A BUCKET OF BLOOD (Olive Films Signature Blue Ray)

A BUCKET OF BLOOD (Olive Films Signature Blue Ray) released 2019. B&W. 66 minutes. 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. Original Theatrical Release. October 21, 1959. AIP. $39.95 limited to only 3500 copies

https://olivefilms.com/product/a-bucket-of-blood-olive-signature-blu-ray/

 

Back in 1959, Roger Corman (THE PIT & THE PENDULUM, AIP,1961) made a five-day quickie for $50 grand, that was different from his previous productions. While it still fell into the horror genre, it was also a dark comedy. The film went on to make back profits of  almost quadruple its production cost, leading Corman to try two more with the same writer, Charles B Griffith (who had written many of Corman’s early films, and later wrote the cult classic DEATH RACE 2000 (New World ,1975);LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Filmgroup, 3 days, plus pick up shots, $34,000, not a success upon its original release) and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA (Filmgroup, 1959, released in 1961, shot on location in 5 days, a failure upon its original release).

 

Corman thus stayed away from comedies until a segment of his TALES OF TERROR (AIP,1962) and THE RAVEN (AIP ,1963).

A BUCKET OF BLOOD works mostly because of the wonderful work by Dick Miller. When ABOB was released, it was unique, being a time capsule of the beatnik era.

 

“Beat Generation” was a phrase first popularized by author Jack Kerouac to describe the counterculture developing in post war New York, particularly in the bohemian Greenwich Village. The word was basically a way for Kerouac and others of the time to describe the beaten down and off beat. “Beatnik “was first used in 1958 in a news column as a derogatory term. The phrase stuck, however. ‘Beatniks” slowly morphed into what are now better known as “hippies”, or the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

 

Until the beginning of this century, one could still find in the Greenwich Village several coffee shops and bookstores that had been part of the Beat Generation of cool, all slowly removed and replaced by Starbucks and sterile chain stores.This film gives a glimpse of how similar the beat culture was on both coasts.

 

OLIVE FILM’s SIGNATURE series release of A BUCKET OF BLOOD goes all out on this little gem, something we wish that every film would get.

First off, the 4K scan print is amazing, especially considering how many bad to downright unwatchable P.D. prints have been circulating for years. Olive Films had released a bare bones Blu ray version (still available for $14.95 https://olivefilms.com/product/a-bucket-of-blood-dvd/) but I am sure that even that print pales in comparison to this new version.

The mono sound works fine for the film, being almost hiss free, with dialogue, sound effects, and music clear and distinct, even with lines that formerly had sounded a bit mumbled.

 

The extras are the reason that make me prefer Blu Rays over streaming films, and what a nice collection of goodies that Olive Films has added.

–CREATION IS, ALL ELSE IS NOT! *- 93-year-old Roger Corman reminisces about the making of ABOB. The man shows that his memory is clear about a film made 60 years ago, and it is remembered with great affection.

–CALL ME PAISLEY – a 2018 interview with Dick Miller (who died January 30,2019 at age 90) and his wife Lainie. His voice is hoarse but Dick Miller was still lively, and a wonderful raconteur , prompted by his Lainie. The movie has extra importance to Lainie, as she met Dick when he was beginning production of the film, and they were married by year’s end just as the picture was being released. There are some marvelous home movies of Dick wrestling with tigers and lions. As he states, they are not trained but wild, that have been fed, and have no reason to attack humans unless hungry or aggravated to attack. Miller speaks of how he knew Jonathan Haze and Bruno VeSota prior to working for Corman, and how Corman formed his little stock company of players.

 

The Cabinet Of Professor Bondi ? How does this German retitling of HOUSE OF WAX tie in with ABOB?Read on.

-Audio Commentary by Elijah Drenner, director of the wonderful documentary THAT GUY DICK MILLER (Autumn Rose Productions, End Films,2014). Elijah enthusiastically shares his information about Miller and this film with an infectious enthusiasm for his subject. When not commenting directly on the action of the film ,he pulls out illumination on the film location (the studio were it was filmed was formerly The Chaplin Studios and now is the home of Jim Henson Productions .) and the people involved both in front and off camera. At the end, you almost feel that Drenner wishes the film were longer, as he seems to have so much knowledge on the production to share.

http://blog.thatguydickmiller.com/p/dick-miller-store.html

 

-Archival Audio Interview with screenwriter Charles B Griffith. The screenwriter (who passed away in 2007) speaks clearly and with clarity about how he got involved in the business due to Myrtle Vail, a relative who helped create the radio soap opera in 1932(!)and who played the landlady Mrs. Swickert in ABOB. An amazing recollection from the subject, and a real bonus finds we should be grateful that Olive Films found and added this.

 

 

 

 

Griffith & Vail  Sounds like a Vaudeville Act ?

Well , Vaudeville was in their family blood .

 

 

 

BITS OF BUCKET – a comparison of the shooting script to the final product. Since an average of 1 minute of screen time is one page of script, the 66-minute feature need to trim a lot from the 95-page screenplay. It results in a few lines cut here and there, as well as some character development. It is interesting to see, and kudos for the effort (the original shooting script was titled “THE YELLOW DOOR’, which is the name of the club in the film), but the movie in it’s current state is quick ,and wastes no time. Would adding and shooting these bits have added to the film, or just slowed it down? An interesting alternate shot exists of Paisley’s hanging scene from the end, where his eyes are open, staring right at the camera. Was the other take used as the image was considered too gruesome?

 

Rare Prologue from the German Release . – This alone should make you rush out and buy this disc. In his commentaries, Elijah Drenner mentions the odd way a German distributor tried to tie ABOB to THE HOUSE OF WAX (aka DAS CABINETT DES PROFESSOR BONDI, THE CABINET OF PROFESSOR BONDI ,WB,1953)!!! To do this, a black and white prologue was filmed with an unknown German actor in heavy makeup going into a long speech about his wax experiments (so we are to assume that this is the Vincent Price character ,who somehow survived the finale of HOW)rambling on about his techniques, and only his relation Walter Paisley can carry on! You will probably want to re-watch this immediately after seeing it to make sure that you are not imagining it! Picture and sound quality are quite good, especially when one considers its rarity. AKA – THE LEGACY OF PROFESSOR BONDI (Das Vermächtnis Des Professor Bondi )

 

Not only did they try to tie A BUCKET OF BLOOD with HOUSE OF WAX,they even stuck a vampire on their poster, which seems to be “borrowed “from the French poster of BRIDES OF DRACULA !

 

-Super 8 Silent Version– one of those old silent 8 abridgements of films, with burnt on subtitles. Ken Films (a Fort Lee N J company that ceased production in 1981) released the film for home use. For those only know easy access streaming as the norm, there was a time when it was quite difficult to get your favorite films in any form, so these abridgements were as good as we could get. The Super 8 version begins with the murder of Detective Lou (Bert Convy, later a likeable staple on tv game shows) and goes to the murders following, a highlight reel that makes ABOB look like no more than a mad killer flick.

 

 

–Theatrical Trailer US

–Theatrical Trailer Germany (see my earlier comments about the prologue)

-A slide show of rare Production Stills.

 

-Inside the  Disc case , you will find an enclosed booklet Essay (“OH GIVE ME THAT BUCKET OF BLOOD “** by Caelum Vatnsdal, author of YOU DON’T KNOW ME, BUT YOU LOVE ME: THE LIVES OF DICK MILLER , Arbeiter Ring Publishing ,2018). Informative and illustrated with some rare on set production shots.

                                             Not with the Disc , but worth seeking out 

 

The plot of the film  has waiter Walter Paisley (Dick Miller, the first of many times his characters during his long career would be referred to as “Walter Paisley” ) working in a beatnik club fall in love with hostess Carla (Barboura Morris, whose whole film career seemed to be for AIP ,save her last role, in the T.V. movie HELEN KELLER & HER TEACHER (1970), with Ms. Morris playing Annie Sullivan. Ms. Morris died tragically young, one day after her 43rd birthday in 1975).

 

When he accidentally kills a cat, he covers in sculpting clay, including the knife still sticking out of the poor beast. He suddenly shows off his “creation” and is hailed as a true genius. However, to keep his masterpieces coming, he needs to keep getting a fresh supply of bodies.

 

The movie was released as a co-bill with ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (AIP,1959) ,which also featured actor Bruno VeSota. One wonders how audiences reacted at the time or were even aware that it was the same performer in both pictures.

 A BUCKET OF LEECHES with two Brunos for the price of one

 

A BUCKET OF BLOOD was one of Roger Corman’s old scripts that he had reworked for Showtime’s ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS, that ran from 1995 until 1997. The 1995 remake was later released to VHS under the title THE DEATH ARTIST (Concorde,1995). This retelling is 17 minutes longer, in color, starring Anthony Michael Hall and Justine Bateman as Walter and Carla respectively, and is more brutal but a lot less fun. The biggest recommendation for seeking it out is to see a young Will Ferrell in a small role https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mUqaNaaPhY as well as Paul Bartel and Mink Stole as two art lovers.

 

Stick to the original.

Get this OLIVE FILMS Blu Ray release.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
Recommended for fans of
Classic Horror
Horror Comedies
Dick Miller
AIP
Roger Corman

-Kevin G Shinnick

 

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*-a line said by the pompous poet Maxwell H Brock (Julian Burton)

**-Dick Miller mock singing at the idea of a musical version of ABOB, like THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

 

THE TERROR (1963) Blu Ray from Film Detective -review

THE TERROR (1963) Color. NTSC .79 min. $14.99 Blu Ray -Film Detective  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F5SXHSI/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1/184-0196101-0815836?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=0Z1A4BV8BWV7VTMB1PEG&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=1944687762&pf_rd_i=B00NX19C2U

In 1959, Roger Corman and his brother Gene formed Filmgroup to make films that would give them a bigger cut of the profits of the films that they were making (Roger had formed Palo Alto Productions to produce his first films). They distributed a few of the films but decided they need Allied Artists and American International Pictures to get them a wider distribution in the long run. Finally, the Corman’s decided to fold Filmgroup. The Corman’s never bothered to copyright the films they made for and distributed by Filmgroup (they had bought some foreign adventure and fantasy films which they also distributed or represented under the banner), and so all of these titles have fallen into Public Domain status.
This is why films like QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966), THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960), and NIGHT TIDE (1961) have been widely distributed by many fly by night video distribution companies using prints of questionable sound and picture quality.

In this batch of P.D. films were also THE TERROR (1963). This one seemed to appear in a lot more of the bargain bins due to the fact that
a)-it had recognizable star names (Karloff, Nicholson)
b)- it was color.
The problem is a lot of these budget videos and later DVDs were from 16mm dupe prints, and were often splicy and muddy color and sound. Since it was so long available in this fashion, studios try and stay away from releasing better prints because they fear the average buyer is unaware of the differences in quality.

Therefore, it is a pleasure to say that FILM DETECTIVE has gone that extra step to find original 35mm elements to release a Blu Ray that makes the film look as if it was lensed recently.

Legend has it that as Corman was finishing his A.I.P. film THE RAVEN (1963) a few days ahead of schedule, the director realized he Still had Boris Karloff contractually signed for four more days to work, as well as having some impressive standing sets left over from previous films (kudos of the great Daniel Haller, Corman’s answer to Hammer’s brilliant set designer Bernard Robinson). He had writers Jack Hill and Leo Gordon cobble something together to utilize the star and the sets. Corman was known for shooting his films quickly, including THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) over two days and one night. He finished Karloff’s scenes in the required four days *

The film, (known during shooting as “Lady of The Shadows”) however, was not quite complete, and like a Frankenstein monster, it was patched together with new scenes over a 9-month period with various (uncredited) directors such as 26-year-old actor Jack Nicholson, Jack Hill, Monte Hellman and Francis Ford Coppola, and I am sure several others did pick up shots. **

 

The plot has Lt. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson, who had played Peter Lorre’s nebbish son in THE RAVEN that same year) a soldier in Napoleon’s army who has been separated from his regiment (with Big Sur California substituting for undetermined Prussian territory.)

 

Exhausted and hungry, he is surprised to see a beautiful woman named Helene (Sandra Knight, Nicholson’s wife at the time). She shows him a source of fresh water then has him follow her. Suddenly she begins to walk as if in a trance into the ocean. Andre tries to rush in and save her when he is attacked by a falcon and sinks under the waves (Nicholson claimed that he nearly drowned filming this sequence).

He awakes in the home of Katrina (Dorothy Neumann) and her mute servant Gustav (Corman regular Jonathan Haze). When Andre inquires about the Helene, the old woman shows him her pet, the very bird that attacked him, also named Helene. Andre awakes at night and goes off looking for the girl, eventually finding her in the forest. Silently she leads him through the woods when suddenly Gustav appears, and says there is danger (a continuity error, as hadn’t we just been told he was mute?). Tossing a rock, he shows that the girl was leading him to a quicksand trap. Gustav, in a harsh whispery voice says that Helene is possessed but if the soldier wants to find her, to go to the castle of Baron Von Leppe and find Eric who knows the full story.

Andre confronts Katrina, who tries to stop him from going to the castle, then pleads that he not tell the Baron that he knows of her whereabouts.

He comes upon the castle (impressive matte paintings by Albert Whitlock, lifted from THE PIT & THE PENDULUM(A.I.P.,1961)) and he spies Helene in windows. Andre demands to be admitted “In The Name of the Government of France”. He is greeted by Baron Victor von Leppe (Boris Karloff) himself, who says that he was at his devotions and did not hear earlier.

 

Karloff is superb in his role, alternately haughty as well as subtly humorous. Considering that he didn’t have a full script makes his performance all the more impressive.

The Baron admits the soldier, noting that the name Duvalier was once of a noble house until the French Revolution. Andre admits his father was the Count Duvalier, until he lost his head (the film seems set in 1806, so his father was executed between 1793-94). He says that he saw the girl in one of the windows but the Baron says he is mistaken. He points out a painting of a young woman (by artist Bert Schoneberg) and the soldier says that it is a portrait of the woman whom he is seeking. The Baron asks him to observe the date of the painting, which is 1786. It is a portrait of the Baron’s late wife, Ilsa. The Baron says that the castle is unoccupied except for the Baron and his servant Stefan (the ever reliable Dick Miller, billed here as Richard and giving a subtler performance than usual) and that Andre is the first visitor to the castle since the turn of the century.

Duvalier wanders the castle grounds and cellars, finding the crypt of Ilsa, which has ominously had its cross removed from above the entrance. He is startled at one doorway by the appearance of Helene (or is it the spirit of Ilsa) who when he looks back has gone.

It seems Stefan followed Andre during his search and tells the Baron that the soldier may have heard things in the village. The Baron feels Andre must leave as soon as possible but under his own accord due to his rank and position. Stefan confronts Andre at the Baroness’ crypt, telling him that the Baron removed all religious articles when she died and that the crypt has been sealed for 20 years. He also tells him that the soldier’s horse has bolted and run away. Andre feels he is being lied to and asks who is Eric?

Dark secrets come out about who Eric is, and how the Baron’s wife died, plus a tale of revenge and the hidden tale of how  Katrina is involved. It all ends with gory murder (a character gets his eyes clawed out by the falcon in a for the time graphic fashion and falls to his death) and the castle falling into ruin (this time by flooding as a change of pace from the usual fire that ended Corman’s Poe films) and a character rotting away before our eyes (the putrefaction effect, uncredited seems similar to that of Vincent Price melting in the previous year’s TALES OF TERROR (A.I.P.,1962) makes me feel that it was by Lou LaCava).

The picture quality on this FILM DETECTIVE Blu Ray release is superb. The blues and reds in the Pathe color print are incredibly vibrant, shaming the current trend of shooting in drab metallic tones. This release truly shows off the superb cinematography of John M Nickolaus Jr and the uncredited Floyd Crosby. Wide shots and two are employed throughout, with close-ups used powerfully and sparingly. The clearer picture also clearly shows when stuntman Dennis Jakob, with dark hair, substituted for Karloff in the climatic flooding sequence. Still, the flooding sequence must have been a great strain on the 76-year-old star, who would later develop pneumonia filming in the cold sound stages of Italy for BLACK SABBATH(AIP,1964). Also, we can see near the end that Sandra Knight’s mid drift is blurred, due to the fact that she was pregnant during filming (giving birth to daughter Jennifer September 13,1963).

Harry Reif’s set decorations give the production a lot of value. The costumes by Marjorie Corso are simple but effective (especially nice is the uniform worn by Nicholson as well as the rich blue robe worn by Karloff). Kudos to editor Stuart O’Brien on assembling so many disparate scenes and making a somewhat cohesive whole. The mono sound is very good (though a bit low on certain dialogue sequences, easily corrected by adjusting the volume). The score by Ronald Stein (with some additional bits by Lex Baxter) is lush and effective. All of these technicians and artists make THE TERROR look a lot more lavish and expensive than it is. Subtitles for the dialogue are excellent.

The only quibble I have is that I wish that they had gotten someone like David J Skal or Tim Lucas to do an audio commentary for the film. One of the things that DVDs and Blu Rays offer that streaming does not allow are extras like that, and companies should use that for their advantage.

IMDB lists a running time of 81 minutes, though this disc runs 79 minutes 14 seconds. I see nothing that would be cut nor any time compression. During the film’s original U.K. release, the bloody eye scene was trimmed, but this print seems to be complete.

All in all, Film Detective is to be commended for the loving care with which they have restored this film.

RECOMMENDED.

-Kevin G Shinnick

*-Karloff’s salary included a $15,000 deferred payment that he would receive once the movie made over a certain amount. In May 1966, Corman told the Horror Icon that THE TERROR never hit the profit threshold, and so the star would not be getting any money. However, he said he WOULD pay the actor the $15,000 if he worked a few days on another project. The star agreed (today there would have been lawsuits galore) to the undetermined future film. Luckily, it turned out to be TARGETS (Paramount,1968), Peter Bogdanovich’s first full feature debut. The film made extensive use of clips from THE TERROR.

Other films have used clips from the film, including CAMPFIRE TALES (Sub Rosa,1991), AVENGED (Uncork’d ,2014), and TRANSYLVANIA TWIST (Concorde ,1989). In the latter film, a sort of AIRPLANE! (Paramount,1980) for horror fans, Dexter Ward (Steve Altman), enters a room and encounters Karloff courtesy of footage from THE TERROR. This is a doubly clever idea, considering the piecemeal way that the Corman film was made.

**- Corman tried to regain copyright on the film in 1990 for release through his New
Horizon -Concorde company. To do this, he rehired Dick Miller 27 years later to film new footage for the beginning and the end of the film as a framing device. Miller claimed that the payment for these scenes was the most he ever got from Roger Corman! Sadly,I have been unable to find this version on VHS or DVD. 

(In the U.K.,the film was also known as THE HAUNTING . Confusing to say the least ,as there was also the THE HAUNTING (MGM ,1963) .