The Reptile (1966)

Hammer Studios was the king of horror film studios in the 1960s and they offered something deliciously frightful for all appetites. 

If blood-sucking vampires, ferocious werewolves, or linen-wrapped dead people aren't your cup of tea, then The Reptile, a scrumptious bit of gothic horror from the year 1966, may wet your lips. 

In this tale, Captain Harry Spalding (Ray Barrett) and his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) come to England from India due to the sudden death of Harry's brother Charles.  They want to live in the cottage that Charles left behind, but the village folk warn them against it. In fact, most of the villagers are downright hostile to the couple, except for local pub owner Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper). 

Neighboring the cottage is the mansion of Dr. Franklin (Noel Willman) and his daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pierce), a young woman who is frightened of her father. Shortly after the Spaldings' arrival, a villager dies mysteriously with bite marks on the back of his neck and foam pouring from his mouth. Harry believes his brother may have died the same way and thinks Dr. Franklin is hiding the truth about his death. 

The Reptile is one of Hammer Studio's more tamer productions and, like The Gorgon (1964), most of the film builds up to the creature-revealing climax, which in this case is a - surprise! - reptile. This climax would have been much more exciting if the title of the film, and the poster, did not give away the ending. 

In spite of its tameness, The Reptile is engrossing and well worth a watch, if only to soak in all that wonderful gothic atmosphere that Hammer productions were so good at creating. 

The cast were all capable actors (both Noel Willman and Jennifer Daniel may look familiar from Kiss of the Vampire), the music is fittingly eerie, and the color palette is marvelous. The cottage that the Spaldings stay in, as well as Dr. Franklyn's manor across the lawn, reminded me of Cherry Cottage and Cavor's home in First Men in the Moon but these were different filming locations. The Reptile was filmed in and around Windsor in Berkshire next door to Bray Studios, where the picture was made. 

The Reptile is currently available on DVD as well as on Blu-Ray. 

Roku and Tubi Picks for October

With Halloween coming up, most of the Roku apps have a bevy of frightful films on their roster for the month of October, some of which we will highlight below. But even if scary movies aren't your cup of tea, there are a delightful array of mysteries, sci-fi films and television series available this month.... plus, a couple of great comedies. So, check them out! 

Also of note: If you click on the Roku Live TV Guide you will find a huge list of channels to browse. The "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" channel not only plays episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents throughout the day, but also shows two Hitchcock classics each evening, one at 8pm EST and another around 10pm EST. 

One of the other channels through Roku's Live TV Guide listing is the "Universal Monsters" channel which plays 1930s-1980s Universal horror films throughout the day and then -for the month of October- airs back-to-back episodes of The Munsters starting from 6pm EST. Our family has been enjoying these each evening...followed by the Hitchcock film showing at 8pm.

Lastly, one great mystery to watch this month: Murder, She Said (1961) starring Margaret Rutherford is available for free through the Kanopy app.

Tubi TV 

(Also available for viewing at tubitv.com) 

Nosferatu (1922)

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Gunga Din (1938)

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Cottage to Let (1941)

Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Notorious (1946)

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Strangers on a Train (1950)

The Third Man (1950)

The Thing (1951)

Room for One More (1952)

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

The Long, Long Trailer (1954)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Them! (1954)

Autumn Leaves (1956)

The Bad Seed (1956)

Curse of the Demon (1957)

Around the World in 80 Days (1958)

Auntie Mame (1958)

South Pacific (1958)

Some Like it Hot (1959)

The Mummy (1959)

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1961)

The Music Man (1962)

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

The Haunting (1963)

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)

TV Series

The Addams Family (on Roku and Pluto)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (on Roku and Peacock)

Doctor Who - Classics

Gilligan's Island

The Munsters

Thriller

Twilight Zone

Tom and Jerry Collection (also available on the MeTV Toons channel)

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Don't Look Behind You (1962)

In 1962, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour premiered, expanding on the popular half-hour thriller series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Like its predecessor, each episode opened with an introduction from the Master of Suspense himself Mr. Hitchcock, who teased his audience about the story to follow. 

"Don't Look Behind You" was only the second episode in this new hour-long format and, unfortunately, it played out like a half-hour episode stretched to fit the new timeslot. 

The episode, based on a novel by Samuel Rogers, was about a crazed killer who stalked the woods at night murdering young women in the college town of Woodside. One evening, Daphne (Vera Miles) decides to take a chance and crosses the woods as a shortcut to get to a dinner party - she makes it out alive but knows for certain that someone was following her close behind. At the party, arriving shortly later, is her fiancé Harold (Jeffrey Hunter), a psychology professor who looks a bit bedraggled. Also arriving late is Dave (Dick Sargaent) a science teacher who has a crush on Daphne. Another admirer of hers is Edwin (Alf Kjellin), a pianist who has a bent towards the morbid. 

Harold comes up with the brilliant idea of using Daphne as bait so he can catch the killer himself and throughout the episode we are supposed to wonder whether the lunatic is Harold himself, Dave, or Edwin, all of whom happen to be in the woods the same night Daphne is walking through it. All three men look crazy but Harold seems to be the most dangerous and one cannot help but wonder how Daphne can be so blind as to not realize it. 

"Pain is only a secret name for pleasure, my darling"

The wonderful director John Brahm (The Lodger, Hangover Square) directed "Don't Look Behind You" and, while the scenes through the woods are atmospheric, the episode as a whole is a letdown. This could have been a tense thriller with nail-biting "who can the killer be?" ending, but instead it is so obvious that most of the episode fails to build any tension. Jeffrey Hunter's character of Harold should have been a sympathetic intelligent man whom Daphne relies on, this would have given her plausible reason for staying in Woodside with a killer on the loose and would have made the ending have more of that Hitchcockian-twist. 

"Don't Look Behind You" features one of the best introductions of any of the Alfred Hitchcock episodes with Vera Miles walking in a flowing white dress down a secluded dark wooded shortcut, but overall, it just fails to stir up the shivers like any decent Alfred Hitchcock episode should. Nevertheless, Vera Miles gives a wonderful performance as the innocent victim and there is a cast of familiar faces including Abraham Sofaer (Elephant Walk), Madge Kennedy, and Ralph Roberts (Bells are Ringing).

Film Albums: Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ghost Stories for Young People

Halloween is fast approaching and what better time of the year to listen to ghost stories then the autumn season, when the leaves begin to change color and there is a cold nip in the air. There are plenty of ghost stories from radio programs of the olden days, but if you want a taste of something different, have a listen to Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ghost Stories for Young People. 

This LP was released in 1962 by Golden Records and features "tales of spooks, hobgoblins and spirits hauntingly introduced by the master of the unexpected". Six chilling short stories are narrated by John Allen who has a marvelously smooth voice. Unlike most ghost stories aired on the radio, which average 25-30 minutes in length, these tales are a mere 5-10 minutes each.... just enough time to give you a little fright before heading to slumberland.

The complete album is available on Youtube. Just click on the link below to enjoy: 

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ghost Stories for Young People

Track Listing

Introduction

The Haunted and the Haunters

The Magician

Johnny Takes a Dare

The Open Window

The Helpful Hitchhiker

Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons

Top Picks: The Haunted and the Haunters, The Magician, The Open Window

Rewind Review: The Witch's Tale Radio Series (1931-1938)

"Draw up to the fire and gaze into the embers as I tell you a hearty tale that will boil your blood..."

Old Nancy the witch knew how to tell a good ghost yarn. At over 107 years old ( and aging fast ) she certainly had plenty of years to practice her art of story-telling. Each week, for seven years, she gathered her listeners close to her via radio waves and cackled tales of mystery and horror to send chills running up their spine. 

The old "Witch of Salem", as she was affectionately called, played host of The Witch's Hour, one of New York's most beloved horror programs, between May 21, 1931 and June 13, 1938 on WOR, the Mutual Radio Network. The series was created by Alonzo Deen Cole who not only wrote and directed each episode but also provided the sounds of Old Nancy's cat Satan. His wife Marie O'Flynn also took part acting in many of the episodes as the female lead. 

Originally stage-actress Adelaine Fitz-Allen voiced old Nancy but after she passed on at the age of 79 she was replaced by 13-year old Miriam Wolfe....who did just as good a job!

What made The Witch's Hour so engrossing was the clever story lines and the quality of the programs. Each episode was well-acted and utilized convincing sound effects that gave the series its extra dose of creepiness. 

Unfortunately, only about 50 episodes of the program still exist today since many of the original recordings, which were performed live during broadcast, were destroyed by Cole in 1961. All of the surviving episodes could be heard at the Relic Radio website or through Old Time Radio. 

Since today is Halloween and tonight is the witching hour, be sure to tune into some of these programs, and for a sample, here for your listening pleasure are....

FIVE EERIE CLASSICS 

The Haunted Crossroads ( 1933 ) 

An invisible woman has stabbed a policeman in the back at an isolated crossroads. A stabbing like this has happened before, and will soon happen again.

 
Graveyard Mansion ( 1934 ) 

Two brothers inherit a suspicious old house in Louisiana and meet a beautiful woman who's been dead for one hundred years! Are there vampires within the mansion? A ghost perhaps?

The Wonderful Bottle ( 1934 ) 

A couple of young American lads in Argentina meet an old Spaniard who sells them a magic bottle that grants its owners every wish. That bottle was made by the devil and anyone who owns it must get rid of it before he dies or he will burn in hell’s fire forever!

The Devil Mask ( 1935 ) 

A wife is concerned about her husband's disrespect of African ways and so asks a witch doctor to boom on the drums a ceremonial chant to keep the devil away during the trip back to England.

The Priest of Sekhet ( 1936 ) 

A young British archaeologist becomes trapped in an ancient tomb, along with a dead priest from ancient Egypt. After his rescue, the archaeologist undergoes a strange change of character.

This is a Rewind Review post dating from Halloween 2016. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

Look at these two happy bakers! They are looking on the sweet-side of life while they are busy decorating wedding cakes. This is an extra-impossibly difficult scene to recognize unless the film this screenshot is from is one of your favorites. 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

From the Archives: Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Boris Karloff as the famous "Monster" from the Frankenstein films (in this photo, The Son of Frankenstein). The make-up for all of the early Frankenstein movies was done by Jack Pierce, whom you could read more about in our previous articles here. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures