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In producer-director Otto Preminger’s 1963 film, Tom Tryon’s “Stephen Fermoyle” starts out as a newly ordained Roman Catholic priest and eventually rises through the church hierarchy to become THE CARDINAL. Carol Lynley co-stars in the film as Fermoyle’s sister “Mona.” Upon learning that Mona, is planning to marry a Jewish boy (John Saxon), the strong-willed Fermoyle family is so openly rude that the lad changes his mind. Consequently, Mona runs away and becomes the partner of a tango dancer (José Duval). Stephen later discovers that Mona is about to have an illegitimate child, and that her life can be saved only if the infant's cranium is crushed. All too aware of Catholic dogma, Stephen denies permission and Mona dies. In a later scene, Carol Lynley briefly appears as Mona’s grown-up daughter, “Regina Fermoyle.”
Tom Tryon was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance, but suffered immensely under Otto Preminger's notorious abusive treatment of actors. At one point during filming, Preminger fired Tryon in front of his parents when they visited the set, then rehired him after being satisfied that Tryon had been sufficiently humiliated. This type of treatment was a big turning point for Tryon, who eventually retired from acting and turned to a successful writing career, penning such novels as The Other.
The Vatican bankrolled some of THE CARDINAL, and the Vatican liaison was a young Joseph Ratzinger, who in 2005 became the 265th Catholic Pope as Benedict XVI. Jerome Moross’ score for the film was most recently released by Kritzerland earlier this year.
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In June 1961, Darryl F. Zanuck Productions purchased the motion picture rights for the 1961 novel SHOCK TREATMENT by Winfred Van Atta. Zanuck’s son, Richard, was to produce. According to the 10 August 1961 Daily Variety, director Alfred Hitchcock was reportedly interested in collaborating on the project with the elder Zanuck. Nearly a year later, Hitchcock’s interest had waned and Aaron Rosenberg had taken over as producer. Screenwriter Sydney Boehm told the 8 September 1963 New York Times that his screenplay was a “considerable rewrite” of the source novel, which he described as “unbelievable.” While Boehm admitted that his version also lacked credibility, he claimed it had better commercial prospects. The writer made several visits to mental hospitals, including two overnight stays in patient wards, as part of his research.
In the film, gardener “Martin Ashley” (Roddy McDowall) kills his wealthy employer and surrenders to police. Psychiatrist “Edwina Beighley” (Lauren Bacall) testifies at his trial, and through her testimony Ashley is committed to a mental hospital for observation. The estate's executor, “Manning” (Judson Laire), believes that Ashley is faking insanity and that he had hidden the million dollars the dead woman kept at the mansion. Manning hires actor “Dale Nelson” (Stuart Whitman) to get himself committed and find out from Ashley the location of the money. Nelson obtains admission to the hospital, eventually making friends with Ashley and falling in love with “Cynthia” (Carol Lynley), a young manic-depressive.
Carol Lynley and Stuart Whitman in SHOCK TREATMENT
The 21 July 1963 New York Times noted similarities in plot and title between Van Atta’s novel and the upcoming release SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963), hinting that the author might have been plagiarized. Five weeks later, the 28 August 1963 Daily Variety reported that the advertising campaign for another new release, THE CARETAKERS (1963), which featured the slogan, “The screen takes a shock treatment,” prompted Rosenberg to briefly contemplate a new title for his production.
Principal photography began 22 August 1963. Prior to filming, cast members Carol Lynley and Roddy McDowall had presented director Denis Sanders with a strait jacket. The executive corridor of Twentieth Century-Fox Studios in Los Angeles was used as the “insane asylum” hallway in the picture. The 19 February 1964 Daily Variety announced a “15-point shock exploitation and merchandising campaign” to promote the film.
SHOCK TREATMENT opened 19 February 1964 in Los Angeles, and 22 July 1964 in New York City to negative reviews, with the New York Times criticizing “the general tone of bland sensationalism.” Twenty minutes of Jerry Goldsmith’s score for the film were released in 2004 as part of Varese Sarabande’s box set “Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox.” An expanded version of the score was issued by Intrada in 2013
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A remake of 1954’s THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, the 1964 comedy-drama THE PLEASURE SEEKERS finds three young American women coming to Madrid in search of romance and adventure. “Maggie Williams” (Carol Lynley) finds a job as a secretary with an American news agency and falls in love with bureau chief “Paul Barton” (Brian Keith), who is married. “Fran Hobson” (Ann-Margret), an ambitious, passionate singer and dancer, has an affair with “Andrés Briones” (Andre Lawrence), a shy provincial doctor. Meanwhile, “Susie Higgins” (Pamela Tiffin) has an affair with wealthy playboy “Emilio Lacaye” (Tony Franciosa).
Ann-Margret, Pamela Tiffin, and Carol Lynley in THE PLEASURE SEEKERS
Jean Negulesco, who had directed THREE COINS, also directed this remake. The film’s soundtrack, with a score by Lionel Newman and songs by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen, was released on an RCA LP. The LP was re-issued on a gray-market CD by Él/Cherry Red Records in 2017.
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The 21 October 1964 New York Times announced that Electronovision Productions intended to be the first to release a film about the life of actress Jean Harlow. Company president William “Bill” Sargent, Jr., promised the screenplay would not scandalize the late actress, who would be played by “a relative unknown.”
Sargent planned a ten-day production schedule, budgeted at $500,000. He attributed this efficiency to his proprietary videotape-to-film system, which had simpler lighting requirements, and accommodated as many as fifteen cameras at one time. Sargent had also used his Electronovision process in 1964 to record and distribute to theaters a performance of Richard Burton's "Hamlet," which was then playing on Broadway.
Electronovision was one of five companies involved in what entertainment reporters labeled the “Harlow Sweepstakes,” inspired by the publication of Irving Shulman’s salacious, semi-fictional biography, Harlow. Other participants included Embassy Pictures, owner of the movie rights to Shulman book; Columbia Pictures, using a 1946 treatment by publicist Sidney Skolsky; and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Harlow’s home studio, which was preparing a tribute comprised of film clips. Twentieth Century-Fox had already abandoned their proposed project.
The 17 November 1964 Daily Variety noted that Sargent was in New York City interviewing Barbara Loden for the title role in HARLOW. The 20 January 1965 Variety mentioned Jill St. John as a candidate, and estimated the budget at between $600,000 and $1 million. The soundtrack album would be released on Electronovision Records in advance of the picture.
After Columbia Pictures cancelled their Harlow project in January 1965, Sargent sought to acquire Sidney Skolsky’s treatment. Skolsky was also supposed to be credited as associate producer. The partnership ended three weeks later, when the 10 February 1965 Daily Variety announced that Skolsky’s scenario had been rejected in a favor of a screenplay by Karl Tunberg. Sargent, who purchased the script for an undisclosed amount, explained that it was simply “better” than Skolsky’s offering. On 3 Mar 1965, Daily Variety reported that Skolsky was suing Electronovision. The plaintiff demanded $40,000 to cover a “bounced” check from Sargent, and another $100,000 for “mental suffering and damage” to his reputation. Sargent countered that Skolsky’s treatment was only “three of four percent” dialogue, and focused more on its writer than on Jean Harlow. He added that Skolsky had received a $5,000 “option payment,” to which he was no longer entitled. However, Sargent preferred not to seek restitution.
According to the 3 March 1965 Variety, composer Al Ham had recently completed his musical score, which would then be added to the picture during principal photography. This was reported as the first attempt at such a process. The next day’s New York Times stated that Dorothy Provine, known for the character “Pinky” in “The Roaring 20’s” (ABC, 1960-62), had been chosen to star in the film. The seven-day shooting schedule was expected to begin 24 March 1965, for release in May, approximately two months in advance of Embassy Pictures’ “Harlow,” which was being distributed by Paramount.
That same day, however, Daily Variety revealed that Marshall Naify, president of distributor Magna Pictures, preferred actress Carol Lynley for the lead. Provine expressed her desire to do the film, but not if it was going to be “a hassle.” Her salary would have been $10,000 per day. An item in the 7 Feb 1965 Los Angeles Times confirmed Lynley in the starring role, with Judy Garland as “Mama Jean.” Filming was to follow three weeks of rehearsal. Sargent told the Los Angeles Times that Lynley was given the starring role after an artist drew “platinum-blonde” hair on photographs of the candidates. He claimed that Lynley bore the closest resemblance to Harlow and had identical measurements. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. co-starred as an actor named “William Mansfield,” a fictional character who did not appear in Embassy’s film.
Carol Lynley in HARLOW
On 24 March 1965, Garland suddenly left the production, reportedly over a dispute concerning her screen billing. Her likely replacement was Eleanor Parker. However, a day later it was reported that Parker had rejected the role after reading the screenplay. Sargent accused her agent of undermining the deal by demanding a salary increase, which the agent denied. Veteran actress Ginger Rogers accepted the role. Fred Klein, publisher of Photoplay, was hired to reenact an incident from the 1930s, during which Jean Harlow told him, “I won’t be a star until my face is on the cover of your magazine.”
Principal photography began 31 March 1965, at Desilu Studios in Hollywood. Bill Sargent was able to monitor the production in his West Hollywood office as it took place more than three miles away. He could also communicate remotely with director Alex Segal while watching the film’s progress on closed-circuit television, which reproduced the image in the “1:85 to 1” aspect ratio of a movie screen. Segal viewed completed scenes in a mobile-truck unit parked on the studio lot.
Principal photography was completed 10 April 1965. Carol Lynley performed her final scene in a mud bath. In a celebratory gesture, the crew pushed Alex Segal and producer Lee Savin into the mud as well. The close of production was marked by a party, during which two crewmembers engaged in a fistfight. One required hospitalization.
Sargent appeared at the Hollywood Press Club’s “Night Out With The Ghouls” event, accompanied by his “Harlow” girls, who were scheduled to tour in support of the picture. Sargent hired the Goodyear blimp to fly over the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium during the 5 April 1965 Academy Awards ceremony. The name “Harlow” was emblazoned on the vessel in electric lights, and the musical score was played through an onboard sound system. Sargent encountered Joseph E. Levine, producer of Embassy’s “Harlow,” at the event. Despite Sargent’s cordial introduction, a heated argument ensued and Paramount Pictures executive Howard Koch was forced to separate the rival producers.
A premiere was planned for three cities on 11 May 1965, followed by several openings the next day. Six hundred prints were ordered for the initial release. Expenses connected with producing and distributing the picture totaled $1.5 million, including $600,000 for production.
Harlow opened 12 May 1965 in Los Angeles and on 14 May 1965 in New York City. Reviews were generally negative, and the National Legion of Decency disparaged the picture’s “inept treatment of unsavory events.” Box office receipts were equally discouraging, as noted in the 19 May 1965 Variety. The film’s score, which included music by Nelson Riddle as well as Al Ham. Was released on a Warner Bros. LP, but has not been re-issued on CD.
Carol Lynley in HARLOW
On 19 May 1965, Magna Pictures filed a $2.1 million anti-trust suit against Embassy and its distributor, Paramount Pictures, claiming the companies forced exhibitors to boycott Electronovision’s HARLOW. Damages totaling $6.3 million were also sought. Sargent filed his own suit against Embassy and Paramount, as well as against Technicolor Corporation of America and five theater circuits. One of those circuits, National General Corporation, was charged with boycotting the picture to “protect its own Talaria electronic film process.”
The 28 April 1965 Daily Variety reported that Electronovision had issued bad checks to cast members Ginger Rogers and Ephrem Zimbalist, Jr. Sargent insisted that the checks had since been covered. The 17 May 1965 edition noted that the company owed cast members Jack Kruschen and Hermione Baddeley a total of $10,000. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) responded by canceling its contract with Electronovision. Sargent claimed that both Kruschen’s and Baddeley’s agents agreed to delays in payment. Months later, a SAG arbitration panel determined that Sargent still owed Kruschen $2,000 in unpaid wages.
On 28 Jul 1965, Variety announced the demise of Electronovision Productions, brought about by the aftermath of HARLOW. Sargent’s lawsuits at the time totaled $25.2 million. More than a year later, the 21 September 1966 issue estimated his outstanding lawsuits at $18.75 million.
Aside from Irving Shulman’s book, revived interest in Jean Harlow resulted in the publication of a novel she had written thirty years earlier. Titled Today Is Tonight, the book debuted in the July 1965 issue of Mademoiselle magazine, followed by a hardback edition from Grove Press on 12 July 1965. The magazine’s fiction editor described the plot as “campy.”
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Carol Lynley worked again with producer-director Otto Preminger in his 1965 psychological thriller BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING. In the film, an American woman living in London (Carol Lynley) believes her four-year-old daughter has been kidnapped. The police can't do much to help because, try as she might, Lynley can't prove to them that she ever had a daughter at all. Columbia Pictures wanted Preminger to cast Jane Fonda, who was eager to play the role, as “Ann Lake,” but Preminger insisted upon using Carol Lynley.
Keir Dullea co-stars in the film as Ann’s brother, “Steven.” Dullea and Lynley discovered that they shared a strong Irish heritage, but more importantly, that they were distantly related, and still had relatives in Waterville, County Cork.
Carol Lynley and Keir Dullea in BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING
At one point, Otto Preminger considered making the police superintendent a younger man and had Robert Shaw in mind for the role. Laurence Olivier, who did play the part, disliked Preminger intensely and sometimes said that his wife, Joan Plowright, kept him in order by threatening to invite Preminger to stay with them as a house guest. Although Carol Lynley had worked with Preminger before (on THE CARDINAL), a lot of her scenes were with Olivier, who warned the infamously irritable Preminger that he watch his temper around her. So she had no problems.
The film grossed only $2.4 million at the box office. Intrada released Paul Glass's score in 2016.
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Filmed in England, 1967's THE SHUTTERED ROOM is derived from a book by H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth. New York marrieds “Mike and Susannah Kelton” (Gig Young & Carol Lynley) drive his convertible T-Bird to the remote New England birthplace she left as a small child, to find out what happened to her long-lost relations, the “Whately” family. Susannah's “Aunt Agatha” (Flora Robson) is an eccentric living atop an abandoned lighthouse. Agatha tells them that her childhood home in an old mill is cursed -- any Whately who goes there, dies. Young hoodlum “Ethon” (Oliver Reed) is concerned about losing his inheritance to Susannah, and his crude attempts to harass her develop into a stalk-and-rape scenario. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that some entity indeed inhabits the old mill, and watches Susannah as she undresses.
Gig Young and Carol Lynley in THE SHUTTERED ROOM
The film was originally offered to director Ken Russell, who turned the project down. David Greene, a successful TV director, took it on because, in his late 40s, he thought it a last chance to get away from TV and into movies; he was, however, greatly dissatisfied with the script and it was being rewritten right up to the end of filming.
THE SHUTTERED ROOM was a bargain basement production, made on a budget of £180,000. Just as well, since it grossed only $800,000 in the U.S. Basil Kirchin’s score has not had a release.
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On 2 October and 9 October 1967, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” broadcast a two-part episode entitled “The Prince of Darkness Affair.” In the story, “Dr. Kharmusi” (John Dehner), a criminal scientist, has developed a "thermal prism," which generates intense heat beams. U.N.C.L.E. solicits the help of “Luther Sebastian” (Bradford Dillman), wanted for various crimes in 22 countries, because he designed the kind of safe where Kharmusi keeps the prism. “Napoleon Solo” (Robert Vaughn) infiltrates Kharmusi's base of operations as an amoral businessman while “Illya Kuryakin” (David McCallum) and Sebastian work to steal the device. However, “Annie” (Carol Lynley), whose boyfriend was framed for murder by Sebastian, complicates matters.
Boris Sagal directed the episode, which was scored by Richard Shores. MGM quickly re-edited the two-part episode into a feature film for distribution overseas. Under the title HELICOPTER SPIES, the film began showing in foreign countries in early January 1968. Three minutes of Jerry Goldsmith's score was released by Film Score Monthly in 2006 on the compilation CD “The Spy With My Face: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movies”.
In order to add some action scenes to the film’s poster, some graphic artist pasted in a scene from MGM’s art work for THE DIRTY DOZEN, showing Clint Walker attempting to stab Lee Marvin. It can be seen in the bottom center of the HELICOPTER SPIES poster.
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Posted: |
Sep 7, 2019 - 10:49 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Actor Richard Johnson's second lead role, in 1967's DANGER ROUTE, saw him playing a spy named “Jonas Wilde,” a British secret service agent licensed to kill. Harry Andrews was Johnson's suave superior. And as befits a spy, Johnson had a bevy of beauties as co-stars, with Carol Lynley, Barbara Bouchet, Sylvia Syms, and Diana Dors. Lynley played Johnson’s girlfriend; Bouchet was a suspicious addition to the spy ring; Syms was Harry Andrews' nagging wife; and Dors was a housekeeper to a defecting scientist.
Richard Johnson and Carol Lynley in DANGER ROUTE
Seth Holt directed and John Mayer scored the film. Johnson has said that Seth Holt was one of the best directors he ever worked with, but this was Holt's last completed feature. He died during the filming of 1971's BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB. DANGER ROUTE was shown in the U.S. on a double bill with ATTACK ON THE IRON COAST.
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Posted: |
Sep 8, 2019 - 12:01 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The 22 July 1968 Daily Variety announced the provisionally titled “The Incredible Werewolf Murders” as the first of three films from Freeman-Enders Productions, to star the comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. The comedians stated that the picture would be a departure from their weekly NBC television series, “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”. Rowan and Martin controlled fifty-percent of the production. Freeman planned two more pictures for the team, “The Money Game” and “The Servant Game,” to be filmed in 1970.
Rowan and Martin had appeared several months earlier in a short public service film produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios, which also featured comedian Don Knotts and musician Herb Alpert. Impressed with team’s performance, MGM, in conjunction with producers Robert Enders and Everett Freeman, offered them a contract. The picture was re-titled THE MALTESE BIPPY, combining a nonsense word created by Rowan and Martin, and “The Maltese Falcon,” the 1929 novel by Dashiell Hammett that was the basis for at least two feature films (1931 and 1941). The screenplay was completed 1 November 1968, after which MGM began pre-production.
Enders and Freeman flew to New York City, hoping to hire actress Pearl Bailey, who expressed interest in the role of Dick’s housekeeper. At the time, she was starring in the Broadway musical, “Hello, Dolly!” in which she played the lead. However Bailey was unable to take the two-week hiatus required for her participation, and the role ultimately went to Mildred Natwick.
Rowan and Martin had earlier declined an offer from Twentieth Century Fox to make a feature-length version of “Laugh-In.” The pair disliked the title THE MALTESE BIPPY, fearing that the public would expect their film to resemble the series. Other provisional titles included “Who Killed Cock Robin?” and “The Coogle Affair.” In THE MALTESE BIPPY, fledgling filmmakers “Sam Smith” (Dan Rowan) and “Ernest Grey” (Dick Martin) go bankrupt. Freeloader Smith moves in with Grey, who recently purchased a big old mansion next to a cemetery. Grey’s housekeeper “Molly Fletcher” (Mildred Natwick) loathes Smith. To help make ends meet, Grey takes in a boarder from the nearby college. Her name is “Robin Sherwood” (Carol Lynley) and she and Grey quickly fall in love. The plot was intended as a tribute to such classic comedy-mysteries as “Scared Stiff” (1953), “The Cat and the Canary” (1939), and “Hold That Ghost” (1941).
Principal photography began on 24 February 1969. Four weeks into filming, the company was three days ahead of schedule, which director Norman Panama attributed to Rowan and Martin’s “ultimate” professionalism. He went on to describe a scene in which Dan Rowan completed a close-up shot while waiting for the wardrobe department to deliver his trousers.
The $2.5 million picture was completed in eight weeks, followed by six weeks of post-production. Scenes were shot in sequence, enabling two teams of editors to assemble the picture while it was still being filmed. Composer Nelson Riddle wrote musical themes to accompany the four basic moods in the story and delivered his score ten days after viewing the final edit. The score was recorded in one day by a fifty-two-piece orchestra.
As MGM’s only major summer release, the picture was rushed into theaters with the hope of attracting Rowan and Martin’s television audience while their series was on hiatus. The studio ordered 433 prints at $500 each, to be distributed to 350 cities. Theater bookings were confirmed while production was still underway. The premiere was scheduled for 5 June 1969 at the Picwood Theatre in Los Angeles, approximately fifteen weeks from the start of photography.
The invitational premiere featured several famous comedians “roasting” Rowan and Martin, with excerpts to be rebroadcast on ABC’s “The Joey Bishop Show”. Greer Garson, Edward G. Robinson, Buddy Hacket, Greg Morris, and Anne Baxter, were attendees, along with “Laugh-In” cast members Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, and Arte Johnson. A pictorial article promoting the film appeared in that week’s edition of Life magazine. Following the premiere, Rowan and Martin went to Philadelphia for a 6 June 1969 concert at the Spectrum sports arena.
The picture opened 18 June 1969 in New York City. Reviews were mixed: While Daily Variety described THE MALTESE BIPPY as “prime comedy,” the New York Times argued that the film was an insult to the classics it was supposed to emulate. The film was a commercial failure, grossing only $1.4 million at the box office. Rowan and Martin made no more features as a team, and Dan Rowan never appeared in a feature again.
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Posted: |
Sep 8, 2019 - 12:34 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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After the success of 1969’s TRUE GRIT, producer Hal Wallis decided to take another of author Charles Portis’ novels and adapt it to the screen. That novel was NORWOOD, which had been published in 1966, two years before TRUE GRIT. To make his film, Wallis brought over many of the talents that had worked on TRUE GRIT, including screenwriter Marguerite Roberts, as well as TRUE GRIT’s art director, editor, and costumer.
From TRUE GRIT’s cast, Wallis re-signed Kim Darby and Glen Campbell. A third major character in the story called for an actor around the same age as Glen Campbell, since the two were supposed to have been Army buddies. For this role, Wallis signed football star Joe Namath, in what would be his first film role. Supporting roles went to Carol Lynley, as one of Norwood’s traveling companions, Pat Hingle, Tisha Sterling, Dom Deluise, Meredith MacRae, and David Huddleston. Directing the film was Jack Haley, Jr., his first feature. (Haley’s father, Jack Sr., who was best known for his role as the “Tin Man” in THE WIZARD OF OZ, had a small part in NORWOOD, which was his last film role.)
Carol Lynley in NORWOOD
Portis’ novel was set in the 1950s, but Roberts’ screenplay updated the story to the present day. Campbell plays Norwood Pratt, a singer and ex-Marine who meets a number of colorful characters on his way to what he hopes will be a career in country music. As might be expected, the film made considerable use of Glen Campbell’s singing talents. Campbell sang six songs in the film, most of them penned by Mac Davis. Al De Lory did the background score. A 34-minute song and score soundtrack LP was issued on Capitol Records, but it has never been released on CD.
Location scenes for NORWOOD were filmed in Corona and Lake Elsinore, California. The film opened in Dallas on 21 May 1970. NORWOOD was geared to heartland audiences, and didn’t open in New York until 25 November 1970. It was not received kindly by the critics at the time, and modern reviewers have been no more forgiving. While the Blockbuster Entertainment Guide gives the film three stars and terms it a “harmless road movie,” Leonard Maltin, in a two-star review, calls it “Easy to take, but pointless.” TV Guide also gives the film two stars and terms it “a lightweight film.” And Shock Cinema magazine calls it “Eccentric, but also insufferably sentimental, . . . a disaster in every sense of the word.”
Joe Namath received a Golden Globe nomination as “Most Promising Newcomer” (James Earl Jones won the award). But NORWOOD did not prove to be a financial success, grossing just $5.3 million, and the film would be Hal Wallis’ last production for Paramount. He would move over to Universal, where one of his first films would reunite screenwriter Marguerite Roberts and director Henry Hathaway of TRUE GRIT, for the Gregory Peck western SHOOT OUT. NORWOOD essentially ended Glen Campbell’s big screen acting career. Jack Haley, Jr. would direct only one more major feature, 1971’s THE LOVE MACHINE. He would return to his primary career as a producer and sometimes director of television specials and award shows.
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THE NIGHT STALKER is a made-for-television movie involving the straw-hat wearing journalist “Carl Kolchak” (Darren McGavin), whose undignified personality has gotten him fired from nearly every newspaper in every city. Now in Las Vegas, Kolchak narrates a series of morbid occurrences on his hand-held recorder, recounting how a maniac is on the loose in the city, killing and draining the blood of young cocktail waitresses and ladies of the night. Kolchak's angle is that this night stalker may be a vampire, or at least someone who thinks he's one. Of course, the authorities, led by Sheriff “Warren Butcher” (Claude Akins), Chief “Ed Masterson” (Charles McGraw), and District Attorney “Tom Payne” (Kent Smith), deem him a nut and downplay his theories, while his agitated editor “Tony Vincenzo” (Simon Oakland) is also having a difficult time keeping his wild speculations at bay. Kolchak only seems to confide in hooker girlfriend “Gail Foster” (Carol Lynley) and old pal “Bernie Jenks” (Ralph Meeker), an FBI man willing to reveal vital information to him.
Carol Lynley and Darren McGavin in THE NIGHT STALKER
The original script by Richard Matheson called for Carl Kolchak to be dressed in Bermuda shorts and wearing an Aloha shirt. Actor Darren McGavin said, "That doesn't sound like anyone I know," and elected to use a different wardrobe. While reading up on the character, McGavin noted that Kolchak had been fired from a New York newspaper years before, and thought, "That's it! He hasn't bought a new suit since!" So, Kolchak appeared in a circa 1950s suit.
According to producer Dan Curtis, the film was shot for $450,000 and filming was completed in 12 days. At a test screening, the audience reaction was so positive that Curtis regretted not releasing it as a theatrical feature film. The film premiered as an ABC Movie of the Week on 11 January 1972. At the time of its original airing, it was the most widely viewed TV movie to that date, with a 33.2 rating and a 54 share (meaning that 54% of all television watchers were tuned in to the film).
John Llewellyn Moxey directed the film. Dan Curtis’ favorite composer, Robert Cobert, provided the score, with some of his music from the 1970 film HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS being used towards the end of the film. The main theme from the film appeared on a 2000 Cobert compilation CD from Varese Sarabande, “The Night Stalker And Other Classic Thrillers.”
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At the end of the 1958 film THE BLOB, the alien substance is frozen and consigned to the North Pole. BEWARE! THE BLOB opens with a sequence in which a small section of the frozen substance is unwittingly thawed when it is taken from a geologist's freezer. The first to discover the revived blob (and live) are “Bobby Hartford” (Robert Walker, Jr.) and his girlfriend “Lisa Clark” (Gwynne Gilford). Seeing their friend “Joe” (Gerrit Graham) and his girlfriend “Leslie” (Carol Lynley), Bobby and Lisa describe the horrific monster. Although Leslie is convinced of their sincerity, Joe mocks them in disbelief and drives off in his dune buggy to investigate their claims.
The enormous success of THE BLOB led producer Jack H. Harris to try to do a sequel. Harris began negotiations with Allied Artists to make the sequel in 1964, tentatively to be entitled “Son of Blob.” Richard Clair had already written a script titled "A Chip Off the Old Blob," but the project was shelved for many years. In late 1970, Harris' son, Anthony Harris, who had just graduated from USC and was working with a music publishing company, expressed interest in working with his father. Looking for a project, they both agreed on the "Blob" sequel. Larry Hagman, who owned the beach house next door to Harris, mentioned that he had never seen the original film. Harris showed Hagman his personal 16mm print of the film, and Hagman showed such interest that he told Harris he would be able to assemble his friends for the cast, as he felt everyone wanted to be "Blobbed"... but only on the condition he would direct the picture.
Thus, Larry Hagman made his directorial debut with the film. Hagman also appeared onscreen as an unnamed hobo. Mort Garson provided the film’s unreleased score. In an interview in Fangoria magazine, screenwriter Anthony Harris stated that a good portion of the filmed material was improvised on the set and that the script was ignored. Although in THE BLOB the creature is identified as extraterrestrial, in the sequel the origin of the substance is not explained. In neither film is the substance actually referred to as "the blob." The film was originally released under the title SON OF BLOB.
After the film's initial release in June 1972, producer Jack H. Harris changed the title to BEWARE! THE BLOB. As with the 1958 original, BEWARE! THE BLOB ends with the words "The End" and a question mark, alluding to another sequel. While still in production on BEWARE! THE BLOB, writer and producer Anthony Harris was already preparing a sequel called "Curse of the Blob," but because of the poor reception to BEWARE! THE BLOB, the sequel was never made.
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Carol Lynley was part of an all-star ensemble cast in producer Irwin Allen’s first big disaster film, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Allen was a writer, director and producer who began his film career making spectacle films such as 1961’s VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, then worked in television on such series as “Lost in Space.” THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE marked his first film in ten years. The film begins with the following written statement: “At midnight on New Year’s Eve, the S.S. Poseidon, enroute from New York to Athens, met with disaster and was lost. There were only a handful of survivors. This is their story….”
Paul Gallico’s novel The Poseidon Adventure was published in 1969. The story was inspired by a trip he took on the R.M.S. Queen Mary ocean liner in 1937. When he was having breakfast in the dining room, the liner was hit by a large wave, sending people and furniture crashing to the other side of the vessel. He was further inspired by a true incident which occurred aboard the Queen Mary during World War II. Packed with American troops bound for Europe, the ship was struck by a gargantuan freak wave in the North Atlantic. It was calculated that if the ship had rolled another five inches, she would have capsized like the Poseidon. Gallico carried out extensive research to ensure that the disaster scenario was realistic and feasible. The film follows the same basic story of the novel, tracing a charismatic, rebellious preacher (Gene Hackman) as he leads survivors of an overturned ocean liner toward the ship’s hull. Unlike the film, however, the book includes additional characters, more deaths, and some incidents not portrayed in the film.
On 26 March 1969, Avco Embassy purchased the novel. Irwin Allen’s production company, Kent Productions, signed a deal with Avco Embassy to produce three films, including THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. The start of preproduction work and a finished script were due by October 1969. In July 1971, however, it was announced that Allen would produce the film in collaboration with Twentieth Century-Fox rather than Avco Embassy. Allen noted in a December 1972 Variety article that he had first approached Fox with the idea of the film, turning to Avco after Fox turned him down. However, when Avco’s new president canceled the production, Allen returned to Fox.
But even Fox, hoping to cut costs after a string of failed big-budget musicals (DOCTOR DOLITTLE; STAR; HELLO, DOLLY!), pulled out of the expensive production just weeks before shooting began. Allen persuaded Fox to provide just half of the $5 million budget, then reportedly, Allen found outside backers by crossing Pico Boulevard from Fox's main gate to the nearby Hillcrest Country Club, where he found some friends (Sherrill Corwin and Steve Broidy) playing cards. During the card game, Allen cajoled them into backing his film by putting up half the budget. But costs were less than estimated, and because the studio never spent any of the backers' money, the backers made a tidy profit from the success of the film without actually spending a dime.
The film’s first script was written by Wendell Mayes, but in November 1971, Hollywood trade papers noted that Stirling Silliphant had been hired as a writer. While the sources stated that Silliphant would rewrite the script completely, both he and Mayes received onscreen credit for the screenplay.
The cast included multiple former Academy Award winners, and during filming, Gene Hackman was awarded the 1971 Best Actor Oscar for his work in THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Sally Kellerman was considered to play "Linda Rogo," the wife of police detective “Mike Rogo” (Ernest Borgnine), a part that ultimately went to Stella Stevens. Petula Clark was offered the role of singer "Nonnie Parry," which ended up being played by Carol Lynley. And Gene Wilder was originally cast as haberdasher "James Martin," with Red Buttons eventually playing the role.
Carol Lynley, who played terrified non-swimmer Nonnie Parry, was actually an avid swimmer in real life. The boots and pendant that Lynley wears in the film actually came from her own private collection. The sequence where Nonnie rehearses "The Morning After" with her band mates was the first scene to be filmed. Originally Waddy Wachtel (the guitarist) was to be cast as her brother Teddy, but since Wachtel had brown eyes and Lynley was blue-eyed, drummer Stuart Perry was cast as Nonnie's brother (although siblings can have different eye colors).
Red Buttons and Carol Lynley, whose characters fall in love in the movie, actually disliked each other intensely during filming. They refused to have anything to do with each other, except when the cameras were rolling. Ironically, after being constantly reminded of this, they ended up becoming great friends in later years. Both Lynley and Pamela Sue Martin (who played 18-year-old “Susan Shelby") were with Buttons at the time of his final public appearance--the world premiere of POSEIDON, a remake of the 1972 film, at Mann's Chinese Theatre in May 2006.
The cast of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE:
Standing (l. to r.): Ernest Borgnine, Arthur O’Connell, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Jack Albertson
Sitting (l. to r.): Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens, Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall
The film, shot in sequence in order to follow the characters faithfully as they became more and more bedraggled, began production on location aboard the Queen Mary. The ship had launched in 1934 as an ocean liner carrying up to 2,020 passengers. Upon its retirement in 1967 in Long Beach, CA, it was restored as a hotel and tourist attraction. For the storm sequence, director Ronald Neame mounted cameras on gyros to create the illusion of a swaying ship. The scenes that occur after the ship overturns were shot on the Fox lot, where Neame and production designer William Creber used historical photographs and plans to build near-exact replicas of various areas of the ship. The dining room was built right-side-up, hoisted with a forklift so it tilted up to thirty degrees to film the initial stages of the capsizing. With the actors removed, the set was then flipped upside-down, and the actors were returned to continue the sequence. The filmmakers also constructed a miniature Queen Mary, measuring twenty-two feet long, that was photographed inside a studio tank. The replica now resides in the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro, CA.
The stars personally performed most of the stunts for the film, and this was done by design as part of the studio's marketing plan. Much publicized was the fact that Shelley Winters gained thirty-five pounds to play the role of “Belle Rosen” and studied for weeks to learn to swim like a champion. Originally Reverend Scott was to send Belle on the underwater mission and then save her life, but Gene Hackman suggested that the situation be reversed. The scene in which the character of “Terry” falls from a table and crashes into the ballroom skylight has since become an iconic cinematic shock moment. Actor Ernie Orsatti was asked by the filmmakers to perform the fall himself, and despite his reluctance he did it. Orsatti went on to become a renowned stunt man. Allen and Neame planned for the film’s final shot to be an aerial view of the sinking ship, but budget constraints forced them to drop the shot.
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE premiered in New York on 12 December 1972. It proved a critical success and was the top grossing film of 1972, at which point it had earned almost $100 million. The picture's success initiated a spate of disaster films, many produced by Allen, and is considered to be one of the genre’s finest. The film received an Academy Award for Best Song and a Special Achievement Award in Visual Effects (L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers), as well as nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Winters), Art Direction (Creber and Raphael Bretton), Cinematography (Harold E. Stine), Costume Design (Paul Zastupnevich), Film Editing (Harold F. Kress), Sound (Theodore Soderberg and Herman Lewis) and Music, Original Dramatic Score (John Williams). Williams lost the Oscar to Charles Chaplin, Ray Rasch, and Larry Russell for the score to the 1952 film LIMELIGHT (which had played in Los Angeles for the first time in 1972).
Jack Albertson, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Eric Shea and Pamela Sue Martin in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
The film’s theme song was officially entitled "The Song from The Poseidon Adventure," but became more widely known as “The Morning After.” Although contemporary articles stated that Carol Lynley sang the song during the film, the voice heard was actually stand-in singer Renee Armand. Armand had turned down the opportunity to sing the single, which was released by Maureen McGovern simultaneously with the picture. After composers Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn won the Academy Award in the spring of 1973, it was re-released and became a number-one hit.
The success of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and Irwin Allen’s next film, 1974’s THE TOWERING INFERNO, earned him the nickname “Master of Disaster.” When ABC bought the television rights to THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1973, the network paid a then-record $3.2 million for one showing. John Williams’ score was first released by Film Score Monthly in 1998. It was re-issued by La-La Land in 2010.
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In the action comedy BAD GEORGIA ROAD, Carol Lynley plays bitchy New Yorker “Molly Golden,” who inherits an estate in rural Georgia. Told she can cash out the estate for $100,000 if she shows up in person to sign papers, Molly quits her job and drives to Georgia. Upon arrival, Molly realizes she’s been duped—a lawyer persuades her to sign over the $100K to creditors, so her real inheritance comprises a decaying house, a few acres of land, and a ramshackle moonshine operation. Left with no options, Molly takes over the operation and clashes with her driver, “Leroy Hastings” (Gary Lockwood), an alcoholic womanizer.
John C. Broderick directed and co-wrote this 1977 release. Don Peake provided the unreleased score.
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In THE CAT AND THE CANARY, a clanking freezer, closed 20 years ago, is pried open by a lady lawyer and the housekeeper ("Happy anniversary, Mr West… welcome to 1934"), but inside there's just a box and a live moth. Inside the box are two ancient films, with sound on a recorded cylinder - the first tells who the heir to the West fortune is, the second is only to be shown if the heir dies during the night, or is judged to be insane.
Soon the house guests start arriving, comprised of Harry (Daniel Massey), a surgeon; Susan (Honor Blackman) and Cicely (Olivia Hussey), a couple of lesbians ("We're cousins and flatmates… but don't worry, we don't plan to have any children"); Charlie (Peter McEnery), an ex-war hero and sometime film actor; Paul (Michael Callan) an American; and Annabel (Carol Lynley), an out-of-breath blonde.
The first film is shown, featuring Wilfred Hyde-White as Silas West, who opens his monologue with "Good evening, leeches… first of all, let me tell you you're all a bunch of bastards!" West names Annabel as the heir(ess), and everyone else is shunted out of the room as Silas tells her, and her alone, where the priceless West family necklace is hidden. It's safe to say that the lovely Annabel's card is now marked, as the entire family must stay the night… just in case the second film needs to be shown…
Carol Lynley in THE CAT AND THE CANARY
The play on which this film is based opened in New York at the National Theatre on 7 February 1922 where it played for 148 performances until May 1922. It is described as "A play in four acts" and its setting is given as "Glencliff Manor, on the Hudson".
This picture is considered a curio in the canon of director Radley Metzger whose body of work is comprised mainly of soft-core erotic dramas. This PG-rated film was Metzger's only non-adult movie. The project came about through Metzger's long-time association with producer Richard Gordon. The two had met back when Gordon had employed Metzger to direct the English language versions of the films he was importing from Europe at the time; and when Metzger began directing his own movies, the two talked about eventually working together at some point. Years later - when Gordon was looking to cash-in on the recent success of a series of Agatha Christie movie adaptations such as DEATH ON THE NILE (1978) - they finally got their chance to collaborate. Steve Cagan provided the film’s unreleased score.
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Carol Lynley co-starred with Jack Palance for a second time in the sci-fi thriller THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. The film is set on the Moon, seven years after “The Robot Wars” have left Earth a desolate wasteland. What’s left of the human race lives in a domed city, New Washington, where the Moon Council, comprised of appeasing, cowardly politicians like “Senator Smedley” (John Ireland), has had quite enough of war. So they’ve cancelled science advisor “Dr. John Caball’s” (Barry Morse) massive, state-of-the-art starship, the Starstreak. Caball sneers at the Council’s pacifist naiveté, an aggressive stance seemingly vindicated when everyone’s overseer, Lomax--the Master Computer, does nothing when an empty cargo ship from Delta Three smashes into the city’s dome.
Delta Three, a distant planet, is the only source of mined RADIC-Q-2, a miracle drug that keeps the radiated humans alive. So when Caball and Smedley call Delta 3 to ask what is going on, they don’t get “Governor Niki” (Carol Lynley), they get Robot Master “Omus” (Jack Palance), who has deposed Niki and declared himself emperor of the planet. He sent the cargo ship to crash into New Washington so that he could make a demand: install him as the Moon’s and Earth’s Supreme Commander, and he will create a society serviced by robots that will free everyone from want.
George McCowan directed this 1979 film, which was based on an H.G. Wells novel. Paul Hoffert’s score has not had a release. The Canadian production was one of the lowest grossing films in the U.S. in 1979, taking in only $800,000 at the box office.
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The 1983 crime drama VIGILANTE follows “Eddie Marino” (Robert Forster), a factory worker in New York City. He has a wife named “Vickie” (Rutanya Alda) and a son named “Scott” (Dante Joseph). Eddie's friend and co-worker “Nick” (Fred Williamson) and some of the factory's other workers have formed a vigilante group because they are fed up with the pimps, gangs, and drug dealers who keep taking over the neighborhoods. Nick and his group are also sick and tired of the police, because they always fail to protect people who become victims.
Eddie goes home from work one night, only to discover that Vickie has been stabbed, and Scott has been shot dead. “Frederico ‘Rico’ Melendez” (Willie Colon), the leader of a Puerto Rican street gang, is arrested for the crimes. “Assistant District Attorney Mary Fletcher” (Carol Lynley) plans to put Rico away for as long as possible, since New York doesn't have the death penalty. Nick tries to convince Eddie to join the vigilante group, but Eddie turns Nick down, preferring to let the courts handle Rico.
The part Carol Lynley played was originally intended for Caroline Munro. Exploitation expert William Lustig directed the film. Jay Chattaway’s score has not had a release. Willie Colon’s songs for the film were released by Fania Records. The film opened in New York and Los Angeles on 4 March 1983, and two months later played at the Cannes Film Festival. The $2 million production grossed $5.1 million at the box-office. In 1985, William Lustig was considering a re-release of the film “to reflect the recent Bernhard Goetz situation that has become so prominent in the news.” Goetz gained notoriety after shooting four alleged attackers on a New York City subway train in 1984.
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I always follow your RIP work with interest. 
