RIP, Roger Corman.

Roger William Corman
 (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) 

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The great producer/director/cultural icon Roger Corman has passed away at 98. It might take us months to fully comprehend what a big deal that is.

As for me, I can remember exactly when Mr. Corman became part (a big fat part) of my Movie Life.

Every summer growing up, we’d head to Strawn, Texas, and stay a few weeks with my grandparents. Being a movie-collecting family, and this being the pre-home video 1970s, we would pack a 16mm projector and a stack of prints for the trip. One particular summer, when I was 10 or 11, one of the films that made the trek (in a Chevrolet station wagon) was Roger Corman’s Pit And The Pendulum (1961). (Budd Boetticher’s Buchanan Rides Alone was there, too.)

Strawn is a tiny town of about 850 people — a couple hours West of Dallas. My grandfather, AG “Flint” McCullough, was a real cowboy — he trained cutting horses. My grandmother, Zelma McCullough, worked in Strawn’s lone grocery store. They were wonderful people.

Summers in Strawn get really, really hot. And sitting under the window-unit air conditioner at my grandparents’ house, watching Pit And The Pendulum projected onto the bright white living room wall, was a nice way to beat the heat.

I ran that print of Pit And The Pendulum several times over those three weeks — on one of those green Bell & Howell projectors some of us remember from high school. I can still hear its clicky purr mixed with the hum of the A/C. Can recall the brownish color of the slightly-faded ‘Scope print. (No telling what it looks like now.) And can still recite a lot of its dialogue.

Watching that film so many times, I started to get a sense of how movies work. The power of cutting to a closeup. How the lack of light can be more impactful than the presence of it. Just what music can do. How widescreen (Panavision, in this case) can be used to startling effect. And on and on. 

This sent me digging for any Corman movie I could find, which in those days meant learning his filmography and scouring the TV Guide, hoping to happen upon something. I read Ed Naha’s book on Corman over and over.

Roger Corman not only taught me about movies, he taught me to love them. I really owe him an awful lot.

4K Blu-Ray News #386: The Million Eyes Of Sumuru (1967).

Directed by Lindsay Shonteff
Starring Frankie Avalon, George Nader, Shirley Eaton, Maria Rohm, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Klaus Kinski

Blue Underground has announced an upcoming 4K release of Lindsay Shonteff’s The Million Eyes Of Sumuru (1967). The picture isn’t hard to find — Blue Underground released it and its sequel, Jess Franco’s The Girl From Rio (1969), as a gorgeous Blu-Ray twin bill a while back. Thing is, now they’ve found the presumed-lost camera negative and it’s 10 minutes longer!

Why did Shirley Eaton (who plays Sumuru) get third billing? And why did AIP not mention on the posters that this was based on a series of novels by Sax Rohmer?

Shot in Technicolor and Techniscope (at the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong), this should be a crazy piece of pop art eye candy. Can’t wait!

Blu-Ray Review: Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959).

Directed by Arthur Crabtree
Executive Producer: Herman Cohen
Produced by Jack Greenwood
Original Story & Screenplay by Herman Cohen & Aben Kandel
Director Of Photography: Desmond Dickinson, BSC
Film Editor: Geoffrey Muller
Music Composed by Gerard Schurmann

Cast: Michael Gough (Edmond Bancroft), June Cunningham (Joan Berkley), Graham Curnow (Rick), Shirley Anne Field (Angela Banks), Geoffrey Keen (Superintendent Graham), Gerald Andersen (Dr. Ballan), John Warwick (Inspector Lodge), Beatrice Varley (Aggie), Austin Trevor (Commissioner Wayne), Malou Pantera (Peggy), Howard Greene (Tom Rivers), Dorinda Stevens (Gail Dunlap), Stuart Saunders (Strength-Test Barker), Hilda Barry (Woman in Hall), Nora Gordon (Woman in Hall), Vanda Godsell (Miss Ashton), Gerald Case (Bookshop Manager), Geoffrey Denton (Sergeant at Jail), William Abney (Constable), Howard Pays (Constable), Frank Henderson (Medical Examiner), Garard Green (Fingerprint Expert)

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Over the last few months, all sorts of B Movie riches have turned up in my mailbox. From 30s crime pictures (Convict’s Code from Film Masters) and 40s serials (VCI’s Jack Armstrong) to 50s sci-fi favorites (It! The Terror From Beyond Space from Kino Lorber) and on to Roger Corman’s Filmgroup titles (Film Masters again). And there are promises of many more to come.

One I was really looking forward to was Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959), now on Blu-Ray from VCI. I have a real soft spot for this deliciously nasty horror picture.

As a series of brutal murders terrify the people of London, famous (and surly) crime porter Edmond Bancroft (Michael Gough) splits his time between annoying Scotland Yard, buying instruments of murder in antique shops, arguing with his mistress (June Cunningham) and hypnotizing his young assistant (Graham Curnow) in his basement/dungeon “black museum.”

Along the way we’re treated to binoculars that shoot spikes out of the eyepieces (a sequence this film is largely known for), a portable guillotine, some sinister ice tongs and a vat full of acid (very similar to the one in House On Haunted Hill from the same year). When it’s not depicting a murder, it’s talking about one — and it would be easy to brand this as a prototype for the slasher and giallo films that came later.

With its Eastmancolor and CinemaScope (shot by Desmond Dickinson), Horrors Of The Black Museum was a bit of a novelty at its time of release. Horror movies were rarely in color and Scope at the time. Hammer’s first color horror picture, Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) was only two years old, and Fox’s color and Scope The Fly (1958) just a year. This gave Horrors Of The Black Museum a bit of prestige (ironic for such a mean-spirited little film) and plenty of marquee value — CinemaScope was still a very big deal.

Michael Gough is a real treat as the demented Bancroft. American producer Herman Cohen wanted to cast Vincent Price, but Anglo-Amalgamated, the British production company, wanted an Englishman. Price in the role would have completely changed the tone of the movie. June Cunningham (above, with Gough) is terrific as Bancroft’s mistress. They have a fun scene together before she meets her untimely end. Cunningham made a couple dozen films in the late 50s and early 60s and that was it. 

Geoffrey Keen (seated in the photo below) has a nice part as the Scotland Yard man trying to track down the madman, or men, behind these heinous crimes. Of course, Keen was in everything from Sink The Bismark (1960) and Taste The Blood Of Dracula (1970) to most of the Roger Moore James Bond films (plus 1987’s The Living Daylights).

Along with its promise of gore in “blood-curdling color” and CinemaScope, Horrors Of The Black Museum had an extra lure in the United States — Hypno-Vista, a gimmick worthy of the great William Castle. Hypno-Vista was nothing more than a prologue starring hypnotist Emile Franchele, demonstrating the powers of hypnotism. They say James H. Nicholson of AIP cooked it up.

That gives us a nice segue to VCI’s Blu-Ray of Horrors Of The Black Museum. AIP’s Hypno-Vista introduction is one of the extras on the Blu-Ray. There are also European and U.S. trailers, a commentary by Herman Cohen, another commentary by Robert Kelly, a still gallery, interviews, featurettes, even reversible artwork. Some of this has been carried over from the laserdisc and DVD.

But the real concern is, and should be, how does it look? Here, it comes up a real winner. Tbe picture is sharp. The color is strong, with that harshness that marks most 50s Eastmancolor. Being a CinemaScope picture, there’s the roundish distortion on the sides, noticeable in pans or when you’re looking at something straight like a door frame (it appears slightly curved). These are not complaints about the transfer — the problem would be if they were not there. The sound is clean with plenty of range, which sure helps with Gerard Schurmann’s score. 

Horrors Of The Black Museum is a lot of ghoulish fun, and its color and Scope photography has always been a large part of its appeal. So to see it lovingly presented in high definition is indeed a treat, with all the extras a definite plus — so glad they kept Herman Cohen’s commentary! Highly, highly recommended.

Happy Birthday, Barbara Steele.

Barbara Steele
(Born December 29, 1937)

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At 10 years old, Roger Corman’s Pit And The Pendulum (1961) just blew me away. With its innovative use of color and ‘Scope (shot by Floyd Crosby), it’s one of the first times I remember getting as wrapped up in a movie’s technique as I was in the story. 

It was also the first time I encountered Barbara Steele, who somehow managed to be both lovely and creepy in the same shot. Miss Steele seems to gave been born to appear in Gothic horror films, and she’s in some of the best — Pit And The Pendulum, Black Sunday (1960), Castle Of Blood (1964), etc. 

Here’s wishing her a happy 86th birthday.

Always wondered what happened to the portrait Vincent Price “paints” of her in Pit And The Pendulum. (“She was that substance of loveliness… I tried to capture it, but it was the way she walked and moved – her smile, her voice.”) Wouldn’t you love to have that above your mantel?

Blu-Ray Review: The Terror (1963) & Little Shop Of Horrors (1960).

Film Masters continues their Filmgroup releases with a stunning Blu-Ray of The Terror — with The Little Shop Of Horrors along for the high-definition ride. Both get a Cadillac 4K scan from nice 35mm material.

The Terror (1963)
Produced & Directed by Roger Corman (& Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill)
Starring Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dick Miller, Dorothy Neumann, Jonathan Haze

Roger Corman’s The Terror is a patchwork quilt of a Gothic horror movie, done in bits and pieces — beginning with Boris Karloff walking around the sets for AIP’s The Raven as they were being torn down. A busload of writers and directors messed around with it for about a year. As you’d expect, the results don’t make a whole lot of sense (Leo Gordon’s original script was altered each time it was passed from one director to another), but there’s something oddly fascinating about the whole thing.

Jack Nicholson is a French officer who winds up at the castle of Baron von Leppe (Boris Karloff) after trying to locate a mysterious young woman he met on the beach (Sandra Knight). Things get convoluted and confusing from there, with a witch and her son, a deal with the devil, a ghost and a flooded crypt added to the mix. It was not based on a Poe story, but if someone thought it was part of Corman’s successful Poe Cycle, that was fine!

Footage from The Terror turns up in Peter Bagdanovich’s Targets

I once had a fairly-decent 16mm dupe print of The Terror, and have tried out several of its previous video releases, so I’m very familiar with the movie and what it looks like. NEVER thought it would look at good as it does here. The color is vivid and consistent, and the picture is surprisingly sharp — with allowances for the crazy way it was shot. The framing is perfect (Vistascope is just the standard 1.85.) and the sound is crystal clear. Film Masters has done a terrific job with The Terror.

The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)
Produced & Directed by Roger Corman
Starring Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Dick Miller, Myrtle Vail, Jack Nicholson

Everybody knows the backstory on The Little Shop Of Horrors — another Corman movie shot on leftover sets (this time, from Corman’s own A Bucket Of Blood). Interiors were shot in a couple days (after a few days of rehearsal) with a budget of just $28,000. To keep things moving quickly, multiple cameras and fixed lighting were used, sitcom style.

Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze) develops a man-eating plant he names Audrey, after a coworker he’s sweet on (Jackie Joseph). The plant becomes an attraction at the little flower shop where Seymour works, so his boss looks the other way when Seymour feeds it a bum who was hit by a train. Things escalate from there. Oh, and it’s all played for laughs. The picture is known for Jack Nicholson’s scene, but Mel Welles is terrific as Haze’s boss. (Of course, it spawned a musical play and a film based on that play.) 

The Little Shop Of Horrors went out in a double feature with Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, then again with Corman’s Last Woman On Earth (both 1960). Then it became a staple on the late show and cheap VHS tapes. Again, Film Masters has come through with a small miracle — though it doesn’t glow quite like The Terror, this is the best I’ve ever seen The Little Shop Of Horrors look. It’s clean and sharp with nice, solid blacks. I saw things I’ve never noticed before, giving new life to a film I’ve seen a couple dozens times. And the proper framing makes a huge difference.

Film Masters has given us some nice extras, with the prize going to the second part of Ballyhoo’s documentary on Corman’s Filmgroup, his independent production company he operated while he was doing the Poe pictures for AIP. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’ve written this a thousand times: an upgraded transfer can transform an old film. Film Masters proves that here, twice, showing that The Terror and The Little Shop Of Horrors weren’t as raggedy-looking as we once thought. I was blown away. This two-disc set comes highly, highly recommended.

Blu-Ray News #368: Bikini Beach (1964).

Directed by William Asher
Starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Martha Hyer, Don Rickles, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Jody McCrea, Candy Johnson, Danielle Aubry, Meredith MacRae, Delores Wells, Donna Loren, Little Stevie Wonder, The Pyramids, Timothy Carey, Keenan Wynn, Mary Hughes, Boris Karloff

I’ve admitted my undying love for this film before. Back then, I wrote that when Bikini Beach made it to Blu-Ray, all would be right with the world. Well, the world’s a big fat mess, so the timing of this couldn’t be better. 

As I see it, this is the absolute apex of the Beach Party series, and it’s on the way to Blu-Ray from MGM’s MOD program. I’m not sure how it works, but this one comes recommended big time!

In the ad above, note that Bikini Beach was paired with A Hard Day’s Night (1964) in some places!

Thanks to Mr. Richard Vincent for the tip!

Blu-Ray News #364: Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959).

Directed by Arthur Crabtree
Starring Michael Gough, June Cunningham, Graham Curnow, Shirley Anne Field

The fine folks at VCI have announced a December Blu-Ray release of Herman Cohen’s Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959). Though tame by today’s standards, the folks who made this picture seem to really enjoy parading the gore in front of the camera — and in CinemaScope and color, too!

I love this nasty little movie with all my heart, and I’m so glad the terrific extras from the DVD (and laserdisc) release are making the move to Blu-Ray. Can’t wait to see what this thing’s gonna look like. An absolutely 100% essential release.

The Olive Films, The Non-Westerns Checklist.

A few days ago, over on 50 Westerns From The 50s, I posted a list of the Westerns released on DVD and Blu-Rays by Olive Films. Turns out a number of us are looking to fill some gaps in our collections — before they’re either gone or going for crazy collectors’ prices. And now, here’s a list of some of their other titles. This is by no means everything — just the stuff that falls within the scope of this blog.

Some of these titles have already been re-issued (or are on the way) by other companies. But some may never see the light of day again, given the current state of physical media. From a couple of Republic serials to a handful of Regalscope pictures, there are some real jewels here.

As very special thanks (again) to Laura from Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, who was a HUGE help with bringing this together. 

Betty Boop, Vols. 1-4
Sabotage (1939)
S.O.S. Tidal Wave (1939)
Lady From Louisiana (1941)
A Man Betrayed (1941)
One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
Flying Tigers (1942)
Lady For A Night (1942)
Johnny Come Lately (1943)
Strangers In The Night (1944)
Voodoo Man (1944)
Fighting Seabees (1944)

The Return Of The Ape Man (1944)
The Strange Affair Of Uncle Harry (1945)
Flame Of Barbary Coast (1945)
The Vampire’s Ghost (1945)
The Dark Mirror (1946)
The Private Affairs Of Bel Ami (1946)
Appointment With Crime (1946)
Copacabana (1947)
Ruthless (1948)
So This Is New York (1948)
Force Of Evil (1948)
Mr. Peabody And The Mermaid (1948)
Wake Of The Red Witch (1948)
Sands Of Iwo Jima (1949)
The Red Menace (1949)
The Kid From Cleveland (1949)
Love Happy (1949)
The File On Thelma Jordon (1950)
Appointment With Danger (1950)
No Man of Her Own (1950)
The Lawless (1950)
Captain Carey U.S.A. (1950)
Union Station (1950)
Three Secrets (1950)
Dark City (1950)

Flying Disc Man From Mars (1950, serial)
The Invisible Monster (1950)
Cry Danger (1951)
My Favorite Spy (1951)
Flat Top (1952)
Hoodlum Empire (1952)
The Atomic City (1952)
The Quiet Man (1952)
Retreat, Hell! (1952)
City That Never Sleeps (1953)
Commando Cody: Sky Marshal Of The Universe (1953, serial)
The Sun Shines Bright (1953)
Hell’s Half Acre (1954)
Private Hell 36 (1954)
Panther Girl Of The Kongo (1954, serial)
The Shanghai Story (1954)
Cry Vengeance (1954)
Dragonfly Squadron (1954)
Young At Heart (1955)
The Big Combo (1955)
Shack Out On 101 (1955)
The Eternal Sea (1955)
No Man’s Woman (1955)
The Americano (1955)
Strategic Air Command (1955)
The Weapon (1956)
Fire Maidens Of Outer Space (1956)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
China Gate (1957)
Plunder Road (1957)
She Devil (1957)

High School Confidential! (1958)
Indiscreet (1958)
Hell’s Five Hours (1958)
The Colossus Of New York (1958)
The Space Children (1958)
It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)
The Return Of Dracula (1958)
The Beat Generation (1959)
Operation Petticoat (1959)
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
The Big Operator (1959)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
The Monster Of Piedras Blancas (1959)
A Bucket Of Blood (1959)

The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962)
That Touch Of Mink (1962)
Father Goose (1964)
Muscle Beach Party (1964)
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
How To Stuff A Wild Bikini (1965)
Crack In The World (1965)
Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Trip (1967)
Cauldron Of Blood (1967)
The Spirit Is Willing (1967)
Project X (1968)
Little Fauss And Big Halsey (1970)
Badge 373 (1973)

Take a glance at this list. Olive Films put some terrific movies in our hot little hands. It’s a shame they didn’t make it. This proves the point that’s been made over and over on this blog — if we don’t support the companies that put these things out, they won’t be putting them out anymore. Okay, now I’ll climb down from my soapbox and put The Return Of Dracula back on.

Blu-Ray News #357: The Terror (1963).

Directed by Roger Corman (& Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill)
Starring Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dick Miller, Jonathan Haze

Roger Corman’s The Terror (1963) is a patchwork quilt of a Gothic horror movie, done in bits and pieces — beginning with Boris Karloff walking around the sets for AIP’s The Raven as they were being torn down — by a busload of writers and directors over about a year. The results don’t make a lot of sense (Leo Gordon’s original script was altered each time it was passed from one director to another), but there’s something oddly fascinating about the whole thing. And with it coming to Blu-Ray from Film Masters in December, we can count on it looking terrific.

Film Masters is promising a dungeon full of extras, including another Corman/Nicholson/Haze feature, The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960). This is gonna be a great package. Can’t wait.

Blu-Ray News #354: Black Sabbath (1963).

Directed by Mario Bava
Starring Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, Michèle Mercier, Susy Andersen

Kino Lorber has announced their upcoming 60th anniversary edition of Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath (1963) on Blu-Ray. This is the American version released by American International — a different cut with a new score by Les Baxter. While it’s not quite as good as the Italian version, it’s still one of the best anthology horror films ever made, has a stunning use of color by Bava and still packs the power to really creep you out. It did a number on me when I caught it on the late show in the mid-70s.

This edition will have an audio commentary by Tim Lucas, who knows all about this stuff. It’ll be cool to get his rundown on the differences between the various versions. Coming in October. Highly, highly recommended.