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 William Castle Blogathon :: Not Valid for People with Known Heart or Nervous Conditions! (May, 1958)

 

 

Sometimes the gutter giveth…

 

 

… and sometimes the gutter taketh away. Pfeh.

 

 

Other Points of Interest:

The poster campaign for Macabre at the Archive.

 
And now, finally, we get to the meat. The ballyhoo. The bullshit. The Castle raison d’etre. By no means great, but, when considering it’s lackluster reputation, even among William Castle’s fans, Macabre wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d anticipated. In fact, I found it to be pretty good. (Who knew Jim Backus had that kind of a heavy in him?) A bit clumsy, structurally, sure (–there might have been a flashback inside a flashback), and though this tale of kidnapping and buried secrets threatens to derail itself, the ending twist works and those closing credits are simply ADOREABLE! You’ll never get to cash in your Fright Insurance policy, but definitely worth a spin.
 

An official Beneficiary Agreement for Macabre:

And as a public service announcement for the IMDB, who list Macabre’s release as October, 1958, for the sake of accuracy, it played in the Island in May, 1958:

 

 
This post is part of Goregirl’s Dungeon and The Last Drive-In’s The William Castle Blogathan, a week long tribute to the King of Schlock. Follow the linkage, Boils & Ghouls. It’s gonna be a great week. And stick around, as we’ll be showcasing Castle’s film career from its fairly normal beginnings through it psychotronic glory days. Stay tuned!

Macabre (1958) William Castle Productions :: Allied Artists / P: William Castle, Howard W. Koch, Aubrey Schenck / D: William Castle / W: Robb White, Anthony Boucher (novel) / C: Carl E. Guthrie / E: John F. Schreyer / M: Les Baxter / S: William Prince, Jim Backus, Christine White, Jacqueline Scott, Susan Morrow, Ellen Corby

Hell’s Five Hours (1958) Muriel Corporation :: Allied Artists / P: Jack L. Copeland / AP: Walter Hannemann / D: Jack L. Copeland / W: Jack L. Copeland / C: Ernest Haller / E: Walter Hannemann / M: Nicholas Carras / S: Stephen McNally, Coleen Gray, Vic Morrow, Maurice Manson, Robert Foulk

Naked Nerves! Bare Emotions! Drama that EXPLODES in Your Face! (November, 1953)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Split Second was the directorial debut of Dick Powell, and the movie had me at hello with a cast that included McNally, Sterling, Smith and Hunnicutt, making the fantastic plot they’re plugged into just more gravy. Here, McNally plays an escaped prisoner who gathers up a group of hostages as he steals their cars on the way to his hideout — a ghost town near White Sands, NM, that’s well within the predicted blast radius of another, impending A-Bomb test. So, we’ve got a taut and tensile race against the clock as the criminal forces one of his hostages to lure her doctor husband into the desert to patch up his partner before the bomb goes off, culminating in an ending that beat Aldrich to the punch by about a year and half. Highly recommended.

Split Second (1953) RKO Radio Pictures / P: Edmund Grainger / D: Dick Powell / W: William Bowers, Irving Wallace, Chester Erskine / C: Nicholas Musuraca / E: Robert Ford / M: Roy Webb / S: Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Arthur Hunnicutt, Richard Egan, Frank DeKova

For the Love of Ida Lupino :: Fugitive Woman! From Love, Terror, Scandal and a Shady Past! (July, 1950)

 

 

 

 
Here, Ida meets her match both onscreen and off. On with villainous Stephen McNally, and off with Howard Duff. I have no idea how their marriage lasted over 30 years but lasted it did.
 
This post was one of my meager contributions to The Ida Lupino Blogathon (2011) hosted by The Miss Ida Lupino fan page, a well-worth-your-while shrine to one of my favorite actresses that is sadly no longer with us. Still, my Ida love knows no bounds, and I hope you will enjoy this humble retrospective. Thanks!
 

 
Woman in Hiding (1950) Universal International Pictures / P: Michael Kraike / D: Michael Gordon / W: Oscar Saul, Roy Huggins, James Webb (novel / Fugitive from Terror) / C: William Daniels / E: Milton Carruth / M: Milton Schwarzwald / S: Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, Howard Duff, Peggy Dow, John Litel