HEADER: Allison Hayes in The Undead (1957)
Pamela Duncan (as Diana Love) in The Undead (1957)
Pamela Duncan (as Helene) in The Undead (1957).
The Undead (1957) AIP
Directed by Roger Corman
Screenplay by Charles B. Griffith & Mark Hanna
CAST: Pamela Duncan (Diana Love/Helene), Richard Garland (Pendragon), Allison Hays (Livia/Witch), Val Dufour (Quintus Ratcliff), Mel Welles (Smolkin the Gravedigger), Dorothy Neumann (Meg Maud/Witch), Billy Barty (The Imp), Bruno VeSota (Scroop the Innkeeper), Robert Devon (Satan).
This film is a curiosity in so many ways that the only way to describe it is as the motion picture equivalent of a train wreck. You just can’t stop watching it because you have to know how it’s going to come out. It is a time travel horror fantasy complete with Satan himself in the final reel. If you are looking for a party film that requires no attention span, you have found it. Pamela Duncan stars in the dual role of Diane Love (a streetwalker) and Helene (a condemned witch in the Dark Ages). A head shrinker regresses Diane to her past life convinced that it will save her from her current wicked ways. This makes as much sense as anything else that happens in this most bizarre of Roger Corman’s films. It is interesting for its complete abandon of sense and an eerie staginess that gives it an other worldly feel. Scream Queen Allison Hayes stars as the witch, Livia.
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) Allied Artists
Directed by Roger Corman
Screenplay by Charles B. Griffith
1hr 2min / Not Rated
Cast: Richard Garland (Dale Brewer), Pamela Duncan (Martha Hunter), Russell Johnson (Hank Chapman), Leslie Bradley (Dr. Karl Weigand), Mel Welles (Jules Deveroux).
Top notch Corman with giant telepathic crabs on the loose. Pure monster movie with mutated crabs attacking to gain control of the world. Surprisingly solid entry. Great one to run at night when you’re at the beach (or down the shore if you live in New Jersey).
Pamela Duncan & Richard Garland in Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
Pamela Duncan (1924-2005)
Sterling Hayden and Pamela Duncan in Gun Battle at Monterey 1957, Pamela Duncan and Richard Garland in Attack of the Crab Monsters 1957.
Pamela Duncan worked mainly in TV from the early fifties to 1964, appearing in everything from The Roy Rogers Show (1954) to 77 Sunset Strip (1963) accumulating 98 screen credits. She also appeared in a few movies including the Roger Corman films, The Undead and Attack of the Crab Monsters which brought her a short lived notoriety and fame.
Pamela Duncan in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) & Death Valley Days (1952)
Allison Hayes (1930-1977)
Richard Garland & Allison Hayes in The Undead (1957)
Allison Hayes worked in both TV and Feature Films (with a total 0f 69 screen credits from 1954 to 1967), and was also a prolific scream queen of the 1950’s starring in a number of B horror films that kept the drive-ins running. She is best known for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (see Science Fiction Films: 1950’s Part 3).
Allison Hayes’ other horror films include: The Unearthly (1957 / starring John Carradine), The Disembodied (1957), The Undead (1957), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), The Hypnotic Eye (1960) and The Crawling Hand (1963).
Both Allison Hayes and Beverly Garland were in the western, Gunslinger (1956). Both actors also guest starred in a number of TV westerns.
Beverly Garland & Allison Hayes in Gunslinger (1956)
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon
(1956) Universal
Directed by Curt Siodmak
Screenplay by Curt Siodmak
1hr 16min / Not Rated
CAST: John Bromfield (Rock Dean), Beverly Garland (Dr. Andrea Romar), Tom Payne (Tupanico), Harvey Chalk (Father Flaviano) Larri Thomas (Vivian the Dancer).
Although Beverly Garland did a lot of TV and Feature Films that included dramas, westerns, and thrillers, she was also in a number of B horror films. It is difficult to choose the worst one, and for many, choosing a best would also be a chore. Curucu, Beast of the Amazon is definitely in the running for the worst or best depending on the viewer. The experience of performing in them was best summed up by Garland herself:
“You don’t have to act in these pictures. All you have to do is possess a good pair of lungs. I can scream with more variations from shrill to vibrato than any other girl in pictures.”
and on a more serious note:
“It’s funny today because it’s so ridiculous. But at the time, it was very serious! We were just actors doing our best, I think. None of us overacted. I’m not saying we weren’t good. We didn’t do it tongue-in-cheek. We really meant it. We gave our all. We were serious, good actors and we played it seriously.”
Written & directed by Curt Siodmak, author of a number of other Universal horror films including: The Invisible Man Returns (1940), Black Friday (1940), The Wolf Man (1941), as well as the Val Lewton classic I Walked with a Zombie (1943). It is difficult to understand what happened with its script especially because he also directed, though the answer may be found in this quote about the location shooting in the Brazilian Jungle by Siodmak himself:
“I shot it down there in the jungles. I never recovered, physically.”
John Bromfield and Beverly Garland in Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956)
The film is carried by its attractive leads, John Broomfield and Beverly Garland and the Brazilian location photography.
Both Hayes and Garland did many TV appearances including:
Allison Hayes in Tales of Wells Fargo (1957) & Allison Hayes & Robert Williams in Tombstone Territory (1957)
Amanda Blake & Beverly Garland in Gunsmoke (1955), Beverly Garland in The Twilight Zone (1959), David Janssen & Beverly Garland in The Fugitive (1963)
It Conquered the World (1956) AIP
Directed by Roger Corman
Screenplay by Lou Rusoff
1hr 11min / Not Rated
CAST: Peter Graves (Dr. Paul Nelson), Beverly Garland (Claire Anderson), Lee Van Cleef (Dr. Tom Anderson), Sally Fraser (Joan Nelson), Russ Bender (Brig. Gen. James Pattick), Jonathan Haze (Privete Manuel Ortiz), Dick Miller (Sargent Neill).
Beverly Garland in It Conquered the World (1956)
It Conquered the World (1956) which also starred Peter Graves and Lee Van Cleef is also a serious runner for worst, although the unintentionally (we hope) hilarious creature with its bat like flying minions does make for a deer in the headlights reaction for many (myself included). Garland supplies the screams and Peter Graves, well he’s characteristically grave as he fights back against It.
Not of This Earth (1957) Allied Artists
Directed by Roger Corman
Screenplay by Charles B. Griffith & Mark Hanna
1hr 7min / Not Rated
CAST: Paul Birch (Paul Johnson), Beverly Garland (Nadine Storey), Morgan Jones (Harry Sherbourne), William Roerick (Dr. F.W. Rochelle), Jonathan Haze (Jeremy Perrin) & Dick Miller (Joe Piper).
Paul Birch & Beverly Garland in Not of This Earth (1957)
Not of This Earth (1957) is my pick for the best of Garland’s B horror, and not only because it was re-made in 1988 as a Traci Lords vehicle. Yes, really, but also because it is entertaining and Paul Birch’s performance brings a solemnity that keeps the film grounded as Beverly Garland is drawn into the horror of alien invaders in search of blood, lots and lots of blood.
Paul Birch & Beverly Garland in Not of This Earth (1957)
This is a good spot to show pictures from the 1988 re-make for thee of little faith. This was Lord’s first main stream film after the scandal of her underage work in adult films. Corman offered her another role, but because it also contained nudity; she turned it down–due to wanting to get away from the image of an adult star. I like that there’s even a hokey looking lamp in the shot below, even though it is not a table lamp:
Tracy Lord in the 1988 re-make of Not of This Earth
Beverly Garland also stared in Swamp Women & The Alligator People of which the less said the better.
Beverly Garland in Swamp Women (1956) & The Alligator People (1959)
Facts, Rumors & Hearsay
After finishing Curucu, Beast of the Amazon, Corman realized that he had enough film leftover to make another movie. He devised a screenplay, and using some of the actors from Curucu made Love Slaves of the Amazons (1957).
Not of This Earth fell into the public domain because the release print did not include the copyright year.
Allied Artists Pictures released Not of This Earth on a double bill with Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) with the tag line, “Terrorama! Double Horror Sensation!”
When leading lady Beverly Garland got her first look at the monster in It Conquered the World, she cried, “That conquered the world?”.
Composer and musician Frank Zappa made a tribute to It Conquered the World in his album, Roxy & Elsewhere with the song Cheepnis (1973).
The bat-like creatures that It uses to control people in It Conquered the World would later be re-used in Roger Corman’s next film, The Undead (1957).
Attack of the Crab Monsters was actress Pamela Duncan’s first film for Corman, and she starred in The Undead a month later.
Attack of the Crab Monster’s actor, Russell Johnson would later co-star in the TV series Gilligan’s Island.
The seaplane shown in Attack of the Crab Monsters is a Douglas Dolphin.
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