TCM Schedule for Friday, October 31 -- Based on H. P. Lovecraft

[Staph]

The second half of 48 Hours of Horror, with a trio of Tod Browning's films during the day, and a quartet of films based on the stories of H. P. Lovecraft in the evening. Enjoy!


4:45am -- Spirits of the Dead (1969)
This film comprises three supernatural tales based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda, Terence Stamp.
Dir: Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim
C-121 mins

All three segments are based on stories written by Edgar Allan Poe. The original stories were "Metzengerstein", "William Wilson" and "Never Bet the Devil Your Head".


7:00am -- Festival of Shorts #11 (1998)
In The Tell-Tale Heart (1942) a man confesses to murder after being tormented by the sound of his victim's beating heart.
Cast of The Tell-Tale Heart: Joseph Schildkraut, Roman Bohnen.
Dir: Jules Dassin.
BW-22 mins

Joseph Schildkraut was the first non-American actor to win an Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Life of Emile Zola (1937).


7:30am -- Cat People (1942)
A newlywed fears that an ancient curse will turn her into a bloodthirsty beast.
Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur.
BW-73 mins, TV-PG

The film was in theaters for so long that critics who had originally bashed the film were able to see it again and many rewrote their reviews with a more positive spin.


9:00am -- Freaks (1932)
A lady trapeze artist violates the code of the side show when she plots to murder her midget husband.
Cast: Wallace Ford, Olga Baclanova, Harry Earles.
Dir: Tod Browning.
BW-62 mins, TV-PG

According to the screenplay, the scene in which Madame Tetrallini introduces the wandering land-owner to the performers frolicking in the woods ran quite a bit longer. It included additional dialog that endeavored to humanize the so-called freaks. She tells him they are "always in hot, stuffy tents -- strange eyes always staring at them -- never allowed to forget what they are." Duval responds sympathetically (clearly the stand-in for the viewing audience), "When I go to the circus again, Madame, I'll remember," to which she adds, "I know, M'sieu -- you will remember seeing them playing -- playing like children... Among all the thousands who come to stare -- to laugh -- to shudder -- you will be one who understands."


10:15am -- The Devil Doll (1936)
A Devil's Island escapee shrinks murderous slaves and sells them to his victims as dolls.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton.
Dir: Tod Browning.
BW-78 mins, TV-PG

The next-to-last directorial outing for Tod Browning; for some reason, he is not officially credited for this film.


11:45am -- Mark Of The Vampire (1935)
Vampires seem to be connected to an unsolved murder.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi.
Dir: Tod Browning.
BW-61 mins, TV-PG

There was a remarkable degree of difficulty to shooting the scene where Carroll Borland flies like a bat. A jockey initially doubled for her but became nauseated on the wires. A bar was placed down the back of her dress running from her neck to her ankles, but it took some time for she and the handlers to get this right. The single shot took three weeks to work (all of this for a scene where Borland is supposed to be an actor pretending to be flying).


1:00pm -- The Devil Bat (1940)
A mad scientist trains killer bats to respond to a special scent.
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien.
Dir: Jean Yarbrough.
BW-68 mins, TV-PG

This low-budget thriller, boosted by Bela Lugosi, was one of the biggest successes for the poverty row Producers Releasing Corporaton (PRC). After the war, the studio tried to recapture this success by producing a non-sequel "sequel", Devil Bat's Daughter (1946), and a virtual shot-by-shot remake, The Flying Serpent (1946).


2:15pm -- White Zombie (1932)
A zombie master menaces newlyweds on a Haitian plantation.
Cast: Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, John Harron.
Dir: Victor Halperin.
BW-67 mins, TV-PG

Rob Zombie named his first heavy metal band, White Zombie, after this movie.


3:30pm -- The Body Snatcher (1945)
To continue his medical experiments, a doctor must buy corpses from a grave robber.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Bela Lugosi.
Dir: Robert Wise.
BW-78 mins, TV-PG

This film was the last on-screen teaming of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.


5:00pm -- Bedlam (1946)
When an actress tries to reform an asylum, its corrupt keeper has her committed.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House.
Dir: Mark Robson.
BW-79 mins, TV-PG

The dress Anna Lee is wearing as she mounts her horse is the one Vivien Leigh made from the curtains in Gone with the Wind (1939). "I saw this in the window and I just had to have it!" -- Carol Burnett


6:30pm -- The Ghoul (1933)
An ancient Egyptian returns to punish those who violated his tomb.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger.
Dir: T. Hayes Hunter.
BW-81 mins, TV-G

For years this was regarded as a "lost film" with no prints or elements known to exist. A nitrate release print was discovered in the Czech National Archives in Prague. This print was a subtitled edited version that was in poor condition and contained numerous splices. Years later, a print of the uncut British version was finally discovered.


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: BASED ON H.P. LOVECRAFT


8:00pm -- The Haunted Palace (1963)
After inheriting a decaying estate, a man discovers his family's deadly secret.
Cast: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney, Jr.
Dir: Roger Corman.
C-87 mins

Roger Corman decided to do an H.P. Lovecraft story as a break from his Edgar Allan Poe series while keeping the elements that made it successful. American-International took no chances. It gave the film a "Poe" title and marketed it as another in the series.


9:30pm -- Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
On a trip to meet his girlfriend's family, a young man uncovers deadly secrets.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, Freda Jackson.
Dir: Daniel Haller.
C-79 mins, TV-PG

The train station at which Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) disembarks is called Arkham. Arkham was a fictional town created by H.P. Lovecraft.


11:00pm -- The Shuttered Room (1966)
A man takes his young wife to her family home just as a series of strange murders start.
Cast: Gig Young, Carol Lynley, Oliver Reed.
Dir: David Greene.
C-100 mins, TV-PG

Based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth.


12:45am -- The Dunwich Horror (1970)
A demonic priest uses a young innocent to help him bring banished elder gods back to Earth.
Cast: Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley.
Dir: Daniel Haller.
C-88 mins, TV-MA

The odd symbol that appears again and again -- on Wilbur's ring, on his grandfather's staff, in the design on the main floor, etc. -- is actually an ancient Native American symbol commonly termed "Thunderbird in sun".


2:30am -- Blood Feast (1963)
An Egyptian priest uses human sacrifice to bring back his goddess.
Cast: William Kerwin, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason.
Dir: Herschell Gordon Lewis.
C-67 mins

This was filmed in Miami in only nine days and cost just under $25,000.


3:45am -- Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)
Travelers stumble on a Southern town out for revenge for losing the Civil War.
Cast: William Kerwin, Connie Mason, Jeffrey Allen.
Dir: Herschell Gordon Lewis.
C-84 mins

The plot of this gore film was inspired by the musical Brigadoon (1954). You just can't make this stuff up!


5:30am -- Festival of Shorts #28 (2000)
TCM promotes two musical shorts:
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1938)
Artie Shaw leads his orchestra in five songs.
Cast: Artie Shaw, Helen Forrest, Tony Pastor.
Dir: Roy Mack.
BW-10 mins, TV-G

Songs include Nightmare, Begin the Beguine, Let's Stop the Clock, Non-stop Flight, and Pross Tchai.

and
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra in Symphony of Swing (1938)
Artie Shaw and his orchestra perform popular songs with guest stars.
Cast: Artie Shaw, Helen Forrest, Tony Pastor.
Dir: Joseph Henabery.
BW-10 mins, TV-G

Songs include Jeepers Creepers, Deep Purple, and Lady Be Good.

[Staph]

1. Freaks

Who would have thought that a prestigious studio like MGM, the home of Greta Garbo, Clark Gable and the singing duo of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, would produce a movie set in a carnival sideshow featuring real pinheads, Siamese twins, a bearded lady, and other human oddities? What were they thinking? Believe it or not, Freaks (1932), was originally commissioned by MGM's enterprising mogul, Irving Thalberg, who usually favored adaptations of tasteful literary classics like Camille or David Copperfield. As a favor to Tod Browning, who had previously directed such successful Lon Chaney films for the studio as The Unholy Three (1925) and The Unknown (1927), Thalberg offered the director a lavish mystery thriller, Arsene Lupin, the tale of a master thief. However, Browning was more enthusiastic about filming "Spurs," a short story by Tod Robbins about a midget who takes revenge on a beautiful circus bareback rider. Despite some reservations, Thalberg put a team of writers to work on the project with the intention of creating a horrific tale to surpass the success of Browning's Dracula (1931) for Universal, a rival studio.

In the early stages of production on Freaks, Thalberg considered Myrna Loy for the part of the evil trapeze artist, Cleopatra, and Jean Harlow as Venus, the kindly seal trainer who's in love with the circus clown, Phroso. But the mogul must have changed his mind after seriously considering the subject matter because these roles eventually went to Moscow Art Theatre star Olga Baclanova and MGM contract player Leila Hyams, respectively. Casting the circus freaks proved to be more challenging with the exception of Harry Earles, the diminutive star of The Unholy Three. He had always been Browning's first choice for the role of Hans, the midget whose romantic infatuation with Cleopatra sets the stage for a grotesque tragedy. And Harry's sister, Daisy Earles, agreed to play her brother's on-screen fiancee, Frieda. For the rest, casting director Ben Piazza solicited photographs and screen tests from freak-show talent across America and beyond. Johnny Eck, the "half boy" whose body ends at his rib cage, was discovered in a Montreal sideshow. Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton were recruited from the vaudeville circuit. Other discoveries included Prince Randion, an armless, legless native of British Guiana who could shave himself and roll his own cigarettes; Schlitze and her entourage of fellow pinheads; Josephine/Joseph, the Austrian hermaphrodite; Pete Robinson, a sixty-five pound "human skeleton"; Angelo Rossitto, a dwarf (who out of all the "freaks" went on to enjoy a long career in films).

When Freaks began filming on the MGM lot, Thalberg took extra precautions to discourage gawkers and to keep the more unusual cast members out of sight. Only the Siamese twins and the midgets were allowed to eat in the studio commissary while the rest of the carnies were fed at an outdoor mess hall. Nevertheless, Johnny Eck later complained that some of his co-stars let Hollywood go to their heads and "started wearing sunglasses and acting funny." Schlitze, the most sociable of all the pinheads, probably enjoyed the experience the most. According to David J. Skal and Elias Savada in Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning (Anchor Books), Schlitze "was actually male, but for simplicity of hygiene wore a sack-like dress and was described publicly as a woman." "Here was a triumph of personality if I ever saw one," wrote film journalist Faith Service, who called Schlitze "the pet and favorite of the M-G-M lot," finding a fan even in Norma Shearer. "She made a great to-do over new dresses, tricks of magic, gay hats, bits of string, the sword swallower, games of tag and Tod Browning." Service noted "One of her special likes was for Jackie Cooper, much to that small trouper's terror. He did not reciprocate the affection."

By the time Freaks was finally unveiled for a public preview, it had already gone through numerous changes. For one thing, the studio insisted on a macabre ending and rejected Browning's more melancholy fadeout, which sympathized with the plight of these much-maligned social outcasts. But after the horrified response to the preview screening of Freaks, the studio drastically cut the film from a length of around ninety minutes to just over an hour. According to the authors of Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, "The truncated version jettisoned the horrifying details of the mud-dripping freaks swarming over the tree-pinned Olga Baclanova and pouring into a circus wagon to castrate her lover. Several comic scenes were eliminated, including one of the turtle-girl being amorously pursued by a seal. A rambling epilogue set in a second-story London dime museum called Tetrallini's Freaks and Music Hall...was completely discarded, save for the final shot of Cleopatra quacking; a new prologue was added, featuring a spieling barker...who introduces the "most amazing, the most astonishing human monstrosity of all time." And finally, a second epilogue, evidently intended as a happy...ending, depicted the reconciliation of the midget lovers in Hans' palatial estate, approvingly played by Phroso and Venus."

When this new version of Freaks finally went into national release, it was not only savaged by most critics (The New York Times suggested that it should be screened at a medical center instead of a theatre) but also attacked by civic groups and the spokeswoman for the National Association of Women who pointed to it as a further example of Hollywood's collapsing moral standards. Undeterred, Thalberg, who actually felt it was an important film, continued to champion Freaks and later re-released it with a more sensationalistic ad campaign; the title was changed to Nature's Mistakes and the poster featured provocative captions like "Do Siamese Twins Make Love?" and "What Sex is the Half-Man-Half-Woman?" Still, it failed to find an appreciative audience, yet today Freaks is considered one of the most fascinating and unusual films ever produced by a major Hollywood studio. And its influence on other films has been considerable - everything from Edmund Goulding's Nightmare Alley (1947) to Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954) to Jack Cardiff's The Mutations (1973). Even the punk rock group, The Ramones, lifted their rallying cry of "gabba-gabba-hey" from the bizarre wedding sequence in Freaks where the sideshow oddities chant a strange toast to the newlyweds Hans and Cleopatra.

Producer/Director: Tod Browning
Screenplay: Al Boasberg, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, Willis Goldbeck, based on the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins
Cinematography: Merritt B. Gerstad
Film Editing: Basil Wrangell
Principal Cast: Wallace Ford (Phroso), Leila Hyams (Venus), Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra), Roscoe Ates (Roscoe), Harry Earles (Hans), Henry Victor (Hercules), Daisy Earles (Frieda), Rose Dione (Madame Tetrallini), Francis O'Connor (Frances the Turtle Girl).
BW-65m. Closed captioning.

By Jeff Stafford