When You Double-Cross a Double-Crosser… (April, 1949)

 

 

 

 

 
Criss Cross (1949) Universal International Pictures :: Universal Pictures / P: Michael Kraike / D: Robert Siodmak / W: Daniel Fuchs, Don Tracy (novel) / C: Franz Planer / E: Ted J. Kent / M: Miklós Rózsa / S: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Richard Long

The 13 Greatest Shocks of All Time! See It with Someone with Warm Hands! (April, 1959)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
When Bill Schloss got into showbiz, he decided a name change was in order to give the old nom-de-plume a little more punch to get noticed; and thus, William Castle was born. And after cutting his teeth on a ton of B-features in the 1940s and ’50s, the director was intrigued by the huge success of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s imported thriller, Diabolique — especially it’s twist ending, and the promotional efforts that not only teased the frightful climax but at the same stroke worked very hard to keep that final shock / reveal a secret. But most important of all, Castle was keenly interested in the massive lines forming around the block wherever it played! With that as an inspiration the director decided to try his hand at producing his own fright flick and an industry legend was born — ready, willing and able to cash in on the bally-ho and the bullshit in a string of gimmick-driven pictures for over a decade, including this fantastic feature from the spring of 1959, House on Haunted Hill; an awesome Vincent Price-fueled spook-show teamed up with a standard police procedural, where a couple of hard-nosed cops try to track down a firebug before he strikes again. And with this latest feature, Castle also unleashed a new process called Emergo:

Video courtesy of brutallodotcom.

 
Seems an inflatable skeleton was trolled out over the audience during the film’s climax, but, alas, I fear the Capitol Theater might have opted out of using it since there is no mention of Emergo in the ads, meaning their patrons had to settle for just watching it with someone with warm hands — whatever the heck that means?!
 

 
With or without the gimmicks, the King of Schlock — or the Poor Man’s Hitchcock, call him what you will — the one thing you can say about any of Castle’s films was they were seldom — if ever — boring, and always a wonky good time.

 

Other Points of Interest:

Poster campaign for House on Haunted Hill at the Archive.

House on Haunted Hill (1959) William Castle Productions :: Allied Artists / P: William Castle / AP: Robb White / D: William Castle / W: Robb White / C: Carl E. Guthrie / E: Roy Livingston / M: Von Dexter / S: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr.

Arson for Hire (1959) Broidy Pictures Corporation :: Allied Artists / P: William F. Broidy / AP: Erwin Yessin / D: Thor Brook / W: Tom Hubbard / C: William Margulies / E: Herbert R. Hoffman / S: Steve Brodie, Lyn Thomas, Tom Hubbard, Wendy Wilde

For the Love of Film Noir :: Terror and Tenderness! (June, 1947)

 

 

 

This post is part of my rehash and continuation of the For the Love of Film Noir Blogathon originally held back in February of 2011. Thus and so, we will be heading down the rain-soaked streets and neon-drenched back alleys of Noirville again for the entire month of March. And along with all the old material migrating over from the old site, we’ll also be scattering around a lot of new stuff as well. Also of note, we’ll be posting them in chronological order to show how the genre evolved and progressed from the 1940′s through the late ’50s. And as an added bonus, I’ll be posting some vintage adverts to stuff I’ve always associated with the genre — cigarettes, booze and fashionable ladies.

The Stranger (1946) International Pictures :: The Haig Corporation :: RKO Radio Pictures / P: Sam Spiegel / D: Orson Welles / W: Anthony Veiller, Victor Trivas, Decla Dunning / C: Russell Metty / E: Ernest J. Nims / M: Bronislau Kaper / S: Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Philip Merivale, Richard Long, Martha Wentworth