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A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers
In thіѕ jam-packed jamboree οf conversations, more thаn 60 movie veterans сlаrіfу thеіr experiences οn thе sets οf ѕοmе οf thе world’s mοѕt beloved sci-fi аnd horror movies аnd television series. Including grουndbrеаkіng oldies (Flash Gordon, One Million B.C.); 1950s аnd 1960s milestones (Thе War οf thе Worlds, Psycho, House οf Usher); classic schlock (sovereign οf Outer Space, Attack οf thе Crab Monsters); аnd cult TV favorites (Lost іn Space, Land οf thе Giants), thе discussions offer a frank аnd
List Price: $ 45.00
Price: $ 45.00
another masterpiece,
How does Tom Weaver do it? This new work is as fantastic as his last and reasonably uncommon as many interviews are reasonably brief.
Who are Karolyn Grimes, Mickey Knox, Irving Brecher and Barbara Knudsen? Well, they all worked with Boris Karloff and here they are! What about William Phipps and Arthur L.Swerdloff? Nan Peterson? Ken Kolb? Tom knows and tells you. And here are traditional names: Peter Marshall, Jan Merlin, Marsha Hunt, Troy Donahue and many others. The interview with Lisa Davis is worth the price of the book alone.
Read the other reviews to get more information on this book. But get it if you like the ancient horror and sci-fi films. Even the many photos are, to me, reasonably rare and enjoyable.
Again Mr. Weaver, please do something on Homicidal. Here must be someone alive – somewhere – that worked on this most unusual and neglected masterpiece besides Patricia Breslin. How this film was ever made could nearly fill a book. Even the writer and director, Robb White and William Castle, said very small about it.
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|ANOTHER GREAT BOOK FROM WEAVER,
I always get excited when I see a new book by Tom Weaver because he’s simply the best here is when it comes to fantastic interviews. What makes him so exceptional is that he interviews public who don’t normally get interviewed. If you’re not a fan of horror and Sci-Fi films of the 1930s to the 1960s, chances are you may not know a lot of these names and that’s part of Weaver’s charm. He gets the inside tale from public who are usually only too pleased to share their experiences in these fantastic films.
This book features 62 more interviews to engage and excite fans. Weaver’s interviews are not structured in the usual inquiry and answer style but his subjects basically share their reminiscences with the occasional prompting from Tom. In a bit of a departure from previous books, this one features several “Memories of…” chapters everywhere various actors and filmmakers share their thoughts on a fastidious subject, including Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney, Jr. Earl Bellamy, Assistant Director on 1943 Columbia monster mash “Return of the Vampire” discusses working with Lugosi as the horror legend once again played a vampire. In typical Lugosi fashion, he truly believed he was the character even as on the set. Bellamy talks about Lugosi giving the crew tickets to see him perform in the stage play “Arsenic and Ancient Lace”. The play was dreadful and Bellamy and the others wanted to leave but Lugosi had given them tickets in the front row, guaranteeing they stayed to the bitter end.
Weaver scores a bit of a coup with a small interview with the reclusive Fess Parker. Parker starred in one of the first fantastic post-atomic bomb films with 1954′s “Them!” and would go on to TV success playing both Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone. Among the tidbits that Weaver gets parker to reveal is the origin of his name, “Fess”.
It’s fascinating to see the five degrees of separation you sometimes get in Hollywood. Alan Young, star of 1960s sitcom “Mr Ed”, shares his memories of the fantastic Universal Films make-up artist Jack Pierce. Pierce really worked for a small time on the show before being let go. Young reveals how Pierce loved to talk about the excellent ancient days and how hard Cut took it when he was let go.
Weaver has a lengthy interview with Gary Conway, star of one of the most underrated Sci-Fi shows of the 1960s, “Land of the Giants”. Made by Irwin Allen, the show was basically a rip-off of another Irwin hit, “Lost in Space”. Like that show, Giants finds a group of space travelers who get lost when they pass through a space warp and end up on an every second Earth everywhere the public are 12 times the size of the ship’s crew. Conway shares his memories of working on the large-scale sets and with props designed to make the travelers look the side of action figures.
Other interviews include Tony Randall on his role in fantasy film “The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao”; Richard Kiel on his role as the mute giant Voltaire in “The Wild, Wild West”; Lisa Davis in the classic 1950s B Sci-Fi film “sovereign of Outer Space”; and B-film master Director Roger Corman discussing his 1960 figure, “The House of Usher”.
Must have reading for fans of this fantastic era of films!
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