DAVID L HEWITT and his GALLERY OF HORROR

 

GALLERY OF HORROR (1967)
director: David L. Hewitt .American General Pictures. color .widescreen. 83 min.

Alternative Titles
Dr. Terror’s Gallery of Horrors
Return from the Past
The Blood Suckers
Cast
Lon Chaney John Carradine Rochelle Hudson Roger Gentry Ron Doyle Karen Joy Vic McGee Ron Brogan Margaret Moore Gray Daniels Mitch Evans Joey Benson

PRESENTING
1 ‘The Witches Clock’
2 ‘King Vampire’
3 ‘Monster Raiders’
4 ‘Spark of Life’
5 ‘Count Alucard’

Here is horror anthology that you may have seen on late night television but thought that you had only imagined it .

Seriously, this film lifts clips from better Roger Corman  films, then inserts them throughout this picture to add production value (think of that- Corman giving production value!!).

 

Stiff acting, staging, accents that make Dick Van Dyke  in MARY POPPINS (Disney,1964) sound like Laurence Olivier ,the barest of sets ,often just a wall flat with windows ,or a darkened sound stage street with a lamp, helps give this film an impoverished look . Not to the level of an Ed Wood or Andy Milligan , but as off beat in its own peculiar way .

David L. Hewitt ,the auteur 0f all this, was the man behind THE WIZARD OF MARS  (John Carradine again)MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY(both 1965) JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME(1967 ),THE MIGHTY GORGA (1969 );all films with special (de)fects ,and the non fantasy The Girls from Thunder Strip in 1970.

 

He began as a stage magician ,until he met Forrest J Ackerman .  He had an idea for a film script, and Ackerman put him in contact with science fiction writer and filmmaker Ib Melchior (AIP’s 1959 ANGRY RED PLANET ,and the screenplay for the Danish REPTILICUS ,AIP 1961).  Melchior would later pen the short story “The Racer”which would be adapted to the screen as DEATH RACE 2000(New World,1975).

Melchior and Hewitt worked on reworking the ambitious story (originally known as “The Trap”) and shot some test footage to convince investors that they could make the film on a modest budget.  Hewitt was able to create several effects that could be shot live on set, as they were variations of several magician’s tricks. Forrest  J Ackerman even gets a nice cameo doing one of the tricks.

The film became THE TIME TRAVELLERS (AIP,1964),an ambitious tale of time paradoxes and the future,shot on a budget of $250,000.

Trying to go it alone, Hewitt created a film that ran only 33 minutes. Not wishing to lose his investment, he created a stage show involving magic tricks ,performers and people in costumes (probably some poorly underpaid usher) who would run through the theatre onto the stage. All this would then  seque into the film . The result was MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY (1965).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2crI6OdUOA0

 

Hewitt’s next picture was THE WIZARD OF MARS . Shot on a budget of $33,000 , the film was a science fiction retworking of  Wizard Of Oz set upon the Red Planet. John Carradine worked for Hewitt for the first time, shot against a blue screen as a transparent figure appearing against a star field . The money was raised by a group of vending machine operators . Since it was a cash business, the operators looked for ways to invest ,and felt that Hewitt was worth the risk.

THE WIZARD OF MARS was edited by Tom Graeff . If the name is familiar to you, he was the mad “genius ” behind 1959’s TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE (W.B.). This was Graeff’s last known film work, with him committing suicide in 1970 .

T.W.O.M was an ambitious film filmed with effects, but it had no one willing to distribute it.  The investors, having no experience in film at all, started their own distribution company ,American General Pictures.

Knowing they did not have the resources to keep producing films, they picked up other movies that had limited release or had been sitting upon the shelves. One of the films they picked up was SPIDER BABY . The bizarre but original Jack Hill film starring Lon Chaney Jr  had been shot in 1964 , but not released until 1967 . Being in black and white made it a harder sell, even when changing the name often to The Liver Eaters, Attack of the Liver Eaters, Cannibal Orgy, and The Maddest Story Ever Told.

The same year Hewitt created GALLERY OF HORROR ,he also made JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME . Very talkative ,with some effects lifted from other films, Scott Brady took on the John Carradine type role in this (was Carradine busy filming HILLBILLIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE??)  . Antony Eisley appears as the nominal hero.The film seems like a variation of the superior THE TIME TRAVELLERS.

As embarassing as some of these films were , none can reach the levels of ineptitude that is THE MIGHTY GORGA (1969).Poor Scott Brady and Anthony Eisley both appear in this jawdroppingly bad film. Long ago SNL did a sketch about dinosaurs, using purposely fake effects. It was hysterical.

 

Here, you feel that the team was serious about their use of force perspective toy dinosaurs and third rate gorilla costume work. How third rate?Hewitt, who constructed and wore the suit, never bothered creating the lower half .

American General folded after one of the partners disappeared and another partner died from a heart attack. The widow of the third partner felt it wasn’t worth the headache, and let the company fold in 1970.   American General did not make a lot of prints of their films, at best 35  copies for the entire country ,and so they were often played until they were worn so badly that they were unscreenable.

Wizard Of Mars Model work

After this, Hewitt became an effects man for hire ,ironically with some of his own space ship footage from JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME ending up in the I.I. patchwork film HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS (1970).

 

The 79 year old Hewitt (born December ,1939) is still with us, having worked on effects as late as 2003 on INSPECTOR GADGET 2 for Disney.

 

However, back to the “gallery ” :

John Carradine, in tux, is the host for several tales ,bringing to mind Boris Karloff in the vastly superior  BLACK SABBATH (AIP,1963). DR TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS (Amicus/Paramount,1965) was also big hit  ,which is why one of the alternate titles for this film attached DR TERROR’s for one of its releases.

Lon Chaney appears in a tale wherein he references Dr Frankenstein . Chaney is a teaching professor who ,with the aid of two med students, revive a corpse. It must have been nice for him not to be the one on the slab for once. Oh, wait…

Though top billed, Chaney could have shot his whole part in a day .

Carradine probably shot his narrator role reading off of cue cards in front of a blue screen, with his part in the first story, THE WITCHES CLOCK, probably taking all of an afternoon.

 

Most of the rest of the cast seem to declaim their lines as if trying to reach the back of a theatre .

The sound at times is very echoey, meaning that sound proofing was not added to the studio wherein they filmed.

That it felt like inferior CREEPY comics stories may be because one of the screenwriters was Russ Jones,founder of that magazine. He had wanted to film to feel like a comic book, but the distributors and Hewitt vetoed that idea,except for the intentional splash wipes .Audiences would have to wait until CREEPSHOW (Laurel,1982).

The music and sound effects are stock ,coming from a company called COMMERCIAL SOUND RECORDERS ,which sound like a bunch of fans in a basement full of machines .

Wade Williams released a DVD of the film from a print that he owned . That the film looks as good as it does means it was not shown as often as many other copies of the title were .G.O.H. astonishly shot widescreen  ( 2.35:1 )and in color ,which added to the budget perhaps but somehow makes the picture as a whole  look a whole lot cheaper. http://www.wadewilliamscollection.com/ft-haunted.html 

I didn’t go into great detail about the film to allow you to “experience”it for yourself .

This film is Screaming out for a MST3K /Rifftrax treatment.

–Kevin G Shinnick

 

ps- some information on David Hewitt, American General, and their films was taken from Fred Olen Ray‘s wonderful 1991 book from MacFarland : THE NEW POVERTY ROW  .https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-new-poverty-row/

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EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX -Woody Allen-Twilight Time Blu Ray

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (U.A.,1972) (TWILIGHT TIME Blu Ray ) $29.95 .Region Free A/B/C release July 18,2017 https://www.twilighttimemovies.com/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-sex-but-were-afraid-to-ask-blu-ray/ . Limited to 3,000 units.

Sex Sells. The maxim in advertising is often quite true. People are shocked and titillated, offended and fascinated, intrigued and repulsed by it. Due to that, interest in it never waivers. Back in the 1948 & 1953, the two books that became known as THE KINSEY REPORTS were published. These dry data filled books shocked people , as it let the general public know that their neighbors were doing it, how they might be doing it, some kinks they might have . Masters & Johnson also published their scientific studies, that showed such far out ideas as women might actually enjoy sex .

The freer society of the late 1960s led to the publication of the book EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX* (*BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK) by David Rueben ,M.D. Published by McKay in June 1969, the book became a world wide best seller. His how to manual seemed a must have .

When it was announced that Woody Allen was going to make a film based upon the non fiction book, people were surprised. Allen ,who had begun as a writer for the Colgate Comedy Hour on television, and written short humor pieces for magazines like The New Yorker. He stepped out and began his successful stand up comedy career , which led to his guest appearances on several popular T.V. shows.

 

His first play, DON’T DRINK THE WATER , was a hit that ran for 598 performances, and introduced the author to Lou Jacobi and Tony Roberts, the latter who became strongly associated with Allen’s films of the 1970s and 1980s.

 

A year earlier , he had written and taken a small role in the popular film WHAT’S NEW ,PUSSYCAT ? (U.A.,1965) .

His next film ,co written with writing partner Mickey Rose was the redubbed Japanese spy thriller International Secret Police: Key of Keys(Toho),with all the dialogue re-dubbed into an hysterical plot about the world’s best egg salad, and the new version was called WHAT’S UP TIGER LILLY?(AIP,1966),hoping to cash in on the success of Allen’s previous movie.

Disappointed by studio interference , Allen vowed to direct and retain creative control on his next films.
His play PLAY IT AGAIN ,SAM in 1969 was another hit, and brought actress Diane Keaton into both his professional and personal life.

Working with Mickey Rose again on a screenplay , Allen also directed and starred in TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (Cinerama,1969). The modest film doubled it’s investment ,leading U.A. to sign him to a long term (though not exclusive) deal. BANANAS(U.A.,1971) made five times its production costs ,and his play PLAY IT AGAIN SAM (which he wrote & co-starred, but did not direct for Paramount 1972) also did fairly well . Diane Keaton, Jerry Lacy and Tony Roberts also reprised their Broadway roles.

So ,Allen ,who played a nebbishy character often obsessed with but failing at sex, seemed to be ready for the ultimate sex romp. But how to turn the book into a comedy ?

His solution was  to turn the film into an omnibus, with seven stories that all work separately,all dealing with sex.

Do Aphrodisiacs Work?

They definitely do for the Fool (Allen) who has fallen for the Queen(Lynn Redgrave). While his Bob Hope style one liners fail to thrill the King (Anthony Quayle),the Fool definitely has an interest in the lovely Queen(Vanessa Redgrave) that involves more than jokes.

While walking the parapet, the Fool  has an encounter with his father’s ghost (Allan Caillou,probably best known to many as The Head on the short lived tv series QUARK (Columbia,1977-78).A very funny exchange parodying Hamlet ensues.

The ghost sends him to the Sorcerer (played with glee by Geoffrey Holder) who give him a love potion

The potion definitively gets her in the mood. Their amour is stopped by her chastity belt,of which her husband The King has the key. Let us say it ends with Fool  losing his head over sex. A very Decameron inspired tale,by way of Woody Allen. ”It’s great to be back here in the palace!”

WHAT IS SODOMY?

Gene Wilder is Dr Ross,a general practitioner. A new patient ,Stavros Milos ( Titos Vandis,who had starred on Broadway in the original ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER,1965)),has a problem. He was a lonely shepherd who feels that his sheep Daisy no longer loves him. Shocked at first, Dr Ross is smitten by her sheep eyes, and persuades Milos to leave her with him.This leads to the doctor’s downfall,as he is discovered with the animal, ending in his divorce ,a nervous breakdown,his career shattered ,and him drinking Woolite. Wilder is superb and very sympathetic, so it makes the ending somewhat sad rather than funny.

Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm?

Woody returns in this spoof of Italian films. Here he is Fabrizio ,a husband of six weeks. His lovely blonde wife Gina (played by Allen’s real life second ex-wife Louise Lasser)is unable to climax during sex. Talking with friends provides no help ,until one day when he kisses her in a store ,she gets excited and they begin having sex in public.

The film is an hysterical satire of the popular films that were filling the art-house theatres . The clean lines ,camera set ups, and dialog marvelously send up the films of Fellini and Antonioni. The dialogue is even in Italian with English subtitles.

Are Transvestites Homosexuals?

Lou Jacobi is brilliant as a man who is at a dinner party at a friend’s home, when he decides to try on some of the wife’s outfits. The episode kind of ends abruptly,making it one of the more unsatisfying episodes,plus it never answers the question posed. For the solution  ,one needs to seek out the works of Ed Wood (the answer, by the way ,is no.Not all transvestites are homosexual).

The author of the original book, by the way, seemed to be anti homosexual.He found gay male sex life as loveless anonymous encounters,and also called a trans woman as a “surgically mutilated male homosexual”.

What Are Sex Perverts?

This segment is made to look like the popular game show “What’s My Line?” as if taken from an old black & white kinescope. Jack Barry plays himself ,as the host moderator of “What’s My Perversion?”. In real life ,Barry had been involved in the game show scandals of the 1950s . Among the real life celebrities who had careers on panel shows guessing  portraying themselves are Regis Philbin, Robert Q Lewis,and Pamela Mason, as well as Toni Holt(now infamous for strong support of Donald Trump). There are a few jokes about child molesters and rape that may offend .

Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research and Experiments Accurate?

This is my favorite segment of the film. An hysterical send up of low budget horror films. Heather MacRae               ( daughter of Sheila & Gordon MacRae) portrays Helen Lacey , an investigative journalist whose car breaks down .Luckily, she meets Dr Victor (Allen) who is going to the same destination,the home of mad scientist ,Doctor Bernardo (John Carradine, in an uproarious send up of a role he had often portrayed). He and his hunchback assistant Igor (Ref Sanchez,whose make up resembles Karkov in TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM(Cinerama,1973),a film that also starred- John Carradine!!)are taking part in strange sexual experiments, among them one of which an unconscious woman is being given nothing but silicone for a whole year.

”She used to be flat chested .Give me another year, and watch out”cries Carradine,the thought of which starts him slobbering and smacking his lips insanely.

 

Karkov in TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM

 

Dr Bernardo  plans to use Helen in his next sexual experiment ,but a fight breaks out ,and the equipment explodes and goes into overdrive . The result is that the silicone woman is turned into a giant deadly breast that begins to terrorize the countryside.

The film has the look of so many of the drive in films of the period ,including the stilted explanatory dialogue, the few pieces of mad scientist equipment, and oh yes John Carradine!

 

What Happens During Ejaculation?

Production Designer Dale Hennesy takes an early stab at the look that he will use for Allen’s next futuristic film, SLEEPER (U.A.,1973). In this segment, the set and the sequence at times resembles the 1966 science fiction classic FANTASTIC VOYAGE (Fox,1966) .The brain of our unseen protagonist is run by The Operator (Tony Randall) his assistant Switchboard(Burt Reynolds),and Brain Control ( Oscar Beregi,Jr) .They discuss the latest string of sexual failures, and The Operator checks out their current date (played by Erin Fleming. Fleming is perhaps best known as the woman who helped thrust Groucho Marx in his later years back into the spotlight, only to be sued by the comedian’s family after his death).

They are unsure if this date will result in sex until she says she went to New York University . “We’re in!”crows The Operator confidently.

The various parts of the body are contacted, trying to help get an erection( operated in a room filled with sweaty shirtless men trying to raise a hand cranked crane).

The sperm gather ,as if they are parachuters in a World War II film. One of them is Allen, who fears what’s out there, as you hear about guys hitting against a rubber wall,or perhaps it is an homosexual encounter!

The film is very funny , though some may be offended by some of the humor(rape jokes,gay humor, lines like “This is what we call a beaver shot”. ). That said, if you are going to see an R rated film with this title, you shouldn’t really be surprised .

The film was again a big hit for Allen, making a profit 9 times it’s $2 million dollar budget.

The film had formerly been available on VHS on Key Video .In 2000, MGM released with an acceptable Region 1 print.

The Twilight Time print seems sharper than the film has looked for years, though there is strong grain in the original negative . The film is presented in a 1080p High Definition ,1.85.1 ratio . The audio is English only 1.0 DTS-HD MA. The sound is clean and acceptable,with the dialogue clean and clear. There are also optional English subtitles,that follow the dialogue and action perfectly. This comes in handy if you wish to listen to Mundell Lowe’s score on an isolated track.It is a perfectly serviceable though hardly memorable film score.Still , it is nice that the option is offered.

Julie Kirgo has written a nice essay enclosed in a lovely booklet that is a Twilight Time specialty,wherein she points out that the film was a hit with almost everyone—except Dr David Reuben. Some people just don’t have a sense of humor.

I am aware that Arrow Academy in the U.K. released a region B only version in September ,2016. I do not have access to that print, but I do know it lacks the isolated music track.

If you are a fan of Woody Allen (as I am ) or enjoy wild comedies, you would be well advised to pick up TWILIGHT TIME’s Blu Ray of EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX .

–Recommended.
Kevin G Shinnick

John Carradine Goes Fishing

JOHN CARRADINE GOES FISHING (1947) (Alpha Video/Oldies.com) $7.98 color /B&W http://www.oldies.com/product-view/7775D.html

Definitely one of the most unique titles that I have ever reviewed, the title basically tells all.

FISH STORY (1947 F.B. Mannon) color-
Carradine and reporter “Tubby” Toms and “wizard of the casting rod” “Stu” Pritchard go off into the Wisconsin woods and we see every detail of their trip set to jaunty cartoony stock music.

1947 was the year John’s son Christopher was born to Carradine and his second wife Sonia. He appeared in only one film that year, THE PRIVATE AFFAIRS OF BEL AMI (U.A.). In late December he would appear on Broadway for six performances as the Inquisitor in the Charles Laughton starring vehicle, GALILEO. He also appeared in his first television role as Ebenezer Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Dumont Network, December 25th). Along the way he supplemented his income by doing road company theatre tours.

 

         Carradine doing theatre 1960s

This oddity has to be one of the most unique in the Carradine oeuvre. See John Fly Fishing. Hear him sing. See him in Kodachrome color in a red and black checkered shirt. Have him respond to his fellow fishermen who mouth such inanities as “I never thought of actors as people. Tell me how it feels to be a movie star.” Have him thrill in Mock Shakespearean tones and then switch to a cockney accent? See John in huge rubber waders. See him give his SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card over to one of the fishermen. Carradine seems to be having fun, but the other two are very stiff on camera.

If you are a fisher person, this film will probably thrill you, but as a fan of Carradine, it is an interesting (if staged) part of his private life that you would rarely get a chance to see. FISH STORY is so rare that IMDB does not even list it so kudos to ALPHA on rescuing this film. I could find nothing on the distributor F.B. Mannon and so do not know how widely this piece was ever shown.

 

CRUNCH & DES: “Spare The Rod” – B&W
Next up is CRUNCH & DES starring Forrest Tucker as Crunch Adams and Sandy Kenyon as Des Smith. This was a 39 episode half hour NBC -TV series that was shot on location in Bermuda and at the RKO-PATHE studios in California. Crunch and Des have adventures aboard their sail fishing craft the Poseidon. In this episode, a young boy (Pud Flanagan) who feels neglected by his businessman dad (Alan Heath) becomes friends with the two stars and they take him aboard and teach him to fish. However, the young man steals then loses Crunch’s prized fishing rod. Lots of great location shots mixed with rear screen and very cramp studio sets. This was Tucker’s first television series, and he takes the show seriously. Des is his sad sack Gilligan, who seems to have little to with the story or its outcome. Another interesting rarity that I had not heard of until now.

Three further documentaries then fill up the rest of the disc:

BATTLING SILVER KINGS (Van Buren Corporation,1931) B&W -is an early sound film that continues the fishing theme of the disc. Sound is a bit muffled and the print scratchy but considering its rarity (Van Buren was best known for his animation studio, but also released travelogues like Frank Buck’s BRING EM BACK ALIVE ,1932). His films
were released through RKO until the studio dropped him to distribute animation rival Walt Disney.

DEMONS OF THE DEEP(Pictoreel,1944) B&W- Such “exotic” species as turtles, reptiles (pronounced “reptill” by the narrator), sting rays, moray eels, and the like are shown. Pictoreel seems to have been a home movie film distribution company, but I could find no info on their history.

 

DEEP SEA ADVENTURE (Castle Films /United World Films,1953) killer clams, skin diving, and fishing. See humans stalk and destroy aquatic life. Print is quite scratchy but again rare. This was created for the 16mm home movie collector.

This is an indeed an offbeat though rare collection of short subjects. I feel that many of these scream out for the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000/RIFFTRAX treatment but it is indeed nice that ALPHA/OLDIES.COM have saved these films for a new generation.

                                                           Carradine’s last Monogram film, made a year before FISH STORY

-Kevin G Shinnick

check out the other reviews here including
THE GIRL FROM RIO/ THE MILLION EYES OF SU MURU
FANTASTIC FILMS OF THE DECADE VOL 1 THE SILENT ERA
CITY OF THE DEAD
10 RILLINGTON PLACE
COUNT YORGA VAMPIRE
BROKEN HERO
COMIN’ AT YA!
AMERICAN HORROR PROJECT

and many more

plus articles like
Boris “Frankenstein” Karloff lives on in KARLOFF The Play!
and
JOAN FONTAINE :THE LIONESS IN WINTER

and interviews like
STILL ROCKIN’ ON MUSCLE BEACH! A Conversation with the First Mr. Olympia, Larry Scott By Rod Labbe

 

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                   SON OF FURY (1942) Tyrone Power-John Carradine