Curtis Harrington’s NIGHT TIDE, which opened the Venice International Film Festival in 1961, secured the director a reputation (already known, like his colleague Kenneth Anger, for an avant-garde style of film-making) as an auteur in the horror genre at a time when very little had been written about such films. Curtis himself was a pioneer in the field of film scholarship having written extensively on the subject as early as 1952. There were two directors that became influences on Curtis’s work, the most important being Joseph Von Sternberg, to whom Curtis would devote an entire monograph for the Museum of Modern Art. The second would be Val Lewton, whose work at RKO on a string of B-horror films served as a blueprint for much of what we admire in NIGHT TIDE today.

There is an irony in having NIGHT TIDE open a festival in Venice, Italy, when the film itself represents a time capsule of a now-vanished era that was Venice, California, circa 1960.

At that time the California version of Venice (complete with faux canals, used to great effect a couple of years before by Orson Welles in TOUCH OF EVIL) was inhabited by a sub-culture of coffee house beatniks, free-thinking bohemians adrift in a sea of jazz and cigarette smoke. Curtis opens NIGHT TIDE in just such an atmosphere, staging Dennis Hopper’s first encounter with Mora (a suspected sea siren played by Linda Lawson) in a smoky jazz club called the “Blue Grotto.”

This introduction differs considerably from, say, Simone Simon’s introduction in Val Lewton’s CAT PEOPLE, which takes place at the zoo where she charms Kent Smith. Yet the connection is the same, for both these women share a repressed dread of their inner selves; both are morbidly drawn to folklore regarding their backgrounds, and neither can escape the past. This theme is also found in Lewton’s other films, especially THE SEVENTH VICTIM, which was one of Harrington’s personal favorites.

The psychosexual tension between Mora and her admirer, played rather timidly by Dennis Hopper (of all people) at a stage in his career where he was still untouched by what was to come so he was still able to convey innocence. Hopper is dressed in what has been described as a “Homoerotic sailor suit” by some in Harrington’s inner circle since Curtis always told the story of how he went to a tailor and had a specially-designed costume for Dennis that was very tight and revealing in a way the Navy would never have sanctioned. The outfit was then re-dyed to an off-white so it would not photograph so bright; the result nearly got Hopper thrown in the brig since he was stopped one night after filming by the Navy patrol for being out in a dirty uniform. Curtis was very amused by Dennis telling him that he was propositioned by men several times during the filming–but only when he was wearing his sailor suit. Curtis would always end the anecdote by saying, “Well, I never really knew if Dennis ever took any of them up on it.”

For the record, Dennis Hopper has gone on record saying that at this early stage in his career he did “flirt with homosexuality as just another life experience.” Otherwise I do not share the theory held by some critics that NIGHT TIDE has a “homosexual agenda,” just because of the director’s orientation. Curtis brought this up with me once when I was interviewing him about another director–James Whale. He reminded me that in the 30′ and 40′s these kind of questions were never asked and as far as any of Whale’s films having a “gay agenda,” he replied, “Bullshit.

Jimmy just made damn good movies, the only thing that might hold water in that regard was his camp sense of humor, which I share as well.. In fact Harrington cast his films in much the same manner as Whale. In NIGHT TIDE for example we have the actress Marjorie Eaton as the fortune-telling Madame Romanovitch, very camp, dressed in such a way that she looks a bit like Dr Pretorius in Whale’s BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN; in fact in close-up she almost looks like him in drag.

Curtis explained to me the genesis for the film during one of our interviews done over the nearly three decades we knew one another. “As a boy growing up in Beaumont, California, there was nothing much to do except go to the library and it was there in the stacks that I discovered Edgar Allan Poe. After that I was hooked on the macabre for the rest of my life. I found more to read at the local drugstore that stocked all the pulp magazines of the day including WEIRD TALES and another one called BLACK CAT. They introduced me to H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch and William Hope Hodgson. It was Hodgson’s HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND that led to me trying my hand at writing. One of my first efforts was under his influence, THE SECRET OF THE SEA, since much of his weird fiction involved the sea. I was always drawn to the ocean and of course reading Lovecraft at the same time gave me a sense of dread and horror about the sea since he used it as a metaphor for all manner of horrors. In any case this bit of writing paved the way for my first real screenplay, NIGHT TIDE.”

Curtis had acquired some distribution grants through Roger Corman’s Filmgroup. With that in hand he then found a partner in a young Armenian named Aram Kantarian. Soon the two of them managed to raise money (the total budget for NIGHT TIDE was about $75,000). Now they were ready to cast the film and Curtis remembered meeting a rising young talent at one of the local coffee house screenings for his experimental films; that talent was of course Dennis Hopper.

Hopper had scored some attention in small roles for director’s George Stevens and Nick Ray and was now ready (at least in Harrington’s eyes) to play a lead. As Curtis recalled, “Dennis was a bit of a firebrand by then, inventive, energetic, emotional and sensitive, all the qualities I needed for Johnny to be.” The only person on set not to respond to these charms was Hopper’s leading lady, Linda Lawson. Long before I thought about writing about this film I discovered that Linda lived about six blocks from me, having run into her at the local post office. I was invited over for a drink one evening and she had this to say about her co-star: “Dennis Hopper had a lot of issues both professionally and personally. I thought he was attractive enough yet there was something in those eyes of his that warned me off on some level. He was fine for the first couple of days and then out of the blue he shows up at my apartment saying to me, ‘We need to relate better if we are going to work together, okay?’ So he come into my apartment and immediately goes into my kitchen and crawls under the table. I mean, it frightened me! He rolled up into a ball and refused to come out, acting like a lunatic. When I finally got him to get up and talk to me it was obvious he was on something. I knew very little about drugs then and now, so I was not prepared at all to deal with somebody who was. The next day I confronted him on the set away from Curtis and told Dennis if this or anything like it ever happened again I would walk off the picture for good. From that point on we were clear with each other but my coldness towards him affected my relationship with Curtis, who began to dislike me and to this day he never attempted get in touch for screenings or anything. As far as the film goes I still receive fan mail about it… If I am remembered for anything it will be for playing the mermaid Mora in NIGHT TIDE.”

Perhaps the most fascinating character in NIGHT TIDE is that of Marjorie Cameron, the mysterious woman in black who speaks to Mora in the Blue Grotto. This is the famous connection between this film and Lewton’s CAT PEOPLE. In Lewton’s film Elizabeth Russell, made-up to resemble a cat-woman, speaks to Simone Simon in a strange language referring to her as “my sister.” Harrington pays homage to this moment by having Cameron do much the same thing, speaking to Linda Lawson in phonetic Greek, a task Cameron achieved by memorizing each word at Curtis’s request.

Since nearly every review regarding NIGHT TIDE considers it a kind of remake of the 1942 CAT PEOPLE, I think it is important to comment here that without the presence of Cameron as the “sea witch” the comparison simply does not hold water because CAT PEOPLE is a legitimate horror film with a supernatural shape-shifter whereas NIGHT TIDE explains the supernatural away in the final reel as a ruse concocted by Gavin Muir’s sea captain as a means to eliminate all of Mora’s suitors. The wonderful thing about NIGHT TIDE is how Harrington creates a void for speculation since even the sea captain has no knowledge of the lady in black whatsoever. Cameron appears at key moments in Mora’s courtship with Johnny. She appears to great effect during Mora’s fever dance on the beach which ends with her collapse. More importantly in a sequence Curtis considered the best in the film: Johnny follows the lady in black across the seedy landscape of Venice until she leads him magically to the captain’s front door (a location which turned out to be silent screen actress Mae Murray’s old villa) and then disappears once again. Cameron even figures in Johnny’s dream of Mora reclining on a rock with her mermaid tail; as Johnny reaches for her she dissolves into Cameron. Elizabeth Russell, the counterpart in Lewton’s version, only appears at the wedding table to utter the famous “My sister” line. There is no need to see her again because the audience has enough visual proof that Simone does indeed belong to a race of cat women. Only in Johnny’s dream while Mora is taking a shower do we get any sense that if Mora was to have sex with him she would then morph slowly from a mermaid into an octopus, strangling him to death. Every supernatural event can be accounted for in Harrington’s film except the lady in black–the elusive Cameron.

Marjorie Cameron was so much more than just a cameo in the lives of those who knew her. A woman of vast intellect and abilities, she moved in both artistic and occult circles in Los Angeles and anywhere else she traveled during her lifetime. She appeared in films for both Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger, influencing both men for the rest of their lives. Cameron’s appearance in Anger’s INAGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME was a mind-bending experience for Kenneth as he saw in her the Scarlet Woman as described by Aleister Crowley. Cameron was accustomed to this title, having received it originally from her late husband Jack Parsons, who recognized her power early on. With red flaming hair and piercing green eyes she dominated all in her circle, so much so that she eclipsed the great Anais Nin as the dominant figure in Anger’s film. In fact the two occultists would move in together after the film was done. Curtis devoted one of his short films to her, THE WORMWOOD STAR. The title alone is important as it represents a magical child created by ritual. Cameron and her late husband devoted much of their time to performing this dangerous ritual known as “The Babylon Working.” Cameron is such an important figure in her own right that rather than try inadequately to explain it all here I suggest you read the new book regarding her life, also entitled THE WORMWOOD STAR. Curtis’s film documents her paintings for posterity since she burned them all after the film was completed as per the instructions laid down in the aforementioned experiment.

NIGHT TIDE is paced like a fever dream populated with eccentric well-meaning characters who attempt to save the young man from himself as the object of his affections moves closer and closer to her pre-determined end. This was a staple in Lewton’s universe and it applies here as well. It would take Curtis a few more years to develop his style more along the lines of his idol Von Sternberg, which would culminate with the making of GAMES and later WHATS THE MATTER WITH HELEN. For the time being Harrington’s obsession with film history would take the place of his later obsession with decor and the grandstanding of diva-like personalities such as Shelley Winters and Simone Signoret.

The other personality to emerge from this film was actress Luana Anders, whose grace and beauty made her a natural for the kind of films about to be made as the 60′s came into their own. Dennis Hopper was taken with her straight away, using her much later in his own film EASY RIDER. Curtis would also work with her again in his THE KILLING KIND.

Luana recalled her time with Harrington with great joy, as she sensed his abilities as a director from this first encounter. “Curtis knew his business and how to handle his actors. His knowledge was encyclopedic when it came to film history and more to the point he knew exactly what he wanted in each shot. We had a great cameraman in Vilis Lapenieks; he did all of the exteriors on our film with Floyd Crosby, then working with us on the interiors. I would work with Floyd again with Roger Corman soon after this.” Luana would also attract the attention of Jack Nicholson who would employ her whenever he could.

Curtis would most likely not have shared Luana’s view of his directing skill with actors at the time of shooting NIGHT TIDE as he admitted to me on several occasions he shared the same plight as Roger Corman did in his early days of directing films, which is a total lack of understanding of the acting process. Both Dennis Hopper, and then later on Shelley Winters, were versed in the Actors Studio and the process known as ‘sense memory.’ Both Corman and Harrington would go to acting workshops like Jeff Corey’s to learn more about how to handle their actors. The result of course gave them both insight, although Roger would later rely on hiring actors that already knew their business (like Vincent Price), allowing him to do what he did best which was to produce. Curtis Harrington was never a producer but learned to guide his actors, pro and novice, into doing their best work for him in his later films. Dennis Hopper was only 24 years old when they did NIGHT TIDE and yet he trusted Curtis to present him for perhaps the only time in his career as the embodiment of youthful energy and optimism.

One of the great assets in NIGHT TIDE is the score by David Raksin, who came onboard as a personal favor to Curtis. The result is a musical evocation of the Venice beach culture with its coffee house poetry and jazz underscoring, and when necessary the danger that shadows Johnny as he pursues his siren into the depths of the ocean to the seedy underbelly of Venice itself. Raksin was known for his score of the classic Film Noir LAURA, a film which is referenced here by Curtis’s casting of Gavin Muir as the old sea captain who may have discovered a lost race of Sea people” of which Mora is a direct descendant. As played by Muir, he resembles Clifton Webb’s Waldo Lydecker from LAURA more than the father figure he is meant to portray. Curtis had wanted to cast Peter Lorre in the role, which would have brought him closer to working with another of Von Sternberg’s stars since Lorre had made CRIME AND PUNISHMENT with the great director in 1935. Lorre would have brought a real manic obsessive character to the table, rather than the decadent, effete personality as played by Muir.

Curtis once told me a story of running into his idol Von Sternberg at a screening of THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN at the County Museum where the great director asked him why he kept coming back time and again to see a film he already knew by heart. Curtis replied, “Well, Joe, why do you listen to great music over and over again? The answer is because it gives me pleasure,” and this is how I feel about the films of Curtis Harrington. I have seen NIGHT TIDE many times and each and every screening allows me back into the sinister chiaroscuro landscape of his films. He always tried to broaden the poetic meaning of all his films no matter how absurd the premise might be. Curtis always lived a supernatural aesthetic. One visit to his home spoke volumes about his personality and his art. The Trompe L’oeil moulding that laced the ceilings of every room in his Art Nouveau retreat, props from his films, an evening slipper worn by Dietrich, and framed prints of Vampire bats (of which I now have two–a gift from George Edwards, Harrington’s oft-time producer). You literally stepped into the house of Poe, or better still, the house of Harrington.

NIGHT TIDE is probably one of the most evocative representations of Edgar Allan Poe in a film to date even though it is not formally based on any one literary work of the divine Edgar. The atmosphere and tone are Poe’s, as is the fatal woman our sailor lad Dennis Hopper pines to be with. Whether she is called Morella, Lenore, Annabel Lee or even Mora she is still the radiant maiden whom the angels called by name.

Curtis Harrington might have been marginalized in his lifetime, however his legacy as an avant-garde, esoteric, occultist film director can no longer be ignored. To the end he dedicated his life to self-expression of the highest order and I for one will remain in his debt for the remarkable body of work he leaves behind forever more in this kingdom by the sea.

DREAMING DREAMS NO MORTAL EVER DARED TO DREAM BEFORE

The night before my dear friend Curtis Harrington passed away I dreamt of him for the first time in ages. Curtis was hosting one of those intimate parties in that rambling pink house of his that towered above the Hollywood freeway off Vine way. I seemed to be helping him with small chores, going from room to room looking for objects as he followed close behind advising as to where things belonged. It was an odd dream as Curtis seemed tired and complained that his house would fill up with people he really didn’t seem to know. “My library is full of strangers” he said at one point, and then I woke up.

The next morning I received the news that Curtis Harrington had died during the night in his sleep within the very house I had helped put in order in my dream. During that terrible moment reality as I knew it vanished long enough to release a flood of emotions, allowing forgotten memories to flow like Poe’s “rapid river” through my mind. For nearly thirty years this man had been a witness to my life. Curtis attended every party I ever gave during that time and I was likewise a guest in his home over the years. Both of us shared the same passion for vintage films, making our friendship easy to maintain as we were always running into one another at screenings around town. In fact one of the last events he attended before his death was my photo exhibition “NEVERMORE” at the end of 2006 honoring the Poe films of Roger Corman. Curtis was a lifelong admirer of Poe with Roger as a mentor who, besides hiring Curtis to direct two features during his career, lovingly paid for a day’s location shooting for Curtis’s final film USHER.

It was this sincere passion for film that made Curtis so easy to like. Never once was I compelled to treat him like a celebrity, which he truly was in Hollywood society.
The reason being Curtis was a Movie fan first, last and always. Before he began directing films he spent a lifetime watching them in his home town of Beaumont, near Palm Springs. It was there as a child that he began a love affair with horror films and weird fiction thanks to the town library and a local drug store that was always well stocked with WEIRD TALES and BLACK CAT MYSTERIES.

In the summer of 1973 I was still a junior in college, living in the wilds of San Francisco. One particular evening I happened to be on the look-out for a TV-movie of the week entitled THE CAT CREATURE”, a valiant effort to capture the essence of a Val Lewton film, even to the point of casting veteran actor Kent Smith who had been one of the leads in Lewton’s classic CAT PEOPLE. The director was Curtis Harrington, whose name was already well known to me thanks to many late night viewings of NIGHT TIDE which was his first and perhaps best foray into feature filming making, and also an homage to Val Lewton, with a mermaid filling in for the character of the cat woman. At the time I was preparing a trip to Los Angeles to interview Robert Bloch, always tops in his field, whose contributions to weird fiction and Hitchcock’s legacy were already legendary. Robert had written the screenplay for Harrington’s TV movie, thus setting the stage for my first real taste of “classic Hollywood” and a friendship that would last a lifetime. The Bloch’s lived in the Hollywood hills in one of those houses that you drove past with no sidewalks so it was easy to miss unless you knew where you were going. Robert and his wife “Ellie” were the nicest people you could hope to meet in a town not known for its hospitality. Bob had arranged for me to meet the director of his movie of the week the second day I was in town at a screening for the infamous “Count Dracula Society”. The film we saw that day was Tod Browning’s FREAKS, which turned out to be not only one of Bob’s favorite films, but Curtis’s as well. I was totally unprepared for meeting a film director who was such an ardent movie fan. Curtis was so unassuming and modest in his demeanor that he seemed like an old friend from the moment we met. The first thing I remember Curtis saying to me after the film was “Can you imagine what it was like for stars like Harlow and Gable to see these strange deformed people wandering around the soundstages of MGM in 1932?” This was followed by that great unmistakable laugh of his that I would hear off and on like the bells of Poe’s famous poem for the next thirty years.

I would not spend time with Curtis again until late in 1977. By then I was already living in Beverly Hills and about to start a new career as a theatrical agent. This situation made it possible for me to invite Curtis to parties and screenings for a change, to try and return the many kindnesses he showed me when I was still new to the Hollywood social scene. One of my favorite hang-outs at that time was the Backlot Theater located behind the gay disco STUDIO ONE in West Hollywood. One of my best friends was a silver-haired young man named Steve Applegate who managed the showroom, and it was through him I arranged for Curtis to see such veterans of the silver screen as Geraldine Fitzgerald who was beautifully introduced on her opening night by her co-star Bette Davis. Afterwards we went backstage to see this amazing lady who recalled her days at Warner Bros with Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet during the filming of THREE STRANGERS. She was very impressed with Lorre, who she said was a real intellectual, and with what a lady’s man Sidney was in spite of his size: “Sidney was a favorite client at every whorehouse in Hollywood. Those ladies always called him a “gent.””

Curtis Harrington with James Whale

The actress who performed there next was none other than the Bride of Frankenstein, the sublime Elsa Lanchester. Curtis was thrilled to see this eccentric film icon camp her way through an evening of bawdy ballads she made famous in the English music halls of the nineteen twenties. The highlight of the evening however was a special selection of clips from THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, followed by some very strange “home movies” of Elsa and her late husband Charles Laughton taken during their early days together in Hollywood. This was a magical night indeed as we went backstage where Curtis shared with Elsa some of the times he had spent with the great director of FRANKESTEIN James Whale. She seemed amazed that anyone would have known Whale after he quit making films in the late thirties. “Charles worked with him on THE OLD DARK HOUSE with Boris before we did THE BRIDE. I seem to recall having James to tea a few times after that, as well as attending some of his parties. Then we just lost touch as one tends to do in this business.” Elsa was a hard one to read, very eccentric, though for that evening she was on her best behavior and, being a trouper, she signed autographs and seemed more than pleased that her fame was assured thanks to a role of a lifetime, rather than just being the Bride of another monster – however sacred – the difficult and brilliant Charles Laughton.

Anger, Del Valle and Harrington

The years from 1977 through 1983 were filled with what now seems like an endless wrap party for DAY OF THE LOCUST, and my friendship with Curtis Harrington was a major factor in all of it… It was during this period that I got to know Shelley Winters who acted for Curtis on two occasions. Curtis would organize parties around her and we would all find ourselves sitting on the floor around this ornate loveseat in his living room as Miss Winters held court from her throne, she loved to be the center of attention at all times and why not, she was a big bad mamma after all. Curtis always got a laugh from the candid observation our mutual friend Barbara Steele made regarding Winters (whom she knew from her time in Hollywood as the second wife of screenwriter James Poe): “Shelley Winters is the kind of woman who would begin a conversation with you, then go to the bathroom and leave the door open.”

THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK

I first became aware that the legendary Academy awarding winning (first recipient of the best supporting actress award) actress Gale Sondergaard was indeed alive and well and living in LA, when the late Ron Haver screened the Bob Hope version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the summer of 1980. At that time it was nearly impossible to see this sound version of the silent classic unless a screening like this was arraigned. Ron Haver was a tireless champion of film preservation as well as the guiding light behind Filmex in Los Angeles, a festival that brought international attention to Hollywood as well as the art of cinema. The night of the screening was a sell-out with many celebrities in attendance but none was more welcomed than the woman who played the sinister “Miss Lu” in this now classic horror comedy. Ms. Sondergaard was seated in the front row with Haver as the house lights dimmed and then went up again to reveal a still striking Gale Sondergaard who then introduced the film with humor and grace, remembering the cameraman and director for special praise while modestly accepting a standing ovation from the audience.

What was left unsaid by Ms. Sondergaard that evening was her personal dislike for the star of the THE CAT AND THE CANARY, a man she acted with on four occasions, the powerful comic icon Bob Hope. It seems that Hope had become so right wing and narrow-minded that he held a personal political vendetta against his former co-star until her death in 1985.

While most all of the Hollywood show business community is of the same mind in condemning the infamous blacklisting that destroyed lives in the 1950’s when Senator Joe McCarthy used his office and a young congressman from California named Richard Nixon to persecute many of the most respected Hollywood actors, writers and directors with his witch-hunt for communists, there were sadly many equally well known professionals in Hollywood who turned against their own and fanned the flames of suspicion and named names before the House and Senate committees during this time of shame. Men like Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Cecil B De Mille and Adolphe Menjou stood before committees, or even worse, took what these men had to say and believed it to be true. These men also helped create lists in shades of gray and black to make sure anyone under suspicion would never work in Hollywood again.

Gale Sondergarrd and David

After meeting Ms. Sondergaard that evening I asked Charles Higham, who escorted her, to introduce me properly, and we began a friendship that endured until Gale retired to the Motion Picture home in 1984. A few weeks later I was invited to her “compound” as she called it in the Silver Lake district, an area of old Los Angeles that has since become trendy and expensive. Gale Sondergaard could never be described as bitter or resentful of the past. Gale had a sharp and clever mind and did not suffer fools gladly. She was a very accomplished actress on both the stage and screen; she understood her limitations better than most directors and never thought in terms of stardom since her goals were always to perfect her craft rather than bask in the glow of one’s own publicity.

Gale was the widow of Herbert J.Biberman, a producer/writer/director who achieved national attention as one of the infamous “Hollywood Ten.” His refusal to testify led to his blacklisting and he was sent to jail for a year and fined $1000. Gale also refused to testify and her career ended on the spot in Hollywood. Gale relied on the stage after that and worked right through the blacklisting until she and her husband worked together once more on a retelling of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which became the film SLAVES. Herbert Biberman died of cancer in 1971.

The artistry of her late husband was in abundance as I entered Gale’s home. She announced that all the furniture in the living room and hallway was pure “Biberman,” as he designed furniture as well. In an alcove sat her Oscar for ANTONY ADVERSE, giving me the thrill of holding my third Academy Award. (The other two being Groucho Marx’s honorary one and James Poe’s screenplay award).

Gale was a practical woman and her home reflected a deep love of gardening and an appreciation for art. She was a survivor and she knew every day was a blessing; she also had her sister living with her who was suffering with poor eyesight and stayed upstairs most of the time.

During my visit I attempted to ask about her film career and she did her best to make me understand that living had very little to do with studying old films and I could better serve myself learning more about life and less about Claude Rains! Gale did tell me that she did not get along with Gloria Holden the actress who I admired so much from DRACULA’S DAUGHTER. Gale was in the Paul Muni film with her about Emile Zola, and Gale felt Gloria was a snob and a bit too grand for her own good. Gale loved working with Paul Muni and especially Claude Rains, who she described as “One of the best actors Hollywood ever had.” “One of my best friends in the early years in Hollywood was Luise Rainer; she was just a lovely person and very sensitive. After I made THE LETTER people often confused us and complemented me for my work in THE GOOD EARTH and I always had to say no that was my good friend Luise Rainer.

When we got around to discussing the film she made unforgettable with Bette Davis, where Gale has no dialogue yet speaks volumes with her eyes and body language, (I am of course referring to William Wyler’s film of Somerset Maugham’s THE LETTER), this is where Gale began to talk about her distaste for Bob Hope. During the celebration of Adolph Zuckor’s 100th birthday party on the Paramount lot, where all the surviving stars of Hollywood made the mogul’s affair an event never to be equaled for the gathering of more stars than there were in the heavens, Gale was greeted by many of her former players, but none as warmly as Bette Davis, who said for all to hear “Oh Gale, you were luminous in THE LETTER, and with that planted a kiss on Gale’s cheek. As the two actress walked up ramp to the main table, the one just before the guest of honor himself, Mr. Zukor, Bette said to Gale “I hope you are sitting with us. Let me see where they have seated you.” Apparently there were several chairs yet to be occupied, however when Gale asked to be seated, the ushers told her to come with them back down to the bottom of the stairs. All of this confusion occurred because seated very near to Zukor was none other than Bob Hope who, after co-starring with Gale Sondergaard in four films, demanded she be removed from his table and placed in dishonor with a table at the bottom of the stairs for the “Commie pinko traitor” she was to him. An angry Bette Davis let her feelings be known and Gale was placed at Davis’s table away from Hope, but this was really the last straw, Gale could never forget his treatment of her that evening, nor the many things he did during the blacklisting to see she never worked anywhere in Hollywood. As Gale told me this, her face grew dark with anger and her fists were tight around her chair while she spoke. “There is nothing in politics that surprises me anymore, not even a man like Nixon taking the Presidency or Reagan! People must stay informed about their leaders”

One of the pleasures of living in Hollywood is having access to the gorgeous Egyptian Theater and the many great programs made available through the American Cinemateque. Since the last Camp David the landmark has played host to a once in a lifetime series of 3-D films, some shown for the first time in 50 years! The classic HOUSE OF WAX opened the event and was an instant sellout. I personally saw nearly half a dozen films in less than a week! Who could pass up a chance to see IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE with author Ray Bradbury and Barbara Rush in attendance? Not to mention THE MAD MAGICIAN with Vincent Price, GORILLA AT LARGE, with the then-unknown Lee Marvin in a minor role, the deliriously campy CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON and the cult classic ROBOT MONSTER. Both CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and its rarely -seen sequel REVENGE OF THE CREATURE with Lori Nelson in-person recalling her encounter with the Gill Man and a special screening of Ivan Tors “GOG” shown in 3-D for the first time in Los Angeles since it opened half a century ago. There were stunning prints of KISS ME KATE with new footage and the ultra camp THE FRENCH LINE with Howard Hughes protégé Jane Russell!! The posters of the time simply said “JR in 3-D. I am hoping that next year the series will return with the remaining titles to have the honor of having shown all the 3-D ever made in two amazing events.

Since every day is Halloween in Tinsel town it is hard to know exactly when to take the costumes off, yet the Cinemateque held a séance on October 18th to summon the late Sid Grauman, who founded the Egyptian in 1922 with the premiere of Robin Hood starring Fairbanks Sr. Thanks to Margot Gerber who made it possible for me to attend, and Dennis Bartok who keeps me posted on all the fun over at the Egyptian, I was present as psychic Michael J. Kouri led the packed house in looking for Haunted Hollywood in all the right places. My favorite moment was a screening of ‘Mickey’s Gala Premiere” a vintage cartoon that had more stars than there were in the heavens – a real hoot! A party was held in the forecourt with cocktails and exotic ice creams for such guests as director Curtis Harrington, master of the unknown Mark Wilson, actress Ann (WAR OF THE WORLDS) Robinson and a score of occult personalities all waiting for the evening to take them further into Haunted Hollywood. For more information for those of you coming to LA please log on to WWW.EGYPTIANTHEATRE.COM and catch some of the outstanding programs yet to come.

In the past the subject of Hercules meant the campy films of Steve Reeves made in Italy during the sixties before and after the Taylor/Burton CLEOPATRA. There is a new Hercules in town and his name is Kevin Sorbo and he has made the role his for the next generation of fans all over the world. Sorbo plays the role with a surfer’s cool and yet remains heroic much to his credit. I have put off watching this show and its spin-off Xena long enough and now thanks to Anchor Bay the entire series is being released on DVD and I recommend picking them up ASAP! The success of these shows most definitely rests with its producer, Sam Rami, the director behind the clever EVIL DEAD films and the mega hit SPIDERMAN. Both shows have witty scripts and first rate production values and it does not hurt that Hercules and Xena are shot on location in New Zealand, giving the show a LORD OF THE RINGS ambiance unlike anything else on television.

The new DVD presentation from Anchor Bay is jaw dropping! The first season has five feature films and 13 episodes with loads of extras. The second season has 24 episodes and more extras fans will flip over with lost scenes, blooper reels and much more. Hercules works so well in playing out the ancient myths with a contemporary sensibility and actor Sorbo is tailor-made to play it with just the right amount of humor and having a great time to boot! His interplay with actor Michael Hurst as Iolaus is so natural obviously they have a chemistry that works both on and off the set.

Lucy Lawless came to the Hercules series as a featured performer and stayed to create another icon for syndication history. She invests her role with a hunky leather queen quality that makes her millions of fans go ape week after week. Kevin Sorbo has since moved on to Gene Roddenbury’s “Andromeda” series and will be a television staple for a long time to come. His fans will never forget his turn as the son of Zeus and thanks to Anchor Bay neither will the rest of us!

Curtis Harrington was profiled in the last Camp David with the completion of USHER, his return to avant garde film-making, and since then he was honored at The Getty Center along with Kenneth Anger and bay area film-maker Larry Jordan. The evening began with a screening of Harrington’s early work including FRAGMENT OF SEEKING and ON THE EDGE. Kenneth Anger was represented with his classic FIREWORKS and KUSTOM KAR KOMMANDOS. The two men were clearly prepared to summon all the ghosts of their shared experiences on a night when a good deal of Southern California was still on fire, which invested the evening with a somber magic that wove a spell over the Getty Center.

Larry Jordan’s VISIONS OF THE CITY addressed the Beat aspect of the program as the other two men were clearly on another level of reality from Jordan. His films rounded out the screening section of the tribute. Later the filmmakers were toasted at a cocktail party down the road from The Getty Center at a secluded hotel just off the omnipresent freeway that surrounds most of LA like a snake. During the cocktail party I was introduced to an up and coming young filmmaker named Jerry G. Angelo. He has just completed his first feature entitled GHOST SNIPER and displays a mature sensibility for a young man whose love of horror films endeared him to me and will serve him well in the currant marketplace of JEEPERS CREEPERS and 28 DAYS LATER. Mr. Angelo is an actor as well, recently working on several films while still editing his own project. It is reassuring to know that talent and good looks are still in vogue and hopefully Jerry will parlay them into Hollywood Gold.

One of my favorite films is a kinky Belgian vampire flick known as DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, directed by the great Harry Kumel. Mr. Kumel only directed one other feature before returning to television in his native land. The second film is the enigmatic and rarely seen MALPERTUIS with Orson Welles and Mathieu Carriere, adapted from a novel by Jean Ray. I was so lucky to not only have seen this film in a first time director’s cut this year, but I am now in touch with Mr. Kumel and together we are trying to find a distributor to place this classic fantasy on DVD. Camp David readers will be the first to know when we do!!

Sadly, since my last column, actor Gordon Mitchell passed away at the age of 79. He sent me glowing emails regarding Camp David and sent pages to all his friends just two months ago. Gordon was a great guy and will be missed by his friends and fans all over the world. Look for my next Camp David before the Holidays.

A few days ago my old friend Curtis Harrington summoned me to his “Haunted Palace” nestled high above the traffic of Sunset Blvd and Tinseltown itself. The occasion was to screen his new film “USHER’ a return to the avant-garde style of film making that began his career in the late 1940′s.

Curtis has spent the better part of the last two years lensing this spidery valentine to the Divine Edgar and it was a labor of love from its first frame to its haunting conclusion. I was so impressed with what I saw that I simply could not wait to let you know the good news: Curtis Harrington is back and has done some of his best work in years!!

Curtis Harrington in USHER

Without spoiling any of its many treasures let me just say that Curtis is not only the director of this update on the FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER but also plays the leading roles. His own home is used to great effect and years of collecting Art Nouveau is put on display in the film. USHER brings Harrington full circle as one of his earliest short films was an adaptation of Poe’s “House of Usher” made when he was only fourteen! Later he would return to Poe with a more mature short entitled THE ASSIGNATION which was filmed in Venice in 1952.

Watching USHER with Curtis was a special privilege for me as I was able to see many of the nuances and in-jokes he placed along the way. The film is so personal and yet so right for him to make at this point in his life as a film maker and more importantly as an artist that when it was over I knew if he never made another film this would be a fitting finale for a lifetime in a genre that he understood so well.

The Film Community should now acknowledge Curtis as one of the true pioneers of the Gothic genre. Harrington’s underground films pre-date their mainstream counterparts by more than two decades! His identity as one of the founding fathers of the underground film as well as a genre director who carved a special niche in Hollywood Gothic with films like NIGHT TIDE and THE KILLING KIND is long overdue for the critical attention he so richly deserves.

Currently there is a film festival going on over at UCLA that needs more attention. Prints are hard to find for the Sword and Sandals retrospective showcasing more than just the films of Steve Reeves the King of beefcake in Italy during the 60′s. The actors who attended the festivities were Ed Fury, Mickey Hargitay and Gordon Mitchell. The quality of the prints all for the most part widescreen went from brand new to 16mm and as the demand for these films grows we will need to search the seven hills of Rome to find them!!

Mickey Hargitay was the first of the “beefcake kings” to be honored with a screening of THE LOVES OF HERCULES with his late wife the legendary Jayne Mansfield. A moment of silence was observed for Mansfield who was killed in a tragic car accident in 1967.

THE LOVES OF HERCULES was never shown in Theaters in the US, only on television, and it was a treat to see it with the entire Hargitay clan in attendance. Mickey is a sincere speaker and was moved by the experience of seeing himself of the screen with his late wife who was pregnant at the time of the filming with daughter Jayne Marie. He confided to the audience “that it brought back so many happy memories of that time in Rome when all the eyes of the world were fixed on the making of CLEOPATRA and the antics of Liz and Dick!!

The Sword and Sandal Festival ended with brand new prints of THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS and THE WITCH’S CURSE. A Special Appearance by METROPOLIS Star Gordon Mitchell made the evening complete. Mitchell is immortalized in Fellini’s SATYRICON as the Centurian/Gladiator who battles the hero Martin Potter near the films’ conclusion.

Gordon Mitchell is a legend in the world of Body-Building and still enjoys acting at the age of 79! He came back from Germany recently with a cult classic “DEADLINE – DAS MUSIKILL” which was written, directed, and produced by Clemens Kieffenheim. The trailer had to be seen to be believed! Mitchell sings and dances in the ROCKY HORROR-like send-up that may become a midnight-circuit-must as soon as the word gets out! Remember, everyone, YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!

Speaking of Body-Builders, Jean-Claude Van Damme (“The Muscles from Brussels”) is profiled with four features from NU IMAGE here in L.A. He can be seen in REPLICANT, with Michael Rooker, as a killer-at-large in Seattle – talk about SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE!! The action keeps on coming with DERAILED, a spy yarn and HELL, a survival tale of one man pitted against a wealthy group of sociopaths using a prison for entertainment. From 2001 comes one of Charlton Heston’s last screen appearances, with Van Damme, in THE ORDER – a frantic search for the lost treasure of The Crusaders and the covert agencies determined to find it at all costs.

NU IMAGE is an up-and-coming hip company to watch as this writer became aware during an earlier AFM in which I saw the Orson Welles-based screenplay THE BIG BRASS RING with the late great Nigel Hawthorne and William Hurt in a blackmail mystery set during a governor’s race for the State of Missouri with a gay subplot only the master could conceive. Like THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, Welles’ screenplay deals with the old playing Fire and the Young playing a game of Cat-and-Mouse. NU IMAGE is always picking up the unusual and bizarre fare for all to enjoy!!

I recently met with the Great Director Ronald Neame as he was signing copies of his new biography of his days with David Lean and all the Giants of British Cinema. Neame has been living here in Hollywood for the last three decades and was a founding member of BAFTA. I asked him about the troubled production of “I Could Go on Singing” with the Legendary Judy Garland and the equally talented Dirk Bogarde. Neame explained that the studio wanted to fire Judy when the film was halfway through production and he had to fight to get the film in the can. “Judy was a great entertainer but such a handful to attempt to work with as she had no confidence in her talent and made life hell for all concerned!”

I was anxious to meet Richard Chamberlain during his book tour with Shattered Love when he was in town. However once I read the slim volume itself which tells little or nothing about his gay life beyond the obvious meeting Mr. Right during the run of “Night of the Iguana” in the late Seventies, and describing his marriage vows with him, that I was put off doing the long line of middle aged women that loved Dr. Kildare. I chose to take a pass. Hopefully he will be more forthcoming in the next volume and discuss his best work in Ken Russell’s THE MUSIC LOVERS at the very least!!

Well, that’s all for this installment of Camp David! Look for Yours Truly in the new DVD of FINAL DESTINATION PART 2. I am one of those “film historians discussing splatter films in the featurette “BITS AND PIECES: BRINGING DEATH TO LIFE”

DVDs are proliferating more quickly then the cane toads of Australia, and that, judging from the First Run Features DVD release (Cane Toads: An Unnatural History; 65 mins, color), is a pretty frightening phenomenon. I don’t know if it qualifies as Halloween screening material…but for a documentary it comes close. Very tongue-in-cheek, rather enlightening, and a bit too long for its own good.

In this country, when you’re making a film near an hour in length, they suggest tightening it to 55-57 minutes so that it can be shown on tv with room for commercials. What kind of a running time is 65? Besides, with seven or eight minutes less, or even five, its seams wouldn’t have shown.

From Universal we have perhaps fifteen recent spooky titles on DVD, and what’s mindboggling is that I believe the studio actually planned their release for the Holiday season. I’ll mention two here.

The remastered, more elaborate Collector’s Edition release of their previously distributed An American Werewolf in London, finds director John Landis in great form dolloping out devilish doses of black humor, and counterpointing the rock standard ‘Blue Moon’ with Rick Baker’s daringly overlit lycanthropic transformation, the absolute state of the art in Special Makeup until CGI stepped in several years later and complicated the issue. Landis isn’t on the commentary track, though he is present in an interview. Instead, the commentary features cast members David (the pathotic werewolf) Naughton, and Griffin (his unlucky friend and victim) Dunne. Rick Baker also discusses his work in a separate supplementary piece.

As a double bill with the above, also from Universal, check out the original 1935 Werewolf of London, featuring Henry Hull and Warner Oland as two lost souls out for blood. This one may creek a bit, but there are some clever effects, and what could be more satisfying than experiencing the history of it all? Since the orig lacks the humor of the remake, make it the first screening of the evening.

Universal has also chosen at this time to release Son of Frankenstein & Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman & House of Frankenstein, Dracula’s Daughter & Son of Dracula, The She-Wolf of London & Werewolf Of London, The Mummy’s Tomb & The Mummy’s Hand, and The Mummy’s Curse & The Mummy’s Ghost. Hopefully, from the way I used my ampersands, you deduced that these are double-bills. Gone are the extraordinary productions that we saw over the previous two years, spearheaded by David Skal and featuring remarkable documentaries and commentary tracks, but…I guess the trade-off is that we are being delivered so incredibly many of them. The transfers are excellent, the films are great fun, with a few less fun than others, and I bet there are collectors out there grousing about the omission of House of Dracula, or the Invisible Man sequels. But I think that’s really looking a gift horse in the mouth. (Although, come to think of it, I wish the 1934 Karloff-Lugosi-Ulmer The Black Cat would still be given the royal treatment.)

And though David Skal is nowhere to be found on these new releases, he is lurking at your neighborhood Barnes and Nobles, just in time for Halloween, with a revised edition of his comprehensive insight into the genre, ‘The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror.’ Watch the films in the evening, then read the book before you go to bed, and guarantee yourselves a nightmare or two.

MGM has given us a slew of goodies, mainly exploiters, for the holiday, and that’s fine, is it not? Several are Roger Corman concoctions, but I’d go with two of their ‘Midnight Movies’, It! The Terror From Beyond Space (69 minutes, 1958), and The Monster That Challenged the World (84 minutes, 1957), B’s, but damn good ones. You can sit there amused at the low budgets and B-film thinking and still revel at the tight stories and moderate amount of satisfying thrills.

I’m sure I’m the last one to inform you that It! is the indisputable source material for Ridley Scott’s Alien. Director Edward L.Cahn (1899-1963) spent his celluloid life toiling in second feature bins. He surfaced in ‘A’ territory briefly, in ’32, with the Walter Huston (as Wyatt Earp) starrer, Law and Order. However, later it was titles such as The Creature With the Atom Brain all the way. Clearly he had no pretentions in regards to his career. Which is alright; he made a nice little programmer anyway. The screenplay is by ‘Twilight Zone’ scribe Jerome Bixby. One thing to be aware of: on the back jacket cover the MGM home video people got a little carried away and identified the film as being in color. There was no color when I saw the film back in the theaters, still no color when I cherished my bootleg 16mm print, and there’s no color on the DVD either.

The Monster That Challenged the World, following in the podprints of such giant bug/mollusk delights as Them! and The Black Scorpion, has a serviceable performance from a somewhat bloated Tim Holt, whose career didn’t go forward in stellar fashion after either The Magnificent Ambersons or, somewhat later, The Treasure of Sierra Madre. It’s nice to see him again, even fighting giant sea snails. Director Arnold Laven, stuck in the exploiter swamps, rose above it by becoming a producer on Sidney Pollack’s The Scalphunters in 1968, which starred Burt Lancaster. Again, if you’re a lover of these little thrillers, you’ll feel, as I do, that the man had nothing to be ashamed of.

Double Bill these two, for a nostalgic return to the wonderful, terrible world of the 50s, when the fear was that science would go awry, and nature would strike back.