Hitchcock’s obsession in no uncertain terms. Though mixed reviews undoubtedly hurt the box office (the film just about broke even on it’s initial release), but that didn’t didn’t keep the film from gaining momentum and finally on reevaluation, critical acclaim. In making North by Northwest it could be said that Hitchcock went back to what he knew best. Returning to the light hearted and dramatic heart of The 39 Steps and hiring Ernst Lehman (Sabrina) to concoct the screenplay proved to be a sure formula for success. It also proved to be a sound business decision and produced one of his best films to date, but was there more to it than that? Could it be that the master of suspense realized that he had given too much away in Vertigo? Was the audience aware that Scotty’s obsession was Hitchcock’s obsession? Had the schoolboy allowed the showman too much freedom? If we assume that was a subliminal part of his decision making process, Psycho then becomes an inevitability; a merging of both personalities.

Marian Crane is beautiful and smart and of course, blonde. She steals the money from her bosses’ client and immediately goes on the run. Her conscience begins to gnaw at her before she even gets out of Phoenix when her boss crosses the street in front of her car at a light. He looks puzzled for a moment and then moves on thinking, “but she went home sick!” It haunts her for the entire ride. Guilt. She cannot shake it. When she pulls over on the roadside to rest and falls asleep a police officer wakes her and his ominous dark glasses and uniform of authority (Hitchcock also claimed that the reason he never drove was his fear of getting a ticket) send her into a panic. She starts the car and the officer demands she shut it off.

She is so fearful after he lets her go and even after she watches the police car take an exit off of the highway that she stops at a used car dealer to trade in her car. While waiting for the salesman, she buys a newspaper to see if there’s any mention of her theft in the paper.
It is then that she notices that the police officer that woke her on the highway has parked across the street from the car dealership. The officer is standing and staring at her as he leans against his parked squad car. She is now in a controlled panic that makes the salesman suspicious, but since she has all the necessary papers he takes the trade and the cash.

Then the police car pulls into the lot and the officer gets out of the car. Marion is near hysteria and almost drives off in her new car without her suit case. One of the shop men runs out and puts it on her back seat as she leans over the front seat to open the back door of her car. As she finally drives off, her imagination takes over as she obsesses over what the officer is saying to the salesman. She imagines what her boss is saying to Carolyn and to her sister. The guilt runs rampant as night falls, and then it begins to rain so hard she can barely see out of the windshield. Then she sees the sign.

Hitchcock has been playing the audience: in the way that we hope she gets away with it and can be with her lover, in the way we smile with her when she thinks of Tom Cassidy taking the money out of her ‘soft white skin.’ He is in full control of our thoughts.

She pulls off the highway and up the drive to the Bates Motel.

NEXT: Norman Bates

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

Directed by Terence Fisher.

Screenplay by Bert Batt based on a story by Anthony Nelson Keys.

Cast: Peter Cushing (Baron Frankenstein), Veronica Carlson (Anna Spengler), Freddie Jones (Professor Richter), Simon Ward (Karl), Thorley Walters (Inspector Frisch), Maxine Audley (Ella Brandt), Geoffrey Bayldon (Police Doctor), George Pravda (Doctor Brandt), Colette O’Neil (Mad Woman), Harold Goodwin (Burglar).

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) is my favorite of the Hammer Frankenstein series; due largely to Peter Cushing’s performance and the dark humor that pervades the film from the opening scene with the burglar who inadvertently breaks into the Baron’s laboratory heading off further experimentation at that location. He is cornered there by the Baron who has returned to the lab with a head in a box. How the head got into the box is detailed in the opening title sequence.

Trapped, the burglar tries to make a run for it and gets into a tangle with the Baron. He manages to break free and escape covered in blood from the Baron’s experiments and runs right into a bobby on the street. As the Baron throws the contents of his lab and his ‘experiment’ down a deep well, the burglar ends up at the police station being grilled by Inspector Frisch (Thorley Walters). Inspector Frisch and the Police Doctor (Geoffrey Bayldon) play off of each other expertly and the resulting humor makes this one of the most enjoyable in the series. The high caliber of the performances of all of the players makes the film a strong entry. Even the least experienced actor in the cast, Veronica Carlson contributes greatly to the film’s success.

The Baron’s cold heartedness is countered by Anna’s (Veronica Carlson) innocence. She is pulled into a horror only because she is trying to care for her mother, and Karl is stealing the cocaine for the same reason. The Baron uses her to control Karl (Simon Ward) getting him to assist in breaking the insane Doctor Brandt out of the asylum. He needs to cure Brandt’s insanity so that he can get the information he needs to prefect brain transplants.

The success of the series has been the focus on Baron Frankenstein rather than on the monster which is both truer to Shelley’s novel than the Universal films, yet takes the Baron’s obsession beyond anything that she had imagined. He was foremost a doctor that was trying to do good, but ventured too far into God’s realm and paid dearly. Here, instead of learning from his transgression, he arrogantly pursues his goal beyond all reason. Even after he restores Doctor Brandt’s (George Pravda) sanity and transplants Brandt’s brain to the body of Professor Richter (Freddie Jones), the Baron Frankenstein still persists.

Wanting no part in the madness, Brandt escapes (mortally wounding Anna in the process) and goes to his home and finds that his wife is terrified of him. The Baron finds his way to the Brandt home and the showdown does not end well.

The last of the Hammer Frankenstein series was Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1972). It is too bad that Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed was not the last film. That would have ended the series on a high note, but there was redemption for the monster just two years away with Mel Brook’s & Gene Wilder’s, Young Frankenstein (1974).

NEXT: Young Frankenstein (1974)

Above: Black Angel (1946) Dan Duryea, June Vincent, & Peter Lorre

Phantom Lady (1944) Universal

Directed by Robert Siodmak

Screenplay by Bernard C. Schoenfeld based on the Novel by Cornell Woolrich (as William Irish)

CAST: Franchot Tone (Jack Marlow), Ella Raines (Carol Richman), Alan Curtis (Scott Henderson), Aurora Miranda (Estela Monteiro), Thomas Gomez (Inspector Burgess, Elisha Cook Jr. (Cliff), Fay Helm (Ann Terry).

The writer that casts the longest shadow in Film Noir is Cornell Woolrich.  Truly  a master of dark fiction, Woolrich’s stories and novels were mined by film-makers as far back as 1934’s Manhattan Love Song, and most notably in Val Lewton’s 1943 production of The Leopard Man which was based on Woolrich’s novel, Black Alibi.

 

The following year, the first of the Woolrich based Film Noirs would be released, Phantom Lady (1944).  The novel, published under the pseudonym William Irish, was adapted to the screen by Bernard C. Schoenfeld (The Dark Corner) and directed by Robert Siodmak who also directed the Noir classic, Criss Cross (1949).  Phantom Lady begins innocently enough when Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis) goes out to get a breather from his shrewish wife and meets a woman in a bar.  They innocently go for a night on the town, but he never learns her name.    Unbeknownst to him, while he is out his wife is strangled with one of his ties.  His only alibi is a woman he can only identify by her unusual hat.  It is a simple plot that is brought to life by what should have been a star making performance by Ella Raines.

Carol Richman (Ella Raines) is Scott Henderson’s secretary who not only believes that he is innocent, but is also in love with him.  She powers the story as she pushes to prove his innocence in a seemingly hopeless situation.

Also notable in the cast is Elisha Cook Jr. who gives a exceptional performance as a strung out musician.  One of the best character actors of all time in a powerful role.

Phantom Lady begins like many of Woolrich’s stories, with common place events and no hint of the horror to come.  Unlike most of the pulp writer’s whose stories found their way to the screen, the private eye was not always present in Woolrich’s tales.  Ordinary people lost in the darkness of a shadowy turn of events that moved from the light of day into the blackness of a moonless night were at the heart of his fiction.  His writing was always dark as was reflected in many of the titles: Black Alibi, The Bride Wore Black, The Black Curtain, Rendezvous in Black, and Night Has a Thousand Eyes.

 

Black Angel (1946) Universal

Directed by Roy William Neill

Screenplay by Roy Chanslor based on the Novel by Cornell Woolrich

CAST: Dan Duryea (Martin Blair), June Vincent (Catherine Bennett), Peter Lorre (Marko), Broderick Crawford (Police Captain Flood), Constance Dowling (Mavis Marlowe), John Phillips (Kirk Bennett).

June Vincent (Catherine) and Dan Duryea (Martin) are excellent together as they work very hard to try to prove the innocence of Catherine’s husband Kirk (John Phillips) in the murder of well known night club singer, Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling). Going to great lengths to track down evidence they end up working at a night club run by the unsavory Marko (Peter Lorre) as a singer and her pianist. One of Woolrich’s very intricate plots, it takes a while to get to the truth.

Martin (Dan Duryea) is seen entering the lobby of the Mavis Marlowe’s building. We see him get turned away by the doorman on Mavis’ orders. As Martin leaves, we see Marko (Peter Lorre) enter the building and gain access to the elevator that will take him to Mavis’ rooms.

Their plan is to get close enough to Marko to get evidence to prove that he is indeed the murderer. The entire cast pulls this noir conundrum together with stylish aplomb. Duryea is wonderful against type and June Vincent adds a wary innocence as she and Duryea can’t help but get too close for comfort making the ending even darker.

The third episode of the first season (also written by Rod Serling) was titled, Mr. Denton on Doomsday.  The cast included: Dan Duryea (Al Denton), Martin Landau (Dan Hotaling), Jeanne Cooper (Liz), Malcolm Atterbury (Henry J. Fate), and Doug McClure (Pete Grant).  It is the tale of a burnt out gun slinger that time and circumstance has reduced to the town drunk.  Al Denton is constantly taunted by the slick gunslinger Dan.  Dan humiliates him in order to make him beg for money for drinks.  The barmaid, Liz tries to comfort and encourage Denton, but to no avail.

A barker arrives in town whose wagon announces, Henry J. Fate and suddenly, Denton finds a six shooter in the dust of the road.  Dan sees Denton with the gun and challenges him to a gunfight.  Fate seems to give Denton an edge as with two quick shots he sends Dan’s gun spinning through the air and Dan stands holding an injured hand. He won’t be quick drawing any more.

Denton wins the respect of the town that fast, but he knows that now he’ll be in the same conundrum that led him to drink in the first place. It won’t be long before someone comes to challenge him to a gun fight.

Dan Duryea gives a controlled performance and Jeanne Cooper as the sympathetic barmaid reigns in the sentiment keeping her role perfectly modulated.  As with most of the Twilight Zone series, the black & white photography lends strong support with stunning light and shadow that enhances the mood.  Martin Landau’s Dan Hotaling is a perfect foil, smart mouthed and arrogant as he goads Denton into the gunfight.  The show not only showcased good writing, but also extended the careers of seasoned actors by introducing older players to an audience that may not have been familiar with their previous work.  This episode is a good example as it showcased the very talented Dan Duryea as well as younger actors Martin Landau, Jeanne Cooper, and Doug McClure.

The fourth episode is a supernatural twist on Sunset Boulevard that stars the multi-talented Ida Lupino as a fading Hollywood legend. She is supported by Martin Balsam (who was probably working or about to start working with Hitchcock on Psycho), as her well meaning agent. Her maid sees that her mistress is spending far too much time in a dark room watching her own films from the golden age of Hollywood and calls the agent for help.

Her agent shows up and tries with kindness to bring her to what he feels should be her senses, but she does not respond. He brings a retired actor that she had worked with in the past, but that backfires on him. It is no use and the inevitable happens. Light and shadow are important in this episode as well with the flickering of the past illuminating the present. The visuals were as atmospheric as necessary. Ida Lupino and Martin Balsam were perfect, and the ending was as it could only have been in The Twilight Zone.

Introduction

Psycho (1960 Paramount Pictures)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Written by Joseph Stefano based on the Novel by Robert Bloch

Cast: Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), Janet Leigh (Marion Crane), John Gavin (Sam Loomis), Vera Miles (Lila Crane), Martin Balsam (Detective Milton Arbogast), Vaughn Taylor (George Lowery), Frank Albertson (Tom Cassidy), Patricia Hitchcock (Caroline), John Anderson (California Charlie), Mort Mills (Highway Patrol Officer).

So much has been written about Alfred Hitchcock that I hesitate to broach the subject.   

The temptation to begin with Psycho instead of going chronologically through the director’s films seemed like a good idea, since I am not going to cover every film in detail (we will look at some of his best known films as well as some of the films that should have been more popular).  In addition, Psycho is the Hitchcock film that everyone knows.   It was also the first of Hitchcock’s films that got my attention.  Shot in black and white with the crew from his TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and scored by the enigmatic Bernard Hermann it was a film like nothing that came before.  It is difficult to believe–even from a distance of almost 60 years that the film we know as Psycho ever got made in the first place.

Robert Bloch’s book is far from a great novel, but Hitchcock often worked from marginal novels and stories.  He always seemed able to choose just the right screenwriter to work with to achieve his vision; Thornton Wilder for Shadow of a Doubt, Ernst Lehman for North by Northwest, Evan Hunter for The Birds.  He chose a virtual unknown for Psycho.  Joseph Stefano had written one produced screenplay, The Black Orchid (1958) which was directed by Martin Ritt and starred Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn.  In addition, he’d written a play for TV’s prestigious Playhouse 90 called Made in Japan (1959), two episodes of General Electric Theater (1959), and three episodes of The Detectives (1960).  Given the task at hand, and the fact that Hitchcock was gambling with his own money as well as his reputation at age 60; it seems a reckless choice.  Stefano took a middling horror novel and turned it into an extraordinary screenplay, and once again, the master of suspense was master of his own destiny as Psycho became one of his most successful films (made at a cost of about eight hundred thousand dollars, its US gross was thirty-two million dollars).

Stefano impressed Hitchcock by deviating from the novel and beginning the story with Marion Crane.  What is clear now, is that Stefano wrote an exceptional script and that the actors cast for the parts were more than willing to create the characters that would move the story across the screen.

As the leads, Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins both had enormous disadvantages.   Marion was dead forty minutes into the film and Norman turned out to be a deranged murderer.  None of this had ever been done before- forget about the toilet being flushed on camera for the first time in the history of film-especially having the heroine killed off not even halfway through the film!  Even becoming an absent screen presence so soon in the story, Janet Leigh made an indelible impression on the audience giving a performance that surpassed her work on Orson Welles’ noir classic, Touch of Evil (1958).  Anthony Perkins’ performance as Norman Bates is still one of the most fascinatingly iconic portrayals of madness in film.

We first see Marion in a cheap hotel room having a clandestine meeting with her lover, Sam Loomis. It is here, on her lunch hour that we learn not only Marion’s distaste for clandestine meetings, but also of Sam’s financial conundrum. Marion wants to get married, but Sam feels he’s too much in debt to even think of matrimony. Marion hasn’t eaten her lunch, but must hurry back to the office.

When she arrives at the office, her conversation with the agency’s receptionist Caroline is interrupted by her employer and the inebriated and crudely suggestive client Tom Cassidy who talks about his ability to buy away unhappiness for his ‘little girl’ while waving forty thousand dollars in cash in Marion’s face. The money is meant to buy a house for his eighteen year old daughter as a wedding present. And without missing a beat, he is making an obvious pass at Marion.

Her boss does not want the money in the office overnight and tells Marion to take it to the bank on her way home. Marion feigns a headache and leaves early. Next thing we see is a suitcase on a bed and the envelope containing the forty thousand dollars. Once again we see Marion in a bra and slip. This time the undergarments are black whereas in the opening scene they were white, suggestive of a switch in intention as we watch her pack the suitcase.

Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh had no way of knowing what they were about to become part of when they accepted the roles of Norman Bates and Marion Crane. It was a combination of things that had never been juxtaposed before. Horror, comedy, and suspense in a film elevated to the level of fine art by a master of (what Hitchcock referred to himself as) “pure cinema.” Even its creator could hardly have foreseen the sensation that his project based on Robert Block’s macabre novel would create. Neither actor would ever have a role that would eclipse their link to the film. Nor would either of them ever have such powerful a role again.

NEXT: Psycho Close-Up!

Lori Nelson  (born 1933)

By 1955 the Creature was back, but this time he was chasing a blonde instead of a brunette. Unfortunatly, Julie Adams did not reprise her role as Kay Lawrence in either of the sequels. This time the scream queen is played by B movie blonde, Lori Nelson as Helen Dobson. John Agar and John Bromfield (and Clint Eastwood made his film debut) in this watered down 3D sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon titled, Revenge of the Creature.  Lori’s character did get into more of the action than Julie’s in the original. She actually donned diving equipment and dove into the tank containing the Creature. This proved to be a mistake!

In the same year Lori Nelson’s only other horror film was released, Day the World Ended. Vintage Roger Corman fare that also stars Richard Denning (who was married to Scream Queen Evelyn Ankers!).

The following year Hot Rod Girl was released. Another B outing that also starred Chuck Connors and Frank Gorshin, both of whom became well know to television audiences in the 1960’s. In 1957 Lori made Untamed Youth co-starring with Mamie Van Doren and after that worked mainly in television for the rest of her career doing a sporadic number of guest appearances in 1960 – 61 and again in 1971.

Leigh Snowden (1929 – 1982)

The last in the series was The Creature Walks Among us and Leigh Snowden played Marcia Barton who was more blonde bait for the monster. The weakest entry in the series had a plotline where the scientist makes the creature an air breather due to its gills being burned when it was captured. The scientist wants to create a new kind of ‘human’, chaos ensues.

Leigh Snowden was featured in a number of B films. She also had small parts in some better known films like the classic film noir, Kiss Me Deadly that starred Ralph Meeker, All That Heaven Allows with Jayne Wyman and Rock Hudson, and The Square Jungle starring Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine (Joe Louis played himself) all released in 1955.

Hot Rod Rumble was Leigh Snowden’s last feature before moving to television for the rest of her career. She guest starred on a number of shows until 1961.

NEXT: HAMMER SCREAM QUEENS

Julie Bishop

(1914-2001)

Julie Bishop  appeared in her only horror film under her real name, Jacqueline Wells.  The Black Cat starred Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in a story ‘suggested by’ Edgar Allan Poe.  She went on using her real name in a myriad of genres including mysteries like Night Cargo (1936) and comedies like The Bohemian Girl (1936) with Laurel and Hardy.  It wasn’t until the 40’s that she started using the name Julie Bishop in films including Action in the North Atlantic (1943) with Humphry Bogart and Raymond Massey.  She was also in Tarzan the Fearless (1933),  Girls Can Play (1937), Torture Ship (1939), and Westward the Women (1951).

On Television from 1952 to 1953, she was a regular on My Hero.  She guest starred on others including The Bob Cummings Show, Fireside Theater, Warner Brothers Presents, and the Ethel Barrymore Theater.

Ilona Massey (1910-1974)

Blonde singer and actress, Ilona Massey wowed horror fans in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, but she had made her mark long before that in an MGM musical starring opposite Nelson Eddy. Massey was highlighted in Balalaika (1939).  Prior to that, she had starred with him in Rosalie (1937).  She starred with Peter Lorre in 1942’s Invisible Agent.  It was in 1943 that she made the movie that horror fans remember her for, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man remains one of her best known films.

Continuing her career through the 1960’s she was in Love Happy with the Marx Brothers in 1949 and even had her own Television series, The Ilona Massey Show which she hosted from 1954-55.

Evelyn Ankers (1918-1985)

Although she had been active in pictures since 1938 in such films as Murder in the Family (1938) with Jessica Tandy and Roddy McDowall, and in 1941 Hold That Ghost with Abbott & Costello, the film that would bring her lasting fame would be The Wolf Man (1941), with Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Raines.  Next came The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) with Lionel Atwill, Lon Chaney Jr.,  Ralph Bellamy, and Bela Lugosi.  Captive Wild Woman (1944) was a low budget that was John Carradine’s first leading role, but also featured Milburn Stone (who went on to be best known for his role as Doc in Gunsmoke) in a lead role because his thin frame and curly hair matched the archival shots of Clyde Beatty that were used in the film.  Even using archive footage, the film only ran 61 minutes.

She also made a number of other genres, among the best remembered are Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), and The Pearl of Death (1944) starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.  In 1943 it was back to horror with Son of Dracula with fellow Scream Queen, Louise Allbritton and Lon Chaney Jr., and then The Mad Ghoul with George Zucco and Turhan Bey.  She soon became known as “Queen of Screamers” and “Screamer” because of her many roles in horror and suspense films.

Weird Woman (1944) is a favorite of her fans and stars fellow Scream Queens, Anne Gwynne and Elizabeth Russell as well as Lon Chaney Jr.  In the same year, The Invisible Man’s Revenge was released which featured John Carradine and Gale Sondergaard in supporting roles as well.  In 1945 she was back with Lon Chaney Jr. in The Frozen Ghost which also featured Elena Verdugo.

Elena Verdugo (1925-2017)

Elena Verdugo will always be best remembered for her portrayal of the gypsy girl, Ilonka in House of Frankenstein (1944).  Her romance with Larry Talbot (the Wolf Man) is one of the sub plots, but takes center stage for most of the film.  She meets J. Carroll Naish’s hunchbacked Daniel first.  Daniel falls in love with her, but she is smitten by the tragic Talbot.

The main plot is Boris Karloff’s Doctor Gustav Niemann’s obsession with getting revenge on the men who sent him to prison.  He and Daniel break out of prison, and he promised his friend that he will cure him of his hunchback once he retrieves the Frankenstein Notebooks.  When Talbot joins them, he promises to cure Talbot of his lycanthropy as well. Of course, he is mainly interested in bringing the Frankenstein Monster back to life.

Niemann is a vicious killer and he uses the powerful hunchback as a weapon.  Daniel will do anything for his friend who promises to make him normal.  His love for Ilonka only makes his desire to be handsome stronger.

Next was The Frozen Ghost in 1945 again with Lon Chaney and this time with fellow Scream Queen, Evelyn Ankers.  In 1946 Verdugo supported Abbott & Costello in Little Giant and continued appearing in films until 1953 when she began working almost solely in TV, with the exception of the film, Panama Sal (1959).  She graced the small screen in everything from Schlitz Playhouse (1952) to Route 66 (1962) to Love American Style (1969), and many more.  The one that she is most remembered for was as a regular on Marcus Welby M.D. (1969-76) where she appeared in 169 episodes!

Julie Adams (1926)

Julie Adams has had a long and varied career as an actor.  Her large and small screen credits include Horizons West with Rock Hudson and Robert Ryan among a number of westerns as well as The Treasure of the Lost Canyon with William Powell, and on TV she has been on a number of shows over the years including: Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents,  One Step Beyond, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Incredible Hulk, Code Red, Murder, She Wrote, Beverly Hills- 90210, Cold Case, and CSI: NY just to name a few.

The amount of work she has done is staggering, having over 145 screen credits in her career which spanned from 1949 to 2011.  She has commented on the fact that no matter how many roles she had, what she was remembered for was Creature from the Black Lagoon.  Certainly one of the true Scream Queens, Julie Adams brought a lot to the character of Kay in Creature from the Black Lagoon.

 

She had the right amount of intelligence, and her beauty did not keep her in the background as decoration.  Her high spirited portrayal was a first step forward for this type of role.  Perched somewhere between the shrinking violet of the Scream Queens of the past and the women that were yet to come, Julie Adams was a new kind of horror heroine that made a strong impression showing up as she did in 1954.  Her beauty to the Creature’s beast was accentuated by  astonishing underwater photography.

Virginia Christine (1920-1996)

Although Virginia Christine had a long and varied career, to some she will be always be most remembered for her Folger Coffee commercials as Mrs. Olsen.

As a Scream Queen, it was The Mummy’s Curse (1944) that brought her notoriety.  This was the final film in the Universal Mummy series.  The scripting was not up to par, and the casting of Virginia Christine was probably the best thing about the film.  Alas, this was the only horror film that she was in unless you count a small role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1956.

Being a Scream Queen had different effects on the various actresses that found themselves cast or assigned to a horror film. Virginia was one of those whose long career included films such as The Killers (1946) with Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner, The Men (1950) with Marlon Brando and Teresa Wright, The Cobweb (1955) with Ricard Widmark and Gloria Grahame.  And in addition to her twenty-one year run with Folger’s Coffee, she appeared in a number of TV shows including guest spots on The Abbott and Costello Show (1952), Adventures of Superman (1954), Dragnet (1952-54), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Peter Gunn (1958),  The Donna Reed Show (1958),  and Wagon Train (1961-65) just to name a few.