crash landing ( aka rescue at sea ) is a 1958 dramatic , " disaster " film directed by fred f. sears , starring gary merrill and nancy reagan .

this was the last film in which nancy reagan ( billed as nancy davis ) appeared , though she continued to work in television for some years thereafter .

crash landing was based on pan am flight 6 , a real-life ditching at sea .

crash landing ( 1958 film )

crash landing ( 1958 ) directed by fred f . sears • reviews , film + cast • letterboxd
crash landing was released on a double bill with going steady ( 1958 ) . [ 9 ]
review : ' crash landing ' ( 1958 ) .
urltoken . retrieved : july 29 , 2016 .
with the headline : screen : crash landing ; ' back from eternity ' opens at victoria .
the passengers and crew of a trans - atlantic flight prepare for a crash landing at sea .
crash landing ( 1958 ) genre : drama in this classic drama , nancy davis stars as an airline stewardess aboard a plane that is rapidly going down . wh… | pinteres…
; literally :
emergency forced landing
) is a 1999 chinese thriller film directed by zhang jianya .
original print information : ' crash landing ' .
turner classic movies . retrieved : july 29 , 2016 .
the robot vs . the aztec mummy ( 1958 ) – mst3k revie . . .
kelat , david .
articles : ' crash landing ' .
turner classic movies . retrieved : july 29 , 2016 .
santoir , christian .
review : ' crash landing ' .
aeromovies , 2016 . retrieved : july 29 , 2016 .
a shanghai film studio production , crash landing follows the contours of many airplane disaster films , such as the airport series , and stars shao bing , xu fan , and you yong .
a shanghai film studio production , crash landing follows the contours of many airplane disaster films , such as the airport series , and stars shao bing , xu fan , and you yong .
, released in february 1958 . air disaster movies comprised a special genre unto themselves - and with
jason bailey is the film editor at flavorwire . he is the author of the ultimate woody allen film companion .
due to the film ' s scale and budget , crash landing was seen upon its release as a prime example of the growing sophistication of china ' s mainstream film industry , with one western media review calling it
one giant leap for chinese cinema .
before making her last motion picture , 1958’s crash landing , nancy reagan had already begun a second phase of her hollywood career , guest - starring in a number of television theatrical dramas including four episodes of general electric theater , which her husband hosted .
the film connoisseur - a film review site that loves going back to the 80s and 90s as much as i do .
dear all , the crash landing does do a good job on what to expect during a plane crash . i think the actors are believable . i forgot how snippy gary merril gets in this movie . you almost want to hit him
due to the film ' s scale and budget , crash landing was seen upon its release as a prime example of the growing sophistication of china ' s mainstream film industry , [ 1 ] with one western media review calling it
one giant leap for chinese cinema .
[ 2 ]
robert zemeckis ' s film , seemingly inspired by chesley sullenberger ' s emergency hudson river landing in 2009 , gives the credit to the wrong guy .
the only feature film the reagans appeared in together was a minor war film , hellcats of the navy ( 1957 ) , he as a submarine commander , she as a nurse . in her final movie , crash landing ( 1958 ) , she is seen in flashback as the wife of a pilot in trouble ( gary merrill ) , not really the sort of role to inspire her to continue in the acting profession .
teen - age story to be screened .
los angeles times , january 25 , 1958 , p . b3 .
panned the film , awarding it a score of 1 out of 4 , criticizing the film ' s monster as
preposterous - looking
.
you have whetted my appetite to tivo crash landing in march . sounds like a mystery science theatre evening at my house with that flick . one tiny error , didn’t the plane that made the emergency landing land in the hudson , not potomac ? enjoyed your post .
ronald reagan jr . tv journalist , former dancer . born may 20 , 1958 ; quit speaking to mother c . 1993 .
for the lowly protagonist , david mann , spielberg hand - picked character actor dennis weaver because he loved his performance as the jittery and feeble hotel night manager in orson welles’s 1958 film touch of evil .
crash landing
is most likely ( loosely ) based on the saga of pan am flight 6 , which ditched in the pacific on 16 october 1956 after encountering . . .
yes . technically , it was a controlled water landing , as tom hanks ' character emphasizes in the movie . the coast guard released a miracle on the hudson crash landing video that shows the plane descending into the hudson river at 3 : 31pm on january 15 , 2009 .
end - of - world tale - meteors on collision course with earth : the day the sky exploded ( 1958 , fr / it . )
( 1958 ) is an entertaining if b - movie variation of the john wayne - william a . wellman blockbuster with an almost identical story .
it was not the end of offers to star in a feature film , however .
this diagram shows the plane ' s flight path in red , with the option of landing at teterboro in blue and the option of turning back to laguardia in pink ( or landing in the east river ) .
ok b plane crash movie . gary merrill is the pilot and a hard - to - take dad .
in depth and mini reviews of movies with a sprinkling of nostalgia and film music musings .
the poster for hellcats of the navy , the feature film which co - starred the reagans .
mgm released her from her contract in 1952 ; and she sought a broader range of parts , but also married a guy called ronald reagan , of which she said , “being his wife was the role i wanted to play . ” after her first child was born she starred in the science fiction film “donovan ' s brain” ( 1953 ) ; and then she made “hellcats of the navy” ( 1957 ) , in which she played nurse lieutenant helen blair and appeared in a film for the only time with her husband . her last picture was “crash landing” in 1958 , which also starred gary merrill .
production for crash landing began on august 6 , 1957 , and wrapped in 10 days , with both studio and location photography completed in the typical sears fashion . [ 6 ] principal location photography took place at the hollywood burbank airport , playing the part of lisbon airport . the aircraft seen in the film include a united airlines convair cv 240 and douglas dc - 6 as well as dc - 6s from american airlines and western airlines . the principal airliner featured in crash landing was a douglas dc - 7 c , seen in miniature and in stock footage . [ 7 ]
there isn ' t much to this . the air disaster formula was in its infancy , not as refined as it would become in the 70 ' s , so crash landing doesn ' t fully understand how it should work . the crash literally takes hours to occur , and when it does . . . well , sometimes even practical effects will let you down .
the future first lady was still in college , however , when she made her very first appearance on film , performing in a national foundation for infantile paralysis fundraising short film short shown across the nation’s movie theaters .
crash landing follows the tense hours on board a stricken passenger aircraft that was on a routine flight from shanghai to beijing . shortly after taking off , the pilot ( shao bing ) discovers that the plane ' s landing gear is unable to be retracted . unable to continue , but unable to land , he and his flight attendant wife ( xu fan ) , are forced to circle shanghai .
crash landing follows the tense hours on board a stricken passenger aircraft that was on a routine flight from shanghai to beijing . shortly after taking off , the pilot ( shao bing ) discovers that the plane ' s landing gear is unable to be retracted . unable to continue , but unable to land , he and his flight attendant wife ( xu fan ) , are forced to circle shanghai .
) . adding controversy and personal drama to the story certainly helps to fill in the time around the three - minute water landing . the
1 . it was director simon west ' s first film , but you ' d probably seen his work before .
luxury liner disaster at sea : titanic ( 1915 ) , titanic ( 1943 , ger . ) , titanic ( 1953 ) , a night to remember ( 1958 ) , the last voyage ( 1960 )
there is an interesting film in the middle of this movie . but it does struggle with a few things typical of a low budget film of the era . the first is scope . the rocket ship used in the early portions of the film is pretty silly looking , and extremely small . worse still is the official nasa equipment used in the film , an old farm truck and what looks like an abandoned radio station as a home base . none of this looks official in the least .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
shifting of tectonic plates dooms japan : japan sinks ( 2006 , jp . ) ( aka nihon chinbotsu ) - a remake of the 1973 film
her role as a nurse in the 1957 film hellcats of the navy is perhaps her most famous because her co - star was her husband .
the menacing bird , in particular , is considered by many to be badly made , being a puppet with a very odd face . film critic
, ditching the plane is an absolute last resort , the implication being that chances of surviving the crash and even a few minutes in the water are remote at best . in
of all her movie roles , mrs . reagan’s own favorite was that of a fiancée whose intended husband dies , in the 1951 film night into morning .
it took 15 months before federal crash investigators concluded that capt . chesley
sully
sullenberger and co - pilot jeff skiles made the right decision to ditch the plane in the hudson river (
during her first year on contract , her first two film roles the doctor and the girl and east side , west side were as a supporting cast member .
is pretty decent . despite barely adequate miniature work , crash footage obviously cobbled from somewhere else , and a by - the - numbers script courtesy future tv producer fred freiberger , once viewers have reached the climax they ' ve spent sufficient time with the characters to care about their fates a little , and the violent landing and evacuation of the plane is pretty exciting for a little b - movie .
the film is inspired by the first emergency landing in china . on september 10 , 1998 , china eastern flight 586 , a mcdonnell - douglas md - 11 , flying from shanghai hongqiao international airport to beijing capital international airport , suffered a nose gear failure after take - off . the aircraft landed back in shanghai with the nose gear up on a foamed runway .
the film is inspired by the first emergency landing in china . on september 10 , 1998 , china eastern flight 586 , a mcdonnell - douglas md - 11 , flying from shanghai hongqiao international airport to beijing capital international airport , suffered a nose gear failure after take - off . the aircraft landed back in shanghai with the nose gear up on a foamed runway .
watch miracle on the hudson footage , including sully ' s water landing and the subsequent rescue . then view a captain sully interview and a documentary that includes remarks from some of the flight 1549 passengers .
pilot sullenberger and co - pilot jeff skiles didn ' t have enough time to go through the entire crash landing checklist . the ditch button , which seals the planes vents and outlets from taking on water , was never pressed . that , coupled with the fact that the impact had caused a breach near the plane ' s tail , resulted in the plane rapidly taking on water . as thousands of gallons of water poured in , the plane began to sink by the tail . the passengers would have just 24 minutes before the cabin and wings were fully submerged . - miracle of the hudson plane crash documentary
prolific b - movie director fred f . sears had been renowned for
quickies
, films that were shot on tiny budgets and often worked on a number of projects at once , from feature films to television shows . after his death in 1957 , crash landing ( originally known by the working title
rescue at sea
) was one of five films that were finished but remained unreleased for a year . [ 5 ]
( 1958 ) . barely have the credits finished rolling than the disaster is underway : the plane is past the point of no return , with nothing but ocean underneath it , two of the four engines have failed , and the flight attendants start passing out the inflatable vests . and the movie has only just
, the inspiration for the story may have been taken from media reports about scientific discoveries in the field of particle physics , dealing with matter and antimatter . other influences included the japanese film
noted that the film disappointed for those reasons ,
( a ) lack of decent special effects ruins the running battle between colossal bird and fighter jets . big bird is laughable .
another pre - crash scene some people are going to have trouble accepting is the moment when the flight attendant convinces the mother of an infant to let someone else hold the baby during the impact . “you may not be strong enough to hold onto the baby when we ditch . let me give it to one of the men , ” to which one of the husky servicemen says , “let me take it . he’ll be safe with me . ” i can’t imagine any mother parting with their baby in some similar contemporary situation but maybe this was not an unusual consideration for 1958 .
loftin rigged the truck with a dead clutch so the 18 - wheeler could drive without anyone behind the wheel . spielberg filmed the crash with seven cameras from multiple angles to be able to use some editing tricks to stretch out the scene .
disaster films : disasters have been the subject of film - goers ' fascination since the time of silent film epics , and this interest continues to exist up to the present time . catastrophes can take so many different forms - but they are mostly man - made or natural . they can be either impending or ongoing , or set in a distant future , or they can exist locally or globally .
the picture does have its share of unintended howlers . aboard the plane are a pair of empty - headed chorus girls ( joan bradshaw and brandy bryan ) who , as the plane is about crash , ask ,
what will happen to our
executive producer for night of the blood beast is roger corman , and that should give you a hint of what’s in store . corman can be really hit or miss . and the fact that this film was paired with she gods of shark reef may have you worried . but there is some interesting stuff in this movie even if ( as mike puts it ) the film has been thoroughly corman - ized .
movie .
it was a hard landing , and then we scooted along the surface for some point and then at some point the nose finally did come down as the speed decreased , and then we turned slightly to the left and stopped .
streamline is the official blog of filmstruck , a new subscription service that offers film aficionados a comprehensive library of films including an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic art house , indie , foreign and cult films .
at the fail - safe point , williams radios to a nearby u . s . destroyer for help , and alerts everyone on board to ready themselves for a crash landing at sea . as they prepare for the ditching , the pilot realizes that landing at night is too perilous , and they circle until sunrise . during the delay williams realizes that his attitudes have been too harsh and ann thatcher reconsiders her attitude to the co - pilot . when the airliner hits the water , the passengers , who are violently tossed about , recover and climb out to deployed life rafts . all are saved , and williams rescues the dog , which he had previously told the boy would have to be abandoned . eventually williams reunites with his wife and son in lisbon .
was one of five fred f . sears - directed features released in 1958 - a pretty astounding achievement when you consider that he died in 1957 . sears , a former actor , literally worked himself into a fatal heart attack at age forty - four . despite a very modest budget , probably in the $ 175 , 000 - $ 350 , 000 range versus
spielberg only had one take to pull off the climactic cliff crash because the initial shoot only had a single truck at their disposal . ( a backup truck was built during reshoots in case the engine of the main truck stopped working . the backup truck is
the film has been a staple of the bootleg video market , with only two official vhs releases ( one in the usa through goodtimes home video and the other through screamtime in the united kingdom ) to date .
the first act of the director robert zemeckis ' s new drama flight culminates with what is already being called the finest and most terrifying plane crash sequence ever committed to film . an engine failure on a full - capacity passenger flight has put the aircraft into an uncontrolled nosedive . the co - pilot ( brian gereghty ) is in a screaming panic , desperately trying to regain control of the plane , but the pilot , whip whitaker ( denzel washington ) , keeps it together . he calmly
inverts
the plane ( turns it upside down ) in order to level it off , then brings it in for a landing in an open field . as the giant jet approaches the grass , he utters three words over the pa :
brace for impact .
all of this is just filler though until the climax when williams finally has to “ditch” the plane . the preparations for this frightening turn of events plays out as deadpan comedy with the two showgirls expressing their major concern – “what will happen to our luggage ? ” – while the stewardess gives duck - and - cover instructions on the crash landing : “now , remember , the first shock will be a light one , followed by final heavy shocks . ” that’s comforting . did she really need to tell them that ? i think i hate her .
a late 1950 ' s not bad by - the - numbers plane in peril film . captained by a stiff - necked pilot who raises his son like he ' s in the army . while struggling to keep the plane flying until they reach assistance he learns some tolerance and good parenting skills . the plane is filled with the usual stereotypical potential crash victims . a pretty ok time - passer . the sony pictures collection dvd - r is very good quality . recommended for fans of the genre .
as the truck rams the car over the cliff and falls off in the final film , there is a low roar sound effect that the filmmaker included to emphasize the death of the truck . spielberg , who wanted the truck to seem
bruckheimer said one version of the script had the plane crashing into the white house .
i said the guys would really rather crash into las vegas ,
bruckheimer said —which makes more sense anyway , as vegas is much closer to the plane ' s starting point of oakland .
in that 60 minutes interview , couric asked sullenberger if he took time , in the three and a half minutes between the bird strike and the landing on the hudson , to pray . sullenberger ' s answer is diplomatic , but pointed :
i would imagine somebody in back was taking care of that for me while i was flying the airplane . . . my focus at that point was so intensely on the landing , i thought of nothing else .
in other words : yeah , i let the other people do the praying—i was busy doing my job .
is a grown - up movie about real world problems , mapped onto a disaster movie formula . on the surface it is a gripping thriller about panicking people forced to crash their plane into the sea - inside that fragile shell is a ruminative drama about what happens when you refuse to compromise .
a scene where passenger maurice stanley ( lewis martin ) offers mrs . willouby ( irene hervey ) a cup of coffee is parodied in the satirical comedy film airplane ! , with their respective roles assumed by child actors david hollander and michelle stacy .
both the new york times and washington post film critics detected authenticity in the emotions she conveyed on screen . the times declared that she “knows the loneliness of grief , ” while the post critiqued that she “is splendid as the understanding widow . ”
the film ' s memorable climax , which has the con air plane landing in vegas and crashing through the front of a casino , benefited from real - life serendipity : the sands hotel was about to be demolished . the filmmakers simply had to persuade the hotel ' s owners to wait a few weeks and let them help with the destruction . they only got one take , obviously . good thing they nailed it . ( the plane hitting the giant neon guitar at the hard rock hotel & casino was accomplished using models , though . )
you’re absolutely right jenni . it was the hudson , not the potomac , and is now correct . i think i got it mixed up with the 1982 crash on the potomac of a boeing 727 during a snowstorm . that one didn’t end up well . only 6 survivors out of 79 people .
alas this movie was not made in australia . in fact i ' m not sure if mst3k ever tackled an australian film . but they did mention the infamous yahoo serious in a sketch and wished and escape pod would fall on him . does that count ?
world ravaged by biological warfare and nocturnal mutants : the omega man ( 1971 ) - earlier film was the last man on earth ( 1964 , it . / us ) ( l ' ultimo uomo della terra ) , then remade as i am legend ( 2007 )
still , i’ll take crash landing and others of its ilk ( jet over the atlantic , julia ( stewardess doris day lands the plane in a precursor to karen black’s hysterical pilot of airport ’75 ) , no highway in the sky , five came back , the crowded sky ) over the more realistic depictions of air disasters in such films as alive ( 1993 ) or fearless ( 1993 ) or united 93 ( 2006 ) or even that paranoid imagining of edward norton’s character in fight club ( 1999 ) . those are the sort of horror films you don’t want to have in your head when you’re crossing the atlantic ocean in the dead of night .
yes . clint eastwood had been involved in an emergency water landing when he was in the military as a young man .
i ' ve been involved in a water landing before ,
he acknowledged when asked by katie couric .
well , it was an exciting moment for a 21 - year - old kid , but i was riding in the back of a military plane as a passenger , a free flight deal . coming down the pacific coast from seattle to san francisco , we went in the ocean off of point reyes , california . it was a good water landing , much like sully did . the plane didn ' t float though . we had about 30 seconds to get out of it , on the wing , and the water was coming up . the pilot said , ' what do you think ? ' i said , ' i guess we ' re going swimming . '
they got in the cold november water and swam for the shore , surviving the ditching . - katie couric facebook live interview
eagle - eyed viewers will catch the word “flammable” scrawled across the back of the truck , yet when it careens off the cliff at the end of the movie it doesn’t go boom . the studio wanted a big explosion , but the director wanted a slower demise for his film’s villain .
the real issue is the pacing . there are lots and lots of talky scenes with little pay off or suspense . there are also several montages of walking ( a corman favorite ) . i can appreciate the idea to keep costs down by staying on one set , but the film never does much with it ( unlike john carpenter’s the thing which used its isolated setting to excellent advantage ) . the scenes with the blood beast creeping around almost work at times , but director bernard kowalski never manages to pull it off . i had the same issue with his film attack of the giant leeches .
on the set in wendover , utah ( where the desert scenes in the second half of the film were shot ) , a 39 - year - old welder named phillip swartz was killed when a plane he was working on fell over on him . the closing credits include a mention in his honor .
the snakerama gas station seen in the film also appears in spielberg ' s 1979 world war ii comedy , 1941 , with actress lucille benson again appearing as the proprietor . the two elderly people weaver tries to flag down in a car also appear as helpless motorists in close encounters of the third kind .
begins with an astronaut john corcoran ( michael emmet ) crash landing on earth . he doesn’t survive , but nasa picks up the ship and the body to study just what went wrong . when the crew gets back to their station , they find that they all contact to the outside world is blocked out by a powerful magnetic force . before you can say , alien life form , one of the scientists is killed gruesomely and a strange shape is seeing wandering around the base . on top of that john comes back to life – and he’s got a little surprise . turns out he didn’t come back alone . incubating inside his body are small living creatures of unknown origin . what other horrors will be revealed during the night of the blood beast ?
yes .
my knee hit my sternum and actually cracked my sternum ,
says survivor barry leonard ( miracle of the hudson plane crash documentary ) . 78 people were treated for injuries . most were minor , such as hypothermia , but five were severe , including a deep l - shaped laceration to flight attendant doreen welsh ' s leg ( depicted in the movie ) .
yes . like in the sully movie , the real chesley burnett sullenberger iii later stated that he suffered flashbacks and insomnia for several weeks after the accident ( urltoken ) . sullenberger told 60 minutes that the moments before the crash were
the worst sickening , pit - of - your - stomach , falling - through - the - floor feeling
that he ' d ever experienced .
yes . while exploring the sully true story , we learned that a vintage wwii fighter plane crashed into the hudson river in may 2016 , killing pilot bill gordon . the cause was most likely mechanical failure ( urltoken ) . with regard to commercial airlines crashing into u . s . rivers , on january 13 , 1982 , air florida flight 90 , a boeing 737 , crashed into the frozen potomac river after taking off from washington national airport in virginia . only five people on board survived . 74 on the plane and four on the ground died , including one initial survivor who perished after making sure that the other crash survivors were rescued . in 1984 , a popular tv movie was made about the potomac crash , titled flight 90 : disaster on the potomac .
no . the ntsb investigators were re - imagined for the movie , with only very loose correlations to the real - life ntsb board , which included chairman deborah a . p . hersman , member robert l . sumwalt , and vice chairman christopher a . hart , among others . the real sully insisted the names be changed for the film since the movie treats the ntsb investigators as the
villains
of the story , painting them to be more vindictive and out - to - get - ' em than they were in real life . the movie ' s three main ntsb board members , charles porter , ben edwards and elizabeth davis ( portrayed by mike o ' malley , jamey sheridan and anna gunn ) , have no direct real - life counterparts . the film needed an antagonist and the ntsb became that villain .
the basic premise of the film is simply inaccurate ,
says one source connected to the ntsb ( condé nast traveler ) .
after her final film , she appeared for a brief time as a guest star in television dramas such as the zane grey theatre episode
the long shadow
( 1961 ) , where she played opposite ronald reagan , as well as wagon train , and the tall man , until she retired as an actress in 1962 .
t here were many earlier action / adventure disaster films in the silent era through the advent of the talkies . some of the most notable were the hurricane ( 1937 ) - with one of the most spectacular tropical storm scenes ever shot in film history . and two 50 ' s films , the high and the mighty ( 1954 ) and zero hour ( 1957 ) - were the inspiration for all the airplane disaster films of the 70s . [ hitchcock ' s foreign correspondent ( 1940 ) also contained a harrowing airplane crash sequence . ] the real horrors of world war ii ( the holocaust ) , and the perceived threat of nuclear annihilation and radioactive mutancy during the resultant cold war led to a further onslaught of disaster - related films soon after in the 1950s .
she was born anne frances robbins in new york . after her parents divorced and her mother , edith , an actor , remarried , nancy took her stepfather’s surname . nancy davis was a middle - ranking film actor in her 20s when she received her initial introduction to reagan , having already told a friend that he was top of her list of hollywood’s eligible bachelors .
the prop recreators at chronicle collectibles have collaborated with universal studios to make the canisters as faithful to the original as possible . just like the prop used in the film , the vessel resembles an unassuming can of shaving cream from the outside . but screw off the bottom and you ' ll find a secret compartment filled with vials the perfect size for storing prehistoric genetic material .
so , compared to century 21 calling it’s a failure as an advertisement . but for sheer goofiness it’s a hoot . the wishing song is ridiculous in the extreme . the acting is over the top . the dance sequences are silly . wilber the angel presents a whole new take on floaty . it’s just packed with everything a fan of absurd cinema could want in their short film .
jurassic park ( 1993 ) is known for having some incredible props . the fake shaving cream can dennis nedry uses to smuggle dinosaur dna out of the cold storage unit may not be as iconic as the life - sized t . rex , but it still plays a colossal role in the film . now , io9 reports that an official replica of the prop can soon be yours .
ronald reagan . actor , politician . married uin march 1952 ; born on february 6 , 1911 ; formerly married to actor jane wyman ; sportscaster turned film actor ( from late 1930s through mid - 1960s ) ; later entered politics : became governor of california ( 1967 - 74 ) and later president of the united states ( from 1980 to 1988 ) ; diagnosed with alzheimer ' s disease .
spielberg got his start directing for tv at the age of 21 , helming episodes of such shows as night gallery and marcus welby , m . d . but the aspiring filmmaker was desperately searching for a property he could turn into a feature film . it was spielberg ' s secretary , nona tyson , who found matheson’s story in playboy and first sent it to her boss to potentially adapt into a movie .
title : amityville 3 - d . this is an original movie script from the 1983 horror film ,
amityville 3 - d
. a man who is separated from his wife moves into the infamous amityville house . their daughter dies in a boating accident ( after being told that she is not allowed to go to the house ) and now the mother sees her deceased daughter
alive
in the house .
but the real puzzle is figuring out the point of the whole enterprise . it’s obvious that this is a short film advertisement for something . but unlike the outrageous design for dreaming which clearly made its goal the exciting cars of the 1956 motorama , this little film never clearly points out what its hawking . it took multiple viewings for me to finally realize that this was an extended ad for designer color phones . and no one was going to watch this thing multiple times , except for fans of mst3k . you see , as mary is singing and dancing around , wishing for new interior designs for her house , she made sure to mention the different color phones she can get for each room . also notice how wilber the angel uses his portable phone , and the boss makes a big deal of using conference call and speakerphone technology .
, which is thought to have netted the retired pilot a healthy six figures . how much personal drama was injected or heightened for the story is hard to say , but sullenberger himself stands by the film .
the story being told came from my experiences , and reflects the many challenges that i faced and successfully overcame both during and after the flight ,
he said in a statement passed along by warner bros .
a us supreme court decision had severely constrained the major studios’ business practices , and cinema audiences had slumped by half with the rise of television . by 1955 , however , ronald had secured a lucrative television contract with general electric and , as the family finances improved , nancy embarked on a campaign of relentless networking . central to it was an influential magazine publisher , walter annenberg , whom she had met through her film connections .
what better way to start off the truncated season seven of mystery science theater than with a roger corman “classic” ? not only did mystery science theater 3000 , tackle this film , but they also aired it on thanksgiving of 1995 , as part of the turkey day marathon . as such the episode has two unique sets of host segments : one them revolving all around thanksgiving . so here you go , the thanksgiving episode of my favorite show .
after a tense goodbye with his wife , helen ( nancy davis ) , pilot steve williams ( gary merrill ) is on his regular flight from portugal to new york city when disaster strikes : one of the plane ' s four massive engines catches fire , rendering it useless . before steve can even register the first fire , another engine dies . williams quickly realizes that two engines won ' t get the plane safely to new york - - and he ' s going to have make an emergency landing in the middle of the atlantic ocean .
to get the water landing right and not end in disaster , pilot chesley
sully
sullenberger had to bring flight 1549 down at the perfect speed and angle . if the nose was angled up too high , the fuselage would take too much of the impact and the plane would break in half . this could also create too much drag and slow the plane down too much . sloping the plane forward would increase the speed , but too much forward slope would mean the engines would hit the water first , causing the plane to break up .
yes , but mainly only when the
human factor
was omitted . several months after the ditching , nearly two dozen emergency simulations were flown at the airbus headquarters in toulouse , france . four out of four simulations were successful when the pilots returned to the closest laguardia runway . however , in the simulations the decision to turn back was made immediately after the engines blew . the simulated scenarios didn ' t account for the
human factor ,
essentially the 30 seconds it took to decide what to do . nine more simulated attempts to land at laguardia were conducted , taking into account the human factor and variables like landing at a different laguardia runway or landing with the plane more severely disabled . only three of those attempts were successful . in the end , the faa agreed with what sullenberger stated in his book ,
i had to be certain we could make it ,
he wrote , because
it would rule out every other option
and could kill
who knows how many people on the ground .
there was no guarantee that the 70 - ton glider would clear manhattan ' s skyline .
tyson helped track down whether the movie rights to matheson’s story had been optioned , and eventually discovered that a teleplay was in development at abc and universal with producer george eckstein . spielberg took a meeting with eckstein , and brought a rough cut of his legendary 73 - minute series premiere episode of columbo , “murder by the book . ” eckstein was impressed , and gave spielberg the job to direct duel after a follow - up meeting where the filmmaker laid out how he envisioned the film from matheson’s screenplay in full .
the wishing song and the dance sequences offer all kinds of hilarious riffing opportunities . tom does what he does best , add hilarious riffs to the music and lyrics . when a dance number starts , mike focuses on the painful smile on jeff’s face and says in a strained voice “honey , help ! i can’t stop smiling ! ” mike decides that the film “is the perfect pairing with eraserhead ” . while that is a hilarious thought , i believe that once upon a honeymoon is one of the perfect pairings for mike and the bots .
for the most part , season seven is a final hurrah for the cast and crew . you get the feeling here that they were going to go out with a bang , and why not start with something that fit their mo – a black and white sci - fi film with no budget . having already tested their mettle with some of the most painful films ever made in season six ( coleman francis trilogy of pain , not to mention starfighters and racket girls ) , even this slog - fest from cormanland couldn’t keep the boys down .
it was at the height of the mccarthyite purges , and reagan was head of the screen actors’ guild . the ostensible reason for the meeting was that nancy had been confused with a leftwing actor of the same name and was afraid of being blacklisted for her supposed communist leanings . the chemistry between the two emerged at this first encounter , but reagan , still bruised by his divorce in 1949 from the actor jane wyman , did not propose for a further two years . when the couple married in 1952 , the film industry was in turmoil and both their careers were under threat .
thanks so much for writing tom . these figures are humans before they are political symbols , as least as far as this author is concerned . and yes , from many of the newspaper reviews of her appearances at the time her films hit the screen , nancy davis was given consistently high marks for her performances . the problem was the poor material . and she was perpetually cast in one - dimensional roles . what a turn of fate had she won a role in a larger film – one might wonder if she’d have married and then further wonder what ronald reagan’s career direction might have been .
the most disturbing part of the pre - crash sequence is williams’ conversation with little teddy , informing him that he will have to leave his dog wilbur behind on the sinking plane because pets aren’t as important as people and we can’t jeopardize the safety of others by attempting to save some animal . teddy somehow accepts this wisdom with the reassurance that wilbur will be given his baseball cap as a little memento of teddy when he’s left behind . and what about all those pet birds in cargo ? in one truly astonishing sequence , the co - pilot and the stewardess open one of the plane windows while in flight and begin tossing out parakets and parrots . the scene barely lasts 30 seconds but i thought i was hallucinating while watching this .
shadow on the wall ( 1950 ) gave davis her first substantial part , as a cool - headed child psychiatrist , trying to get the truth of a murder witnessed by a young girl . the title of william wellman’s the next voice you hear … ( 1950 ) refers to a mysterious voice on the radio claiming to be god that davis as the pregnant mary smith and her blue - collar worker husband joe ( james whitmore ) hear every night . the film was a comforting exploration of faith , in which davis , according to the new york times , “was delightful as the gentle , plain and understanding wife” .
this low - budget drama about a passenger airplane that develops engine trouble mid - atlantic and is forced to ditch in the ocean has troubles of its own holding the audience ' s attention . there is the usual varied assortment of characters , with flashbacks to their lives on terra firma merely dissipating any tension that might have been built up over the impending splashdown . gary merrill is the captain , while nancy davis plays his wife ; she quit acting after this film to concentrate on life as mrs ronald reagan . there are no surprises at the climax , either , in one of the last films directed by b - feature specialist fred f sears .
it all begins with the short film from 1956 , once upon a honeymoon . all songwriter jeff ( ward ellis ) and his wife mary ( virginia gibson ) want to do is go on their honeymoon . they were married a year ago , but jeff was so swamped with his work on a play that the honeymoon was put off . just as they are about to leave , they get a call from jeff’s boss . the lead actress in the show is demanding a rewrite of the song . despair starts to creep in as the couple attempts to come up with a song . little do they know that their guardian angel , wilber ( chick chandler ) has a bit of heavenly magic ready to help them out .
gave the film a positive review , stating ,
the giant claw has a terrible reputation that isn ' t entirely deserved – to be sure , producer sam katzman opted for the cheapest , worst - looking monster that one could imagine , a ridiculous - looking giant bird puppet that makes the movie seem ludicrous . but except for those moments when the title monster is on the screen , the movie isn ' t bad – so for the first 27 minutes , until it appears for the first time and evokes its first rounds of laughter , the picture is working just fine within the confines of its budget , script , and cast
. allmovie also complimented morrow ' s performance as
the best thing in the picture
.
it comes to a head in possibly the film ' s silliest single scene , which finds whip visiting his bible - thumping co - pilot and the man ' s wife at his hospital bedside . ( when whip says he ' s happy to be alive , mrs . co - pilot quickly corrects him :
blessed to be alive .
)
nothing happens by accident in the kingdom of the lord ,
the co - pilot thunders , as the wife actually kisses the cross around her neck behind him , a moment of both painful literalism and amateurish upstaging . she then starts proclaiming
praise jesus
during her husband ' s little sermon , a moment that is played for oddly incongruent laughs , since the movie is barely subtler than she is .
most disaster films have large - scale special effects ( especially in the recent past ' s mega - budget spectaculars ) , huge casts of stars faced with the crisis , a persevering hero or heroine ( i . e . , charlton heston , steve mcqueen , etc . ) called upon to lead the struggle against the threat , and many plot - lines affecting multiple characters . in many cases , the ' evil ' or ' selfish ' individuals are the first to succumb to the conflagration . as in any sub - genre , the move to capitalize on the ' disaster film ' trend has led to many sub - par disaster films , with weak and unsubtle , formulaic plots , improbable circumstances and bad science , poor character development , and laughable acting from third - rate stars portraying cliched characters .
yet the hand of god ( well , his disciples , anyway ) is all over flight . when whip brings in his plane for its open - field landing , the wing crashes into the steeple of a nearby church , whose members are performing baptisms in a nearby pond , wouldn ' t you know it , at that very instant . ( it ' s a laughably unsubtle moment in a movie filled with them . ) shortly before the flight , the chief flight attendant is giving whip the business for not going to church ; as he lays in the hospital recovering , his pilot ' s union rep ( bruce greenwood ) tells him ,
the way you landed that plane was nothing short of a miracle .
while in the hospital , whip shares a secret smoke with a cancer patient , who delivers a faith - floating monologue , assigning the randomness of the universe—everything from his cancer to his impending death to his meeting the pilot at that moment—to the big guy upstairs . the co - pilot ' s wife , we ' re told , has informed the press ,
god landed that plane .
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1 . 0 transitional / / en
urltoken
imagine this . you are on a flight from lisbon , portugal to new york city and , in the dead of night over the middle of the atlantic ocean , the pilot’s voice on the intercom suddenly jolts you awake with these words , “can i have your attention please . this is captain williams . we’re in an emergency situation . we may have to ditch . ” you might be able to ditch your girlfriend , boyfriend or spouse but it’s not so easy to ditch a plane as demonstrated by the principals of
engineer : for crying out loud , captain . don’t you ever let up ?
like dana andrews’ neurotic pilot in zero hour ! , williams turns out to have had a traumatic world war ii experience that has made him the super grumpus he is today . of course , we don’t get to see that flashback in this cheapo disasterpiece but we get merrill’s clinch - jawed recounting of the episode in close - up . throughout the movie merrill and his co - stars act up a storm in the cockpit as a substitute for exciting special effects or visual diversions . my favorite moments are when pilot and co - pilot dramatically clutch their steering wheels and shake uncontrollably to depict turbulence while the camera occasionally tilts from side to side to demonstrate the plane pitching .


gordon hessler ( 12 december 1925 – 19 january 2014 ) was a british film and television director , screenwriter , and producer .

born in berlin , germany , he was raised in england and studied at the university of reading .

while a teenager , he moved to the united states and directed a series of short films and documentaries .

universal studios hired hessler as a story reader for the alfred hitchcock presents television series .

he became story editor for two seasons ( 1960 – 1962 ) for that series , then served as the associate producer for the alfred hitchcock hour from 1962 until its cancellation in 1965 .

he directed episodes of that series and several other shows , including hawaii five-o and sara .

in 1969 , he directed his debut feature film , the oblong box , starring vincent price .

it was the first of three horror films hessler would direct with the veteran horror star , the other two being cry of the banshee ( 1970 ) and scream and scream again ( 1970 ) .

hessler 's other films include murders in the rue morgue ( 1971 ) , the golden voyage of sinbad ( 1974 ) , kiss meets the phantom of the park ( 1978 ) , pray for death ( 1985 ) and the girl in a swing ( 1988 ) starring meg tilly , an adaptation of richard adams 's ghost story novel .

the majority of hessler 's directorial work from the late 1970s on was in television .

hessler died in his sleep on 19 january 2014 .

gordon hessler

gordon hessler : i must say that wilfred josephs ' music held the picture up , it made it more mysterious .
presents this exclusive new interview with director gordon hessler . mr . hessler was kind enough to meet me in person to discuss the four films he did for american international pictures - -
gordon hessler was born in germany , the son of a danish mother and an english father . educated in england , he moved to the us while in his late teens and spent several years working in documentaries . at universal ,
i guess because i had an english accent
, hessler was placed under contract to
gordon hessler , the british feature film and television director , passed away in his sleep on sunday , january 19 , 2014 after an undisclosed illness . he was 88 , although most sources erroneously list him as being born in 1930 . the news was confirmed by douglas dunning of cinema epoch , who was a good friend of mr . hessler’s . in addition to director , mr . hessler was also a screenwriter and a producer .
gordon hessler : she made some very well known pictures . again , that was deke heyward ' s idea . she was marvelous , out of her depths and aged at the time , and playing a very strange part . but she gave it her everything .
gordon hessler : hilary dwyer was almost under contract . i don ' t know what the situation was , but they liked her and they kept pushing you to use certain actors . i guess the management must have thought she was star material or something like that .
gordon hessler : yes , it would be 1 . 85 . by that time we were composing the films that way , but we were also conscious of the television ratio . we had to be careful because the soundman would always dip his microphone into the picture frame .
gordon hessler : yeah , it was a gift you know . the gift of hiring the person who had researched all the stuff for a richard burton picture , or a big universal picture of some kind . he would understand the authenticity of what you were trying to do .
gordon hessler , the british - born director who was best known for his horror films but who had a longer career as a producer and director of american episodic television , died on january 19 at the age of 87 . although mainstream outlets have yet to announce hessler’s death , it has been confirmed by his wife yvonne ( via historian tom weaver ) and a friend .
– something of a comedown from the prestigious association with hitchcock . ) hessler worked on the first season of
( 1978 ) . ( oddly , a fangoria post with tributes to hessler from two kiss members appeared ahead of any confirmation of his death . ) of the episodic work , hessler contributed to some good shows :
in its final ( 1966 - 1967 ) season , under executive producer gordon oliver . at least two of those , “the fatal mistake” and “blind man’s bluff , ” were english - flavored suspense pieces that deliberately sought to recapture the
below is an image taken of mr . hessler’s last appearance at the new beverly , with cinema proprietor michael torgan .
de sade with keir dullea is one of mr . hessler’s weirdest films . panned by many but i enjoyed it .
i would also add that , frustratingly , i could not verify which episodes of the chrysler theater hessler produced , beyond the two mentioned above . hessler was at the outset one of four producers working under gordon oliver on just the fourth season ‘s 21 dramatic segments ( the comedies were produced by people drawn from bob hope’s camp ) , the other three being jack laird , stanley chase , and ron roth . later bert mulligan joined the rotation . math would suggest that hessler handled at least one to three other segments ( unless perhaps mulligan replaced him ? ) . does anyone out there have that information ?
gordon hessler : well , i ' m sure he was , he was very careful with money . what aip would do was probably give him a very liberal expense account per week so he could stay at the best hotels . he stayed in tiny little rooming houses , so i ' m sure he was spending the rest of the money on art . deke was buying art too .
gordon hessler : lilli palmer had a big part . she was vital to the plot and by cutting her scenes down , it was like she was an extra in the film . i don ' t know what she must have thought when she saw it , she must have been astounded . she ' s a fantastic actress when you think about all the films she ' s done .
gordon hessler : i always got along well with him . he was very politically adept at handling things at aip . he would protect you from [ sam ] arkoff and [ james ] nicholson because they ' d come into town and stay at the savoy hotel , and then they ' d go in to discuss the picture , or they would see the finished product and make their suggestions .
gordon hessler : i think they were upset with murders in the rue morgue , at least i suspected that . aip started to disintegrate after that point . when arkoff received my letter concerning my thoughts on rue morgue , i ' m sure he wasn ' t too pleased with it , although it was a reasonable letter i thought . but again , we had great fun making those pictures .
the end of the war meant that hessler was entering the workforce just as thousands of servicemen came home to reclaim their old jobs . while still in the army , hessler knocked on doors in the film industry , working as an extra ( somewhere in the background of
, to star clint walker and suzanne pleshette . that production was cancelled at the last minute and hessler moved immediately to another indie ,
hessler also directed theater productions in his spare time . but at universal , competent producers were in shorter supply than directors , and the studio consistently ( and rather cruelly ) blocked hessler’s attempts to transition into directing , even though he made it clear to anyone who would listen that that was his goal . following harrison’s departure in 1963 , hessler was promoted to producer , but even then he was seen as a junior staffer , subordinate not only to lloyd ( now the showrunner , and with whom hessler had a good and lasting relationship ; he cast lloyd in his final film ,
were adaptations of short stories , and as “story editor” hessler was essentially a glorified reader . he did talk his way into directing a single hitchcock episode in 1961 , as well as some actors’ screen tests for universal . hessler didn’t get a regular screen credit until 1962 , when the series expanded into
gordon hessler : yes , deke heyward was a wonderful character , literally running aip in london , which was where they were making all their movies at the time . they had a staff in los angeles , but they weren ' t making any movies , and of course they were very jealous of that london department . deke had a tiny office and since he collected art , he had all these paintings as well as an organ there ( laughs ) .
gordon hessler : herbert lom is a character actor anyway , so he fitted right into the part . jason robards was hired by aip because of his name , and he was quite well respected . most actors like to play a horror part at some point in their life , so he was brought onboard . he was fine to work with , but about two weeks into the picture , he said ,
gordon , i ' m doing the wrong part , i should be doing the other part .
i said ,
jason , you ' re the star , you could ' ve chosen any part you wanted , you just had to ask for it !
it ' s always the monster who gets the best part in a horror picture , it ' s much more juicy .
at this point during our 1997 interview i started counting on my fingers , because every reference source gave hessler’s date of birth as december 12 , 1930 . hessler conceded that , having sensed the film industry’s potential for ageism early on , he had subtracted four years from his age at the start of his career .
“i hated the studio system , ” hessler told me flatly . “i was not cut out for it . i liked to freelance . ” leaving universal in 1967
hessler was born in berlin , to an english mother and a danish father , in 1926 . his father died when he was three and hessler , whose first language was german ( but only “kinderdeutsch , ” he said ) , moved back to england with his mother as “things got a little steamy there” in germany . as a teenager he studied aeronautical engineering , and “at the tail end” of world war ii he was conscripted into the british army , although the war ended before hessler saw combat .
hessler , with his sheepish grin and self - effacing air , was a genial and always accessible friend to film historians . he came across as so quintessential an english gentleman to americans that i fear hessler’s quiet ambition , and his attitudinal kinship with the “angry young man” generation of his countrymen , have been overlooked in accounts of his career .
fordel films employed some fellow english expatriates , and hessler worked his way up to “running the company , [ as ] sort of a vice president of directing pictures , ” hessler said . he made documentaries in atlanta ( about the school system ) and annapolis ( about st . john’s college ) . the tv listings of the may 20 , 1956 edition of
hessler was out of work for a year before mca , which was expanding in conjunction with its acquisition of universal studios , hired him in june of 1958 , initially as an assistant to story editor mae livingston . he became one of four or five people who “floated around the lot , ” assigned to various producers ( including , in hessler’s case , former
hessler worked as an editor first for a company called films for industry and then for fordel films , in the bronx . “i had no formal education on editing , ” said hessler , who scrambled to learn the trade from anyone who would show him . the first film he was assigned was directed by jack arnold , who would soon go to hollywood to make pictures like
flavor , and thus bore hessler’s clear fingerprints . he also got to direct “blind man’s bluff” – it was his second episodic television credit as director , only six years after the first .
than any other series , perhaps a definitive signal that hessler’s enthusiasm and good taste didn’t align with first - rate opportunities as often as he , or his admirers , might have hoped .
gordon hessler : well no , that ' s not true actually . you see , they have wonderful costumes in england . when they would make a classic period film , something like a shakespeare film with richard burton , all those costumes that were made would go back to the rental house , and they ' re ready to be rented . and of course you ' d get them for practically nothing , so we got all the best costumes . you couldn ' t get that in hollywood rental places , everything they had was just awful . mgm studios had their own costume place , but the rental houses in hollywood had nothing .
on a personal note , hessler was one of the first people i interviewed at length when i was a film school undergraduate in los angeles . he invited me up to his lovely home overlooking sunset boulevard not once , but twice , enduring many of the same questions a second time after i discovered that a mysterious tape recorder malfunction wiped out most of the first go - round . gordon also generously brokered introductions to norman lloyd and ray bradbury , both of whom i suspect would otherwise have been inaccessible to me at that point . how , i ask , can you not hold in special esteem the person who brings ray bradbury into your life ?
gordon hessler : oh , marvelous , he was a marvelous man , highly intelligent . i remember at shepperton studios , during the oblong box , we had an african prince who was the head of this tribe . so we put them in the film for this dance sequence . i asked vincent if he wouldn ' t mind having lunch with this african prince , or king , or whatever he was . you know , most actors always talk about themselves ; vincent was completely the opposite . he talked to him about african art , and all about the various art he knew about and so on . i was just stunned at the conversation and his knowledge . what a unique man .
gordon hessler : i got on very well with christopher lee . he became even more talented as he moved on in his career . i was quite surprised at how good he was in certain movies . when you ' re shooting , you ' re so busy and you never really get to know the actors very well . you meet them and they get a sense of what you want , and then you don ' t see them again because they ' re off doing another picture . i think that the thing with a horror picture is that you have to convince your actors to believe in what they ' re doing . you really have to get embellished in it and enjoy it .
gordon hessler : well , he never really understood scream and scream again . i don ' t think he liked it . he was very upset that he wasn ' t in murders in the rue morgue , but i had nothing to with that . i really don ' t know the contractual details though . i know that when we did cry of the banshee , he was very upset with aip . when we had the wrap party , he didn ' t want to come if arkoff was there . i told him that i wouldn ' t dream of having the party without him . so he came , and of course he was quite drunk . it was most embarrassing ( laughs ) .
gordon hessler : i imagine it was a contractual tiff of some kind . i never knew what it was about exactly . these after - picture parties are usually so boring , so i requested that everyone dress in costumes , we had hundreds of these period costumes left over . i wanted everybody in costume , including arkoff and nicholson . i think we had a naked ( or semi naked ) girl pop out of a huge cake . but vincent really didn ' t want to come if arkoff was there . he did finally agree , and when we were looking for the knife to cut the cake , vincent said ,
take the knife that ' s in my back and use that !
drawing - room suspense niche . this , his second feature , was filmed at the end of 1967 but released two years later . by that time , hessler had taken a job at aip , in what at first appeared to be another staff producing role . happily , it evolved into an opportunity to direct a series of english horror pictures that starred the genre icons of the day : vincent price , christopher lee , peter cushing . those four films became the works for which hessler is best remembered :
gordon hessler : well , spain was a very cheap place to film . hollywood made a great deal of their large pictures in spain , where you could get the crowds cheaply and horses , etc . all the david lean pictures for columbia were being made in spain . you would bring in a skeleton crew - - either from hollywood or london - - and the rest was a very elaborate , well - trained spanish crew , and they would give you anything you wanted . we shot that in toledo , and the streets there are so similar to paris . you couldn ' t shoot that in london unless you built sets . we just shut down toledo when we made tha , and shot in the streets and in this theater - - it was a very french - looking theater . so that ' s why i chose that .
gordon hessler : well , they didn ' t know what the film was about and were always questioning what i was doing . the editor kept assuring them that everything was fine , but they didn ' t quite know what they had as a picture . i ' m sure they were a little queasy when that film came out because arkoff had to try and sell it . we knew we had a good film . it was different . it was a science fiction film really , but the thing is , although the pulp book was very badly written , once chris wicking had put the nucleus of that idea into it , it elevated the whole picture and made it much more interesting . but all these pictures were made so quickly with so little money , i think we shot that in three or four weeks . but we had fun making it .
although he directed clusters of little - known features in both the early seventies and late eighties , hessler spent much of the time in between directing american episodic television and movies of the week . of the latter , the best known fall , fittingly , into the horror genre : 1973’s
gordon hessler : it ' s amazing . deke was the one who put that animation in , always being way in advance of everyone else . about the music , i suspect that les baxter was a great friend of somebody high up at aip and was doing scores for them at the time . perhaps he or someone else saw it and criticized the music , so they were advised to change it . wilfred josep hs is perhaps not the greatest composer in the world , but he certainly did a good job . the music is very important to these movies , and to take it off after spending so much money was a huge decision by somebody . but to have les baxter do a kind of period picture where you have minuet dancing and that sort of thing , it ' s ludicrous . you really have to have somebody who has an idea of that time period .
gordon hessler : no , i was only on it shortly on a production level . then i was totally concentrated on this horror picture , which is kind of a formula script . the way they worked , i assume , because hammer worked the same way , is they ' d have a poster drawn with their star in it and present it to the distributor as their next picture . the script was then written around that . it happened to be an english writer / director who had written the script , lawrence huntington . i never met him , it was just a script that arrived . christopher wicking was brought in originally by michael reeves , and that ' s how i met him . wicking did an enormous amount of re - writing on the oblong box . so my association with him began as a result of working on this film together . then he worked on all the pictures that i did for aip .
under the legendary director’s banner . the hands - on producers were joan harrison , who was english , and new jersey - born norman lloyd , whose mid - atlantic erudition was so cultivated that he was often taken for an englishman . hessler assumed that he got the job simply because his accent fit in .
. like the chrysler theatre s , this carried some dna from his hitchcock gig : the film was based on a novel – jay bennett’s catacombs – that had been rejected for hitchcock , and hessler brought in joel murcott , one of the series’ regular writers , to do an uncredited rewrite of daniel mainwaring’s screenplay . )
, he lurks ) and talking his way into a meeting with alexander korda’s right - hand man . but he observed that “there was a depression in england in the film business . it was pretty tough – you couldn’t get financing . ” hessler opted to emigrate to the united states , figuring he’d have a better chance to break into filmmaking there .
gordon hessler : no , he hated the project and he loathed the script . of course , it was a big comedown because he was going to do the biggest picture they had before he got sick , and then he was to do this standard horror picture . when i met with him , he was doing electric shock treatment . i was staggered ! i assumed he had some sort of mental health problems of some kind , i don ' t know what it was . i never got to know him that well . he was very talented , extremely talented . witchfinder general is a wonderful picture . i didn ' t really meet with him that much because gradually , he just couldn ' t do the oblong box . eventually i took the whole project over and directed and produced it . aip didn ' t care at the time about this picture because they were too involved with all the production problems of de sade . that film , we moved it from munich to berlin to shoot . so i actually went to berlin for two or three works before going to england to do the oblong box .
his last film , journey of honor ( 1991 ) , was released on laserdisc here in the states . it was also known under the titles of kabuto , mayeda , and shogun warrior . below is a photo of mr . hessler next to douglas dunning and sho kosugi at the world premiere of the film , which was titled shogun mayeda , in january 1991 .
gordon hessler : i really didn ' t get to know him because he was put into the picture . that was deke heyward ' s idea . deke would try to find some well known actor to dress up the picture - - who at least americans would be familiar with - - which was a good idea . he did the same thing with lilli palmer in murders in the rue morgue . when i was doing the aip pictures , i tried to keep a stable of actors and give them different roles . they were so wonderful , and they had to work for practically nothing . since i was producing and directing , i had to go to the actors and tell them that i could only offer them so much , and that they could take it or leave it . it ' s not that i was in a situation to bargain with them . i just didn ' t have it in the budget . when you only have £70 , 000 and you ' re working in a large studio , everybody else got screwed - - these actors . hopefully they get some residuals of some kind , i ' m not sure .
when hitchcock went off the air in 1965 , hessler was still under contract to universal and left more or less to fend for himself in terms of attaching himself to existing shows or developing new properties and getting the studio to green - light them . ( lloyd found himself in a similar limbo , and ended up producing a few early made - for - tv movies and some episodes of
. “i couldn’t put the thing together ! ” hessler remembered . “the film looked awful . i went to the optical lab and said , ‘you’ve got to help me . it’s my first picture . ’ they said , ‘jack arnold shot the whole thing incorrectly . he didn’t know what he was doing . ’ all the pieces were facing the wrong way . all i could do to make it work was flip the film . ”
“i was making really a tremendous amount of money at that time for a young guy , and i gave it all up to come to los angeles , ” hessler recalled . “i’d had awards with my documentaries . i thought , ‘god , this is going to be easy , taking these pictures and showing them to [ executives ] . ’ nobody was slightest bit interested in even looking at them ! no matter what awards i’d won . ”
in new york , he took a night shift job at an automat ( possibly the famous horn and hardart ) while looking for movie work during the day . warner - pathe news hired him as a driver , “which was perfect for me , ” hessler said . “i took the film to all the editors , and each editor i met , [ i’d ask ] , ‘could you hire me ? ’ finally i got hired in the documentary business . ”
“i was so arrogant in those days , ” laughed hessler , who felt keenly the generational divide between himself and the established producers and directors for whom he worked . “i was assigned to paul henreid as sort of a gofer . they’d say to look after him , so i would go over there , take him to lunch , and make sure he had everything . i thought , ‘oh , god , when can i get away from this old duffer ? ’
gordon hessler : well , the oblong box was very successful for them . they were in tremendous trouble with de sade . they didn ' t get along with cy endfield and all sorts of other problems existed . it was the greatest piece of luck that i was fired from it . when i did the oblong box , they left me alone , there was nobody there . the day i started , nicholson came on the set and said ,
good luck .
that ' s it , and he was off . that film was made for £70 , 000 , which is about $ 250 , 000 . at shepperton studios , you could shoot from 8 am until about 4 pm because of the union . if you wanted to do overtime , you ' d have to let them know by lunchtime that you were going to take it one more hour . and only if all the union leaders agreed would they go along with it . it was a very tough assignment to shoot and get finished . actually , when we were finishing it , i had three or four more days left . they [ aip ] said ,
look , we like what you ' re doing , take an extra week . can ' t you make this bigger ?
this never happened to me before , so i was happy with the situation and i took an extra week at the studios and built up certain sequences . i can ' t remember which , but whatever we were shooting , we elaborated on it . and the film did very well for them .
gordon hessler : he ' s a highly intelligent fellow , very witty . he ' s a wonderful guy . on scream and scream again , he did extraordinary work on the script . that was really a pulp book , a throwaway book that you read on a train . there was nothing in it , just empty pieces of action . but it was chris who gave it a whole new level by using it as a political process of what might happen in the future . that is what made the picture , he ' s the one that came up with all those ideas , yet he still managed to keep the nuances of the sort of pulp fiction novel . he was a fine writer , i thought . he had some very good ideas . it ' s funny because we never thought much of those films . they were just formula pictures as far as we were concerned , but we enjoyed making them . the problem was what do you do with a script , how do you solve a problem ? cry of the banshee had the same problem . we got the script from aip - - somebody had written it and sent it to us , and we were asked to make it . the film was sold and we had to have it finished by a certain time . chris wicking and i went to scotland to make a whole different picture about witches . the whole of aip got so alarmed because we were changing it so much . they came down on us and said that we could alter it 10 percent , but no more than that . so all of our work went down the drain on cry of the banshee . out of all the films i did for aip , i think it ' s the least interesting .
gordon hessler : i ' m amazed that mgm had the instinct to do this version of it after so many years . i was appalled when i originally saw the theatrically released version . i wrote a five - page letter to arkoff . i knew it was his picture and he could do what he wanted with it , but i asked him to do certain things so it would at least make more sense . but by that time , it was already out and released . there ' s another film that i did - - which i feel very strongly about - - called girl on a swing that was terribly mauled . it ' s awful what miramax did . they spliced ten or 15 minutes out of it , and it didn ' t make any sense . we all wanted to take our name off of that picture . in my contract , they had to give me a 35mm print of the original version - - it ' s the only one in existence . but as far as murders in the rue morgue , it seems that someone at mgm is doing some researching or something , releasing my cut of the film . this cable tv version - - which i haven ' t yet seen - - is apparently the original . i remember the flashbacks were originally never tinted , but aip tinted them for the theatrical release . the whole idea was not to tint them so that you wouldn ' t know when you ' re more or less in a dream sequence or just being puzzled by it . the whole trick in that was instead of it being a flashback , this would be a flash - forward , which people really hadn ' t done before at that time . it was a premonition of what was going to happen . when it ' s tinted , it ' s just so obvious . audiences picked up on it immediately .
gordon hessler : i was asked to produce a film , de sade , for aip while i was in los angeles that was taking place in munich , germany . i flew into london and met the writer , and the director was supposed to be there , but he never showed up . he didn ' t come to the meeting ; he was sick or something like that . having met the writer , i flew to munich to set up the film about eight weeks before they were going to start shooting . i was there preparing the production and then i was told that the original director was not going to make the picture . so we waited for a while , and finally the american director who did zulu , cy endfield , came in to do it . this was a big picture for aip , which usually made very cheap pictures , and i was an outsider . i was not an employee , just a freelance director . my position got very shaky there , even though i was very friendly with everybody . i was actually fired from the job because the local people employed by aip wanted to produce the picture rather than have an outsider like me . but they did give me a consolation . they said ,
look , we want to put you on another picture in ireland and you can produce that .
so , i thought that was fine as it was going to be a horror picture shot in ireland . they sent me to ireland , i looked at the facilities , and decided to bring the production to london , at shepperton studios . i had a pretty free hand because everybody was concentrating on de sade at the time . and michael reeves , who was supposed to direct that picture , was to direct this one , the oblong box . he was on it for a short while , but then he got sick . he must have been already sick with some mental health problems .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
chase williamson teams up with lauren ashley carter and matt mercer in horror thriller , artik .
invisible woman , mr . fantastic , the thing , & human torch by artgerm
10 year anniversary : a look back at horrornews . net , the tech , and where we are !
new book of illustrated “scary stories to tell in the light” launching on kickstarter june 11th . * fully funded * as of 6 / 20 / 18
although he was born and raised in england , he and his family moved to the united states during his adolescence . he got behind the camera for a series of short films and then progressed to documentaries before working for universal studios as a story reader and story editor on alfred hitchcock presents .
he got into feature filmmaking with the woman who wouldn’t die ( 1965 ) , the last shot you hear ( 1969 ) , and a series of well - known horror films : the oblong box ( 1968 ) , scream and scream again ( 1970 ) , cry of the banshee ( 1970 ) , and murders in the rue morgue ( 1971 ) . the golden voyage of sinbad followed in 1974 , along with much television work such as the strange possession of mrs . oliver ( 1977 ) and the infamous kiss meets the phantom of the park ( 1978 ) .
arguably considered to be his best work ( yours truly agrees ) is his often maligned 1988 film adaptation of richard adam’s 1980 novel the girl in a swing , a romantic ghost story which stars meg tilly in the title role and rupert frazier as the man who falls for her . the film was released unrated here in the states by millimeter films , a subsidiary of miramax , and received a vhs and laserdisc release . truncated and marred by the addition of a voiceover by actor frazer in an effort to fill in the blanks , the uncut version has remained largely unseen . it is my hope that it finds its way to blu - ray and is rediscovered by a new generation of fans who have never heard of it because it deserves to be seen .
can anyone provide a uk release date for the oblong box . cheers , rob
save my name , email , and website in this browser for the next time i comment .
lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you crew reveal their most soul - crushing jobs in our freewheeling interview .
- the world ' s oldest motive ( 1965 ) . . . ( producer )
- the photographer and the undertaker ( 1965 ) . . . ( producer )
himself / himself - director , ' scream and scream again ' / himself - director / . . .
[ talking about working with actor hugh griffith ] hugh was a terrific guy , and he was in a number of big pictures , too , like
tom jones
. but at the time ( of filming
cry of the banshee
) , he was an alcoholic , and a person would have to assist him on the set and make sure that he didn ' t receive any alcohol , otherwise he ' d be drinking the whole time . a great shame .
explore popular sci - fi movies and tv shows available to stream with prime video .
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1 . 0 transitional / / en
urltoken
) and tasked with coming up with ideas for series to pitch to the networks .
– which meant that he had to start binge - reading novels instead of short stories .
, twenty - some years later ) but to various other studio producers who were assigned batches of hitchcock episodes during the final two seasons .
( “the spanish moss murders” ) that is routinely cited as the best of its twenty episodes . but he directed more for
i had the great pleasure of watching “the spanish moss murders” the night of its original broadcast , which along with the original abc movie of the week “don’t be afraid of the dark” turned me into a lifelong horror junkie .
privacy & cookies : this site uses cookies . by continuing to use this website , you agree to their use . to find out more , including how to control cookies , see here : cookie policy
george reis : there are often rumors that you actually directed parts of de sade . is that true ?
george reis : most critics say that about cry of the banshee , but i quite enjoy it .
george reis : when you say that they didn ' t want the script altered , who did you report to , louis m .
deke
heyward ?
george reis : obviously they were happy with you , as you continued to wor k with them .
george reis : you often used the same actors and actresses in your aip films , such as hilary dwyer .
george reis : i ' m sure you ' re aware that your director ' s cut of murders in the rue morgue has been restored and remastered by mgm and recently aired on u . s . cable tv .
george reis : aip also removed a lot of lilli palmer ' s scenes .
george reis : murders in the rue morgue was shot in spain . why did aip decide to do it there rather than england ?
george reis : scream and scream again is an extraordinary film , very different from the typical poe / price cycle . was aip happy with it ?
george reis : you had christopher lee in small parts in the oblong box and scream and scream again . how did you get along with him ?
george reis : you also worked with peter cushing in scream and scream again .
george reis : in cry of the banshee , you had elisabeth bergner who was a silent film star .
george reis : did you know that the american version of cry of the banshee was severely altered ? for instance , terry gilliam ' s opening animation sequence was removed and the wilfred josephs score was replaced with one by les baxter . mgm home video thankfully released the uncut british version on vhs and i take it they will eventually do the same on dvd .
george reis : was banshee lower - budgeted that the other aip films you did ? i always heard that they re - used costumes from another film .
george reis : the films you did in england had an authentic look to them .
george reis : in victoria price ' s book about her father , you were quoted as saying that you didn ' t think vincent understood the films you did with him . what did you mean by that ?
george reis : when your aip films come out on dvd , they will be presented in the 1 . 85 : 1 aspect ratio . is this the true ratio you were shooting in ?
photos are copyright © 2002 metro - goldwyn - mayer studios inc . all rights reserved .
sorry , we just need to make sure you ' re not a robot . for best results , please make sure your browser is accepting cookies .
— in elizabethan england , a wicked lord massacres nearly all the members of a coven of witches , earning the enmity of their leader , oona .
— a serial killer , who drains his victims for blood is on the loose in london , the police follow him to a house owned by an eccentric scientist .
— a former ninja living in america avenges terroristic attacks against his family by gangsters .