HALLOWEEN HORROR -- PART ONE

HALLOWEEN HORROR -- PART ONE.

Welcome to the first week of our two week, two part Halloween horror special at Great Old Movies. This first week we cover everything from horror on Live Television to two Boris  Karloff movies, one Italian giallo film, a slasher-type picture with Jamie Lee Curtis, a British Hammer Horror anthology series, and a film entitled, appropriately enough, Pumpkinhead.

More to come next week!

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR

Peter Cushing

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980 British television anthology series).

This British anthology series of horror stories lasted for one season and 13 episodes. It is a mixed bag with arguably only one really outstanding episode and a lot of stories with intriguing premises that are ruined by weak scripts and flat wind-ups. Peter Cushing stars in what may be the best episode, "The Silent Scream," in which a former Nazi scientist (Cushing) imprisons an ex-con and his wife in a cage along with several animals. There are some interesting twists and turns to the plot, although the ending is a little implausible. Among the more notable episodes are "Rude Awakening," directed by Peter Sasdy, in which a man (Denholm Elliott) has increasingly sinister dreams involving his wife and his mistress. There's an exciting sequence inside a building that is being demolished. "Children of the Full Moon" has to do with a honeymoon couple who encounter the inhabitants of an old house, a cult of werewolves, with a depressing conclusion. "The Two Faces of Evil" is a disquieting episode, well-directed by Alan Gibson,  in which a paranoid woman is besieged by demonic duplicates of her husband (Gary Raymond of The Millionairess) and son. "The House That Bled to Death" details odd occurrences in a house where grisly murders were committed, and bears a resemblance to The Amityville Horror but has its own shrewd and devilish twist.

Diana Dors in "Children of the Full Moon"

One of the most disappointing episodes is "The 13th Reunion," in which plane crash survivors have turned into a cannibal sect, but this great premise is completely muffed.  "Witching Time" is a mediocre story of a 17th century witch who is on the loose in modern times. "Growing Pains," in its story of weird things that happen after a scientist and his wife adopt a strange little boy, is initially absorbing but then becomes too confusing for its own good. An African fetish statue that causes death is the title object in the unoriginal and hum-drum "Charlie Boy," although it has some suspense. Pierce Brosnan is one of the victims of the "Carpathian Eagle," which butchers a series of men, and "Guardian of the Abyss" concerns a young lady in a cult and a supernatural mirror. "The Mask of Satan" is a stupid episode in which a man is convinced that he's been infected with a very strange virus. Kathryn Leigh -Scott of Dark Shadows fame stars in "Visitor from the Grave," in which a woman kills an intruder who keeps appearing wherever she goes; a poor script sinks this one, unfortunately.

Verdict: Not enough great episodes but most are at least reasonably entertaining. **1/2. 

CHARADE (1954)

Pamela Mason and James Mason 

CHARADE (1954). Director: Roy Kellino. Produced by James Mason.

Actor James Mason had founded a film company with the director Roy Kellino and his wife, Pamela, in the thirties, and did so again with the same principals in the fifties. In the interim Roy and Pamela got divorced and Pamela then married James Mason, with whom she'd had an affair, and Mason produced this trio of stories co-starring his wife -- with the cuckolded ex-husband doing the directorial duties. Okay. The first story concerns a lonely lady artist whose neighbor, another woman, is strangled one night. The artist does a sketch of the man she sees coming out of the murdered woman's apartment. She sees the man (Mason) again when he moves into the now empty apartment, and the artist and the stranger become friends. The artist becomes mesmerized by the stranger and is not at all horrified by the fact that he's also a strangler. This can't lead into anything good and of course it doesn't. The premise is interesting but the people are too unpleasant to fully engage us, and as a story of erotic obsession it's too tepid. The second story, "Duel at Dawn," (from Dumas) concerns a Major Linden (Mason) who is engaged to the Baroness Tanslan (Pamela Mason of The Navy vs the Night Monsters). Captain Stamm (Scott Forbes, who appeared on Zane Grey Theater with Joan Crawford), whose proposal of marriage to the baroness had been rejected, so insults the major that the latter challenges him to a duel -- although the terms set by the captain are outrageous. This is the best of the three stories and is suspenseful and intriguing in equal measure. The last story, apparently scripted by the starring couple, is a dull mess about a wealthy man in New York who quits it all to become a butler back in England, where he meets the maid Lily, marries her, and winds up back in his office in New York. Meant to be funny, this segment is merely tedious. The Masons would have been better off if they had done a full-length version of "Duel at Dawn," which is terrific. James and Pamela are both excellent actors, and Mason is especially good as the major. Forbes, Paul Canavagh as Colonel Heisler. Bruce Lester as Captain van Buren, Sean McClory [Valley of the Dragons] as Jack Stuydevant, the wealthy man's friend in episode three, all give excellent support, as does the uncredited actor who plays Mason's employer in the final story. Pamela and James appear as themselves at the opening and ending and in introductions to each segment. They divorced ten years later.

Verdict: This vanity production is one third all right. **3/4.

THE QUEENS

Raquel Welch and Jean Sorel

THE QUEENS (aka Le fate/1966.) Various directors.

This Italian anthology film dealing with comedic relationships between men and women has a large cast and different directors and features such weak screenplays it's a wonder it was even made. The first story is a silly concoction in which a man saves a strange woman (Monica Vitti of Modesty Blaise) from assault. The second is a weird, confusing trifle with a police officer dealing with an even stranger woman (Claudia Cardinale), who has an adorable baby, and lives in a very odd apartment overhanging a gallery thronging with people -- only there doesn't appear to be any wall, just a big open space over the gallery. The third story stars Jean Sorel [A View from the Bridge] and Raquel Welch [One Million Years B.C.] as neighbors who are married to others. Sorel wonders if his wife is carrying on with another man the way he is carrying on with Welch. This segment is the shortest and leads to nowhere, completely wasting the two sexy leads. The fourth story, which had possibilities, deals with a waiter, Giovanni (Alberto Sordi), who is importuned to sleep with a guest, a countess (Capucine), during a party. When he is hired as a chauffeur, his new employer's wife turns out to be ... the countess. She only recognizes and lusts after him when she's drunk. This segment has an especially flat ending. Vitti and Sordi give the most memorable performances.

Verdict: An intriguing idea betrayed by very poor and ill-conceived screenplays. *1/2.

THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

Michael Redgrave in Dead of Night

THE HORROR! THE HORROR! 

This week we've got a round-up of horror anthologies, which have been around for quite some time. Dead of Night is one of the earliest, and we have anthologies from the sixties (Dr. Terror's House of Horrors); seventies (The House that Dripped Blood); and eighties (From a Whisper to a Scream); and others.

If you like horror anthologies, several have already been reviewed on Great Old Movies, including Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Asylum, Tales that Witness Madness, Trilogy of Terror and the telefilm Dead of Night, which bears no relation to the Michael Redgrave film.

Enjoy!

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

Michael Redgrave

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945). Directors: (Alberto) Cavalcanti; Charles Crichton; Basil Dearden; Robert Hamer.

Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns of Edward, My Son) comes to a house to see about a possible restoration, and encounters a group of people that he has seen in a dream. He wants to leave, because in his nightmare things end very badly, but some of the guests tell of their own peculiar experiences. Grainger (Anthony Baird), a racer who nearly died, has a vision of a hearse that warns him of disaster; a young girl, Sally (Sally Ann Howes) discovers the ghost of a little boy (uncredited) during an party in an old house; Peter Cortland (Ralph Michael) is given an antique mirror whose original owner comes to possess him; a triangle over a woman, Mary (Peggy Bryan) and two golf enthusiasts leads to comical, supernatural complications; and Dr. Van Straaten (Frederick Valk of Bad Blonde) relates the tale of a ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave), who is convinced that his dummy, Hugo, is alive and wants a new partner. The best tale by far is the last of the five, and it boasts an intriguing script and a superb performance from Redgrave, whose despair is palpable. The mirror story isn't bad, but the other two aren't that well developed. The fourth story about the golf enthusiasts is pretty stupid and not especially amusing. Georges Auric [Caesar and Cleopatra] has contributed an interesting score. In addition to the ventriloquist story, the most memorable sequence details poor Walter's exacting and delirious nightmare.

Verdict: Redgrave and the dummy make the movie. *** out of 4.

DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing

DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965). Director: Freddie Francis.

In this horror anthology from Amicus, the fortune teller Dr. Shreck (Peter Cushing) entertains fellow travelers on a train by using his cards to tell their futures, none of which look especially bright. All of the tales that follow employ very familiar concepts. Architect Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum) goes to work at the old house and discovers a werewolf with other, bloody plans for him. Inspector Hopkins (Bernard Lee) investigates when a very strange and intelligent plant begins killing people. A musician (Roy Castle) incurs the wrath of a voodoo god when he uses a West Indian chant from a religious ritual for one of his songs. Art critic Franklyn Marsh (Christopher Lee) is so humiliated by painter Eric Landor (Michael Gough) when the former praises a painting actually done by a chimp, that he runs Landor over -- and the latter's disembodied hand begins following him everywhere. Dr. Carroll (Donald Sutherland) discovers the surprising identity of a vampire who is on the loose. The only really memorable segment in this is the one with the severed hand, and that's primarily because of the performances of Lee and Gough, who make marvelous antagonists. Peter Cushing and others in the cast are all quite good, including Jennifer Jayne [They Came from Beyond Space], who loses herself in the characterization of Carroll's French wife, Nicole; Sutherland [The Split] is also excellent. That same year there appeared a much better "killer plant" story on TV's The Avengers, "The Man-Eater of Surrey Green."

Verdict: Not much originality in this, but it's entertaining and well-acted. **1/2.

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD

Jon Pertwee tries out his cloak

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1971). Director: Peter Duffell. Screenplay by Robert Bloch.

"Dracula -- the one with Bela Lugosi, of course, not this new fellow." -- Paul Henderson

A well-known actor in horror films has disappeared from an old house he had rented, and this leads into the telling of four tales centered around this creepy domicile. In "Method for Murderer" a fiction writer's creation, a maniac (Tom Adams of The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World), seems to come to life to cause havoc for which the writer (Denholm Elliott) is blamed. In "Waxworks," two men (Peter Cushing; Joss Ackland of Crescendo)  become obsessed with the wax figure of Salome, who reminds each of them of a lost love, whom -- you might say -- they lose their heads over. In "Sweets to the Sweet" the stern John Reid (Christopher Lee of The Horror of Dracula) hires a nanny (Nyree Dawn Porter) for his strange little girl, Jane (Chloe Franks), with terrible results. The fourth tale, "The Cloak," is an amusing black comedy in which actor Paul Henderson (Jon Pertwee) finds a cloak in a shop which turns him into a vampire each time he puts it on; Ingrid Pitt is Anderson's female lead in this and is fine. But the best performances come from Cushing, Lee, Pertwee, and little Franks. The House that Dripped Blood is very entertaining, and is one of the best of the horror anthologies, not lame as some of Bloch's other screenplays.

Verdict: Chills and laughs all served up with relish. ***.

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974). Director: Kevin Connor.

This anthology, based on the work of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, features stories that are loosely tied in with an antique shop run by an elderly proprietor (Peter Cushing). The first story deals with a mirror  with a demonic inhabitant who urges the owner, Edward Charlton (David Warner) to butcher women. In the second story Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen), a man saddled with a harridan of a wife (Diana Dors,) encounters an old fellow veteran (Donald Pleasance of You Only Live Twice), and his rather odd daughter (Angela Pleasance) who falls for him -- or so he thinks. The third story is about a man (Ian Carmichael) and his wife (Nyree Dawn Porter) who hire a medium, Madame Orloff (Margaret Leighton of The Astonished Heart), to get rid of an "elemental" that is causing havoc. The fourth and final episode, which is easily the best and most suspenseful, has a man (Ian Ogilvy of And Now the Screaming Starts) affixing an antique door to a cupboard and discovering that it now opens into a cobwebbby and sinister old room that is kept alive by human sacrifices, one of whom almost becomes his wife (Lesley-Anne Down).

Verdict: Well-produced Amicus film with some good actors and generally mediocre scripts. **1/2 out of four.

NIGHTMARES

NIGHTMARES (1983). Director: Joseph Sargent.

This horror anthology is unusual because it has no framing sequence. "Terror in Topanga" is the old chestnut about an escaped maniac terrorizing a town. Phil (Joe Lambie of Falcon Crest) tells his wife Lisa (Cristina Raines) not to go out for cigarettes, but she doesn't listen. The ending to this segment is so utterly flat that it's a wonder anyone bothered reading past it in the screenplay. "The Bishop of Battle" is equally forgettable, a silly business about a young man, J. J. (Emilio Estevez of Mission: Impossible), who has a desperate need to reach the highest level of a video game and wishes that he hadn't. 'The Benediction" is a lower-case version of Duel and The Car, with a priest (Lance Henriksen of Damian: Omen 2) who is having a crisis of faith, being pursued on the highway by a demonic van. This is religious twaddle, but the highway scenes are not badly done. The fourth and best episode is "The Night of the Rat," in which a couple (Veronica Cartwright and Richard Masur) discover that their home has been invaded by a giant and rather intelligent "Devil Rat." Some would dismiss this segment as monster schlock, but it is undeniably creepy and suspenseful with some very effective scenes.

Verdict: "Night of the Rat" pretty much saves this otherwise lame horror pic. *** out of 4.

FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM

Vincent Price

FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM (aka The Offspring/1987). Director: Jeff Burr.

After Beth Chandler (Susan Tyrrell) witnesses the execution of murderess Katherine White (Martine Beswick of Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde), she visits White's father, Julian (Vincent Price), who tells her that his daughter was affected by the evil influence of the town of Oldfield. To illustrate his point, he relates several stories from varying time periods. Stanley Burnside (Clu Gulager) has a weird relationship with the sister (Miriam Byrd-Nethery) he lives with, but is developing a passion for a co-worker that leads to disaster. Jesse Hardwick (Terry Kiser), on the run from gangsters, runs into a very old man named Felder Evans (Harry Caesar), who has a life-sustaining potion that Jesse tries to kill for him, but Evans gets terrible revenge upon him. Steven Arden (Ron Brooks) is afraid to love Amarrillis (Didi Lanier) because he's scared of the "Snakewoman" (Rosalind Cash) who runs the carnival where he is employed as a glass eater. This voodoo priestess has terrible powers that keep everyone in thrall to her. Finally, during the very final days of the Civil War, Sgt. Gallen (Cameron Mitchell) and his fellow soldiers come afoul of a group of children who answer to a creepy "magistrate" who does not have the soldiers' best interests at heart. From this situation emerges the new and creepy Oldfield. From a Whisper to a Scream has EC Comics-style plots and features some good performances, especially from Price, Cameron [Pier 5 Havana], and Gulager in a well-done character turn.

Verdict: Absorbing if imperfect horror anthology with a more subdued Price in good form. **1/2.

JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN

George Maharis in "Miss Belle"

JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN. 1968 television series.

This British import ran for one season and was produced by Joan Harrison, who worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but if this show is any indication she had lowered her standards for scripts considerably for the later series. The majority of episodes not only would have been instantly rejected by Hitch, but are lame by any standard, with weak premises devoid of a final snap or twist. There are very few exceptions. "The New People" is an excellent, creepy, and suspenseful episode [directed by Peter Sasdy from Charles Beaumont] in which a young couple have very strange if fun-loving neighbors; the cast includes Robert Reed and a notable Milo O'Shea. "One on an Island" [from Donald Westlake] features a fine performance from Brandon De Wilde [All Fall Down] in an absorbing story of a young man shipwrecked on an isolated island. It shouldn't work at all but somehow it does. "Matakitas is Coming" stars Vera Miles as a woman who writes about murders for a magazine and finds herself locked in a library that has somehow gone back in time to the night a librarian was murdered by a maniac back in the 1920s. The murderer is creeping about, and so is the victim ... The episode has an excellent premise even if its execution is uneven and a little confusing. Also Miles is a little too perfunctory at times given her character's situation. "Somewhere in a Crowd," with David Hedison [Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea] giving one of his best performances (in a tale wherein the same group of people keep showing up at disasters), would have been one of the series' more memorable episodes were it not for the fact that it's a complete, uncredited rip-off of Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story "The Crowd." George Maharis appears in an unpleasant look at child abuse -- a woman raises her little nephew as a girl -- in "Miss Belle." And there were episodes even worse than that.NOTE: Some of the episodes from the show were strung together to make TV movies. One, Journey to the Unknown, features Joan Crawford as host and presents "Matakitas" and an episode with Patty Duke vacationing at the English seaside at an inn with a strange landlady.

Verdict: Three decent episodes does not a great series make. **.

KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER: SEASON ONE

Nina Foch and Katherine Crawford in "End of the World, Baby"

KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE aka Suspense Theatre. Season 1. 1963.

Kraft Suspense Theatre was the anthology series that began each week with stylized, Dali-esque drawings of running, furtive figures while intense, dramatic music blared in the background. The first two episodes, "The Case Against Paul Ryker," were quite good and were later spliced together and presented in movie houses as Sergeant Ryker. The third episode, "End of the World, Baby," had a mother and daughter (Nina Foch and Katherine Crawford) both involved with the same gigolo (Gig Young), and was mediocre if well-acted. I've seen most but not all of the first season episodes and generally the series was not in the league of, say, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but there were some episodes that were quite memorable. In "One Step Down" Ida Lupino wants to find out who her dead husband's lover was, unaware that it's somebody she already knows (Gena Rowlands). Tourists Julie Harris, Julie Adams and Virginia Gregg get involved with a Latin hustler (Robert Loggia) in "The Robrioz Ring." "Are There Any More Out There Like You?" stars Robert Ryan and features Katherine Ross and Great Old Movies' favorite Jay Novello in a powerful story of a man whose disaffected daughter and friends are involved in a deadly hit and run. "The Threatening Eye," directed by Ida Lupino, is a truly excellent tale of a businessman (Jack Klugman) whose life is turned upside down by a sociopathic fellow employee (Annie Farge) whose motives at first seem hidden. "A Hero for Our Times" stars Lloyd Bridges as a philandering husband who witnesses a murder during an assignation and wonders how he can tell what he knows without compromising himself or his lover. While many other episodes were all but ruined by really stupid endings, they were almost always extremely well-acted.

Verdict: Some gems among the junk. **1/2.

DEAD OF NIGHT (1977)

DEAD OF NIGHT (1977 telefilm). Director: Dan Curtis.

Curtis followed up his ratings-successful telefilm Trilogy of Terror with this second anthology of horror stories, which was also the pilot for a projected series. In "Second Chance," scripted by Richard Matheson from a Jack Finney story, a man (Ed Begley Jr. of Eating Raoul) restores a car in which a couple was killed years ago, and discovers that it can drive him all the way to the past to prevent their deaths. Ann Doran from It, The Terror from Beyond Space has a supporting role.  "No Such Thing as a Vampire," which Matheson scripted from his own short story, features a fake vampire murder plot, and boasts some very good performances from Patrick Macnee and Horst Buchholz. "Bobby," written by Matheson, also has fine performances from Joan Hackett and Lee H. Montgomery in a story about a grieving mother who thinks she's called her drowned son back from the grave. The story has a good ending, but it is neither frightening nor moving, which you can pretty much say about the movie in general. Curtis remade "Bobby" even less effectively in Trilogy of Terror II. Robert Cobert's score is mediocre and does nothing to help the telefilm.

Verdict: Reasonably entertaining if very minor horror anthology. **1/2.

TRILOGY OF TERROR

Karen Black and He-Who-Kills

TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975 telefilm). Director: Dan Curtis.

This made-for-TV horror anthology features Karen Black in three stories and several different roles. In "Julie," scripted by William F. Nolan from a Richard Matheson story, a student turns a teacher into a sex slave via blackmail, but which of them is really evil? "Millicent and Therese," (also Nolan from Matheson) deals with prim Millicent and her sexy sister; one woman with a dual personality. "Amelia," which Matheson scripted from his story "Prey," presents a woman with both boyfriend and mother troubles whose life gets worse when she gets a fetish doll that comes to life and attacks her. While this is the best -- and best remembered -- of the episodes, it almost plays like a parody, and the noises made by the doll are rather comical. In other words: lively but silly. Karen Black is quite good in all of the segments. Trilogy of Terror II was made for cable 21 years later.

Verdict: Okay, but where's the terror? **1/2.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

Joan Collins and a nasty Santa

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972). Director: Freddie Francis.

Long before the HBO series, there was this anthology film from Amicus that adapted several stories from the old 1950's E.C. horror comics, including Tales from the Crypt. Several people wind up in a mysterious crypt presided over by no less than a be-cloaked Sir Ralph Richardson, the crypt keeper [nothing like the cackling puppet on the TV series]. He tells them of their future fates, the inference being that they can avoid them if they change their ways. Joan Collins murders her husband and has to deal with a homicidal Santa in "And All Through the House." [The adaptation on the later series is superior to the version in this film.] Peter Cushing gets "Poetic Justice" after being bedeviled by neighbors. In "Reflection of Death" an unfaithful husband (Ian Hendry) survives a car wreck -- or at least thinks he does. "Wish You Were Here," a variation on "The Monkey's Paw," has a woman wishing for her husband to come back to life after he dies in a car wreck, but discovers that it's all in the phrasing. In "Blind Alleys" the residents of a home for the blind who are outrageously mistreated get a grisly revenge on the head of the institution. The movie is fun, well-acted, but has absolutely no style. Followed by The Vault of Horror.

Verdict: Some intriguing ideas get so-so treatment. **1/2.

THE VAULT OF HORROR

Glynis Johns and Terry-Thomas

THE VAULT OF HORROR (1973). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

After the success of their Tales from the Crypt, Amicus decided to release this follow-up featuring more adaptations of 1950's E.C. horror comic stories. The framing device has five men entering an elevator and winding up down in a sub-basement lounge, where they tell each other of horrible dreams -- or prophecies -- that they've had. Rogers (Daniel Massey), who is looking for his sister (played by real-life sister Anna Massey) for nefarious purposes, uncovers a nest of vampires in a small town in "Midnight Mess." Glynis Johns [Personal Affair] has had more than she can stand of her neat freak, belittling husband (Terry-Thomas) and takes action in "A Neat Job," from the gruesomely amusing story from the first issue of ShockSuspense Stories. "This Trick'll Kill You" features Curt Jurgens [The Mephisto Waltz] and Dawn Addams [The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll] as a team of magicians who even resort to murder to steal tricks away from Indian fakirs, with back-firing results. Michael Craig [Doctor in Love] and Edward Judd [First Men in the Moon] make a "Bargain in Death," an insurance scam in which one of them pretends to be dead -- but of course there are horrible complications. "Drawn and Quartered" features an artist (Tom Baker) who uses voodoo and paintings depicting scenes that come true to get even with several people who cheated him out of his rightful acclaim and fortune. Superior to Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror is very entertaining, creepy and, at times, delightfully ghoulish.

Verdict: Good anthology horror film. ***.

ASYLUM

Barbara Parkins being prepared for chop chop routine

ASYLUM (1972). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

When Dr. Martin (Robert Powell) applies for a job at an institution for the mentally disturbed, he is told by Dr. Rutherford (Patrick Magee of Dementia 13) that the head of the institution, Dr. Star, has recently become a patient. He challenges Martin to figure out which of the people upstairs could be the good doctor, and each in turn relates his tale of horror. In "Frozen Fear" a man (Richard Todd of Stage Fright) chops up his wife, but the wrapped pieces come to life and attack both him and his mistress (Barbara Parkins of The Mephisto Waltz). In "The Weird Tailor" a poor tradesman (Barry Morse) is offered money to make a suit from strange material for a man (Peter Cushing) mourning his son. "Lucy Comes to Stay" is a rather obvious split personality story with Charlotte Rampling [The Verdict] and Britt Ekland as two sides of the same woman. In "Mannikins of Fear" Dr. Byron (Herbert Lom) creates little mechanical men that he can control with his mind and that have brains and internal organs inside them. Scripted by Robert Bloch, Asylum is an entertaining picture, although Baker directs without any style or panache. Most of the acting is fine, with a superb Morse and Cushing taking top honors in the second story. Rampling, who is usually the Ice Princess Supreme, is actually warm and winning playing a psychopath  -- go figure! From Amicus films, not Hammer.

Verdict: Fun horror flick. ***.

THE BARBARA STANWYCK SHOW VOLUME 1

THE BARBARA STANWYCK SHOW. Volume 1. 1960.

When she was 53, Barbara Stanwyck did one season of a half hour anthology show in which she starred in most of the compelling mini-dramas. The show was a class production, with a nice dramatic theme and a moderately expensive look. While there were a few mediocre episodes, in general the stories were good and some could have been expanded into feature-length. Among the more memorable were: "The Miraculous Journey of Tadpole Chan," in which Babs is a woman in Hong Kong who helps a little boy get to the United States;"The Secret of Mrs. Randall," in which Stanwyck is a widow in a war with her mother-in-law [a superb Doris Packer] over an ex-con who may have stolen a payroll; "Size 10," in which she plays the head of a fashion house who has to question her loyalties when one of her top designs is stolen; "Big Career," in which she is a businesswoman with a philandering husband and a disapproving mother-in-law [Elizabeth Patterson, "Mrs. Trumble" of I Love Lucy, in an excellent turn]; and "Confession," in which she's teamed romantically with -- of all people -- Lee Marvin as a lawyer who helps her get even with her jealous husband. Guest-stars on the show included everyone from Yvette Vickers to Ralph Bellamy to Anna May Wong to Gene Raymond. An excellent actress, Stanwyck is outstanding in virtually every episode aside from "Shock," in which she plays a mother who is traumatized by the death of her little daughter. She doesn't quite get a grip on the more dramatic moments, a very rare occurrence for this gifted woman.

Verdict: Good classic television. ***.