The 1974 film Silent Night, Bloody Night is an oddity.
On the one hand, it’s pretty much a standard slasher film, complete with a menacing mansion, a horrible secret, a twist ending, and John Carradine playing a mute newspaper editor.
On the other hand, director Ted Gershuny directs like he’s making an underground art film and several of the supporting roles are played by actors who were best known for their association with Andy Warhol.
Personally, I like Silent Night, Bloody Night. It has a terrible reputation and the film’s star, Mary Woronov, has gone on record calling it a “terrible movie” but I like the surreal touches the Gershuny brought to the material and the sepia-toned flashbacks have a nightmarish intensity to them. The film makes no logical sense, which actually makes it all the more appealing to me. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.
In 1965’s Curse of the Stone Hand, a dilapidated mansion sits deserted. Two men explore the grounds of the estate and one of them mentions that this house was once the finest in “Kent” but now the locals feel that it is cursed. There are mysterious stone sculptures of hands throughout the house. Some inhabitants think that the hands are the source of the curse. The first inhabitant of the house was a degenerate gambler named Robert Braun (Carlos Cores), who gambled himself into debt and, as a result, joined the Suicide Club as a way to try to win back his money. The hands, we are told, are somehow to blame for this, though it sounds like it’s more of a case of Robert needing to join Gamblers Anonymous. Once Robert was no longer in the house, the estate was claimed by another rich family. The family’s son was a sadist who had the power of hypnotism, which he used to torment his sister’s fiancé. Again, in my opinion, it’s open to debate as to whether or not the hands are to blame. To me, it seems more likely that the hypnotist is just a spoiled wastrel who wasn’t properly raised by his parents. The message seems to be less “Beware of the hands” and more “Don’t let your child grow up to be a hypnotist.”
If all of this sounds disjointed, that’s because it is. American film distributor Jerry Warren purchased two Chilean films and then edited them together to form what would become Curse of the Stone Hand. He dubbed over the dialogue to create some false connections between the two films and then he shot a few extra scenes with Katherine Victor and John Carradine. Victor and Carradine served to provide exposition, filling in the blanks that had been created by Warren’s mash-up. John Carradine’s character is especially interesting because he’s credited as being “The Old Drunk” but his character doesn’t ever appear to be drunk. Instead, he appears to just be one of the many people who works on the estate and who has opinions about the family that lives there. Carradine only has about two minutes of screen time. (Of course, Jerry Warren gave him top billing.) He’s not onscreen long enough to really give a performance that could be considered either good or bad. That said, it’s impossible not to smile whenever John Carradine shows up in one of these films. It’s always a little amusing how John Carradine effortlessly went back and forth from working with John Ford to working with people like Jerry Warren. Before there was Eric Roberts, there was John Carradine.
Curse of the Stone Hand is pretty much an incoherent film. It’s possible that the original Chilean films were good. Some of the shots do feature a bit of atmosphere. But, ultimately, it’s impossible to tell while watching this film, with its dubbed dialogue and its incomprehensible plot. That said, I’ll always have a spot in my heart for the shamelessness of filmmakers like Jerry Warren. Warren knew that you could get a lot out of a melodramatic title and a cameo from a name performer. Curse of the Stone Hand stands as a tribute to his never give up, never surrender spirit.
We honor the birthday of Tor Johnson with today’s scene of the day.
Even though Tor Johnson is playing a character named Lobo, today’s scene that I love isn’t from Ed Wood’s 1955 film, Bride of the Monster. Instead, it’s from 1957’s The Unearthly. In this film, Lobo is now John Carradine’s servant. (Lobo made quite a career out of working for mad scientists.) The Unearthly was directed by Boris Peftroff, a friend of Wood’s, so it’s not improbable that this film’s Lobo was meant to be the same Lobo as the one who appeared in Bride of the Monster and Night of the Ghouls.
Anyway, in this scene, Tor does his usual Lobo stuff while John Carradine plays the piano. “Time for go to bed,” Lobo says at one point, a much-mocked line but one that is delivered with a bit of gentleness by Tor Johnson. My point is that Tor did the best that he could and bless him for it.
1990’s Buried Alive may be the worst Edgar Allan Poe adaptation ever filmed.
The film takes place at the Ravenscroft Institute, a former mental asylum founded by the fearsome Jacob Julian (John Carradine). Jacob’s son, Gary (Robert Vaughn), took over the Institute after his father’s death, treated his patients with kindness and compassion, and preached about the need for “freedom.” Now, Gary has transformed Ravenscroft into an all-girls school for juvenile delinquents. The students worship him because he tells them that nothing is their fault and that they deserve to live the life they want. His newest teacher, Janet (Karen Lorre), is a fan as well. In fact, she soon finds herself falling in love with Gary.
However, from the minute Janet shows up at Ravenscroft, she starts having strange visions. She sees thousands of ants crawling over her feet. She hears strange sounds in the walls. At one point, an arm reaches out of a toilet and tries to grab her. She thinks she sees a distinguished Shakespearean character actor sealed behind a wall. Is she losing her mind, or has she stumbled across something more sinister?
Now, when I say that Buried Alive is one of the worst Edgar Allan Poe adaptations I’ve ever seen, understand that it is not the fault of the cast. There are some truly talented people in this film. A young Nia Long plays a student named Fingers. Ginger Lynn Allen has fun playing a bully named Debbie. Robert Vaughn is appropriately intense as Gary, and John Carradine is… well, he’s John Carradine. This was one of Carradine’s final films, and he actually died before it was released. Obviously, Carradine doesn’t do much, but, as was often the case, his intimidating screen presence meant that he didn’t have to do much to make an impression. He just had to exist. Donald Pleasence plays Dr. Schaeffer, a German-accented member of the staff who wears round glasses and an ill-fitting toupee and who pops up occasionally to tell Janet not to wander around at night. Pleasence was obviously not in the best of health when he played Schaeffer, but, much like Carradine, his eccentric presence gives the film some much-needed atmosphere, and there is a fairly effective twist involving his character. Finally, there’s an absolutely adorable black cat that randomly appears throughout the film. It’s the film’s way of acknowledging Edgar Allan Poe, I imagine.
No, the failure of Buried Alive is not due to the cast. It’s really not even due to the script, which borrows the idea of someone being buried alive and not much else from the Poe story. Instead, the fault almost entirely rests with the film’s direction. The story unfolds with little momentum, some scenes meander while others are over far too quickly, and the director seems to think that filming anyone in an extreme close-up will automatically make them creepy. There are a few gross sequences involving a bunch of ants and the film has a few slasher moments, like the silencing of one annoying victim via a garden tool to the forehead , but otherwise there’s little horror and next to no suspense. I actually found myself getting angry over how poorly directed this film was.
Back in 2023, my family visited the Black Hills of South Dakota. The first thing we did was visit Mount Rushmore. The second thing we did was visit the Mount Moriah Cemetery and the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok. Situated on the top of a hill overlooking the city of Deadwood, it’s a beautiful place that also includes the graves of Calamity Jane and Sheriff Seth Bullock. I insisted that we see the location for possibly the most superficial reason possible… because Charles Bronson played Hickok in THE WHITE BUFFALO.
Based on a novel by Richard Sale, the story opens with Hickok having a recurring nightmare of a snowy showdown with a giant white “spike.” And if he has pistols handy, he wakes up firing them uncontrollably and you’d better not be nearby. Determined to face his fear, he heads out into the hills with his friend Charlie Zane (Jack Warden), hoping to find the albino buffalo, so he can put him down and end the nightmares. Around the same time, the great beast has stampeded the camp of Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) killing his child in the process. Convinced that the child cannot have peace in the afterlife, Crazy Horse sets out to kill the buffalo so he can wrap his child in its white “robe” and free her spirit. With Hickok a prolific killer of Indians, and Crazy Horse a brave Lakota Oglala warrior, the two men seem to be on a deadly collision course in those snowy hills.
Charles Bronson’s final western, THE WHITE BUFFALO has a lot of the scenes you’d expect. With Bronson playing a famous gunman, we get to see several gunfights as he makes his way through various Wyoming towns, featuring well-known actors like Clint Walker and Ed Lauter. We also get to see him visit various saloons, as well as the widow Schermerhorn, played by Kim Novak. When he really “knew” her, she was a prostitute named Poker Jenny. Along with those I’ve already mentioned, it’s an all-star affair as we see such familiar faces as Stuart Whitman, John Carradine, Slim Pickens, and even a young Martin Kove sprinkled throughout the film. And of course, we get to see Bronson take on the gigantic white buffalo of the title, first in his dreams, and then later in reality! Directed by veteran filmmaker J. Lee Thompson, these scenes are staged and executed well, with Hickok’s nightmares given an especially eerie quality.
Will Sampson as Crazy Horse
While the movie has the expected scenes, it’s the unexpected character moments that sets THE WHITE BUFFALO apart as a uniquely strong entry in Bronson’s filmography. Hickok may be a man haunted by dreams of a monstrous white buffalo, but Bronson plays him in such a way that we can feel his exhaustion and literal sickness from too many years of a dangerous and difficult life. The buffalo is more than just an animal… it’s a symbol of guilt, fear and the coming of death itself. Bronson could always underplay a role better than just about anyone else, but here he’s reflective and haunted in way that I’ve not seen before, and he’s really good.
I also think the movie gets better every time Bronson shares a scene with Will Sampson. Sampson brings dignity and intelligence to Crazy Horse. His mission is more noble than Hickok’s, and an unexpected friendship develops between the two men, despite their vast differences. Ultimately, it’s this relationship that provides the film an emotional weight that sneaks up on you by the end, even if it’s not meant to last.
THE WHITE BUFFALO is not a perfect film. The animatronic buffalo may look a little hokey, and the film may seem a little slow at times for those expecting an action-packed western or monster movie. However, Bronson and Sampson are so good in their myth-making performances that the film eventually becomes something more. It’s the idea of watching two aging warriors, bound together through the bravery of confronting death, that I found to be more interesting and compelling than anything else on display.
THE WHITE BUFFALO is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi, PlutoTV, and The Roku Channel.
Wild Bill Hickok’s gravesite in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota
I’m a big fan of westerns made in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I’m also a big fan of the writings of author Louis L’Amour. STRANGER ON HORSEBACK, a 1955 western based on a story by L’Amour, is a good example of why I love both, and it’s currently playing on Amazon Prime, HBOMAX, and Tubi.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK opens on the traveling Circuit Judge Rick Thorne (Joel McCrea) as he rides his horse into a small western town that seems to be run by the Bannerman family. We hear his thoughts on western justice, and it goes something like this… “a judge needs three things to bring justice to this country; a law book, a horse and a gun. The further west he gets, the less he needs the book.” That’s a L’Amour line if I’ve ever heard one. As soon he gets into town, he finds out from Colonel Buck Streeter (John Carradine) that young Tom Bannerman (Kevin McCarthy) has gunned a local man down and Thorne is determined that the young man face trial for the killing. That doesn’t set too well with Tom’s dad Josiah Bannerman (John McIntire), who bluntly tells the judge that his son will not face trial for murder. After Thorne and the local Sheriff Nat Bell (Emile Meyer) arrest young Tom, it’s just a matter of time before Thorne has to take on the Bannerman clan and their hired guns. Meanwhile, Amy Lee Bannerman (Miroslava), Tom’s cousin, starts making some love moves on the judge. Is she truly falling for the righteous judge, or is she trying to save her cousin’s ass?
Director Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE, OUT OF THE PAST, WICHITA) has crafted an extremely economical, classic western. Clocking in at just 65 minutes, the story can’t afford to waste any time and gets right to the action. Joel McCrea is perfect as the morally impeccable judge who will face off against impossible odds to make sure young Tom Bannerman goes to trial for murder. Kevin McCarthy is the exact opposite as the arrogant, amoral killer whose family name has protected him all of his life. John McIntire, as the patriarch of the Bannerman family, is as tough as they come and nobody is going to tell him what to do, or hang his son. He’s not necessarily against his son hanging, but as he implies at one point, if anyone’s going to hang my son, it’s going to be me! And Miroslava is awfully cute as the Bannerman who ends up putting her feelings for the judge over the family name. Sadly, the actress would take her own life just after filming this movie.
STRANGER ON HORSEBACK was filmed in Sedona, AZ, which makes for a beautiful backdrop to this combination of western and legal thriller. The fact that McCrea is playing a judge rather than a sheriff is an interesting twist on the classic western story. His primary focus is to make sure Tom Bannerman gets his due process, but still faces a jury for his crimes, and he’ll do anything to make sure that happens. And it doesn’t take him very long to do it, because it felt like there should have been more movie when the words THE END flashed across the screen. I guess I was enjoying myself, because this 65 minute movie felt even shorter than you might expect!
1979’s The Teheran Incident opens with a daring theft. A cruise missile with a nuclear warhead is stolen from a Russian military demonstration and somehow transported to pre-Islamic Revolution Iran. (I say somehow because I’m not really sure how one moves a cruise missile from one country to another without anyone noticing.) The plot was masterminded by the Baron (Curd Jurgens), an international criminal who lives on a yacht. With the help of Professor Nikolaeff (John Carradine, making no effort to sound Russian), the Baron plans to use the missile to blow up a conference that’s being held in Iran.
When an American diplomat is murdered after discovering the Baron’s plan, American spy Alec Franklin (Peter Graves) is sent to Teheran to investigate. Alec teams up with KGB agent Konstantine Senyonov (Michael Dante, who makes even less effort than John Carradine to sound or even come remotely across as being Russian). Together, they investigate the Baron’s operations, which means spending a lot of time wandering around Tehran while a “wacka wacka” beat plays in the background. They also spend a lot of time in a casino because all international criminals own a casino. The Baron, I might add, is such a diabolical villain that he actually hides a cruise missile underneath his casino.
The Teheran Incident is an example of what I like to call “James Bond On A Budget.” In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the Bond films were a big deal and they inspired a slew of imitators. Most of these imitation Bond films were made by people who really couldn’t afford to spend the millions of dollars that went into the Bond films. What’s important though is that they still tried. It’s hard not to appreciate the effort that goes into trying to recreate a luxurious casino without going bankrupt. The film has the ambitions of Las Vegas and the look of Reno and it’s hard not to look at it and say, “Well, at least they tried. They didn’t give up, even if maybe they should have.” Also, as was the case with many of the budget Bonds, the producers were able to get at least Bond veteran to appear in the film. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Curd Jurgens stole a nuclear missile and got shot in the crotch for his trouble. In The Teheran Incident, Curd Jurgens steals a nuclear missile and gets to hang out on a yacht with his mistress and collection of pinch-faced henchmen. Along with both films featuring Jurgens as their main villain, both films also feature a villainous plot that doesn’t really make much sense. But only The Teheran Incident has John Carradine!
As for our heroes, Peter Graves does his job with his usual stoic professionalism while Michael Dante comes across like he’s never even picked up War and Peace, much lest read it. The true star of the film is the disco soundtrack, which is entertainingly out-of-place and impossible to get out of our head.. This is a bad film that you can dance to!
Apparently, the pre-Mullah Iranian government enthusiastically helped with the production of The Teheran Incident, hoping for a popular film that would bring tourists to Iran. Unfortunately, before the film was released, the Iranian government fell to the Islamic Revolution. (I guess it’s a good thing we took care of that cruise missile.) Needless to say, when it was finally released, The Teheran Incident did not do much to help Iranian tourism.
Today, we celebrate the 120th birthday of actor John Carradine.
John Carradine appeared in over 300 movies over the course of a career that spanned nearly a century. Born in 1906, Carradine made his film debut in 1930 and worked steadily until his death in 1988. He was so prolific that films featuring him were still being released for years after his passing. Though he’ll probably always be most-associated with the low-budget horror and thriller films that he appeared in, Carradine was also a favorite of directors like Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford. He played key roles in such Ford films as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Carradine, however, often said that his true loves were Shakespeare and the theater and that the films were just something he did so he could afford to work on stage.
In this scene from 1945’s Fallen Angel, John Carradine plays a traveling fortune teller named Prof. Madley.
For tonight’s horror on television, we have 1973’s The Night Strangler.
This is the sequel to The Night Stalker and it features journalist Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) in Seattle. (After all the stuff that happened during the previous movie, Kolchak was kicked out of Las Vegas.) When Kolchak investigates yet another series of murders, he discovers that paranormal murders don’t just occur in Las Vegas and aren’t just committed by vampires.
I actually prefer this movie to The Night Stalker. The Night Strangler features a truly creepy villain, as well as a trip down to an “underground city.” It’s full of ominous atmosphere and, as always, Darren McGavin is a lot of fun to watch in the role in Kolchak.
1956’s The Black Sleep opens in a London prison cell. The year is 1872 and Dr. Gordon Ramsay (Herbert Radley) awaits execution. He’s accused of murdering a chef who twice sent rubbery scallops to the pass …. wait, a minute, sorry. Wrong Gordon Ramsay! This Gordon Ramsay is accused of murdering a man named Curry and he’s considerably more whiny than the modern-day Gordon Ramsay.
Ramsay is visited by Sir Joel Cadman (Basil Rathbone) and Cadman’s associate, Odo the Gypsy (Akim Tamiroff). Cadman explains that he has developed a potion called “The Black Sleep.” Drinking it will put the drinker in a state of suspended animation that can pass for death. And, indeed, it will turn into death unless Cadman administers the antidote. Cadman offers to give the potion to Ramsay, in return for Ramsay helping Cadman out with his own experiments. Ramsay agrees.
Ramsay is found “dead” in his cell. His body is claimed by Cadman and Odo. (Odo mentions that, in a past life, he was a grave robber and that he died as a result of the guillotine.) Ramsay is revived and goes to work with Cadman. As soon as Ramsay enters Cadman’s mansion, he finds himself surrounded by several familiar faces. For instance, Lon Chaney, Jr. plays the twisted Mungo, who stumbles through the hallways of the mansion and can only be controlled by Daphnae (Phyllis Stanley). Bela Lugosi plays Casimir, the mute butler. Bohemud (John Carradine) is a bearded man who rants and raves and calls for Biblical vengeance. And finally, in the basement, there’s Mr. Curry (Tor Johnson), the man who Ramsay was convicted of murdering! It turns out that Cadman isn’t quite as benevolent as he presented himself as being.
The Black Sleep may feature an incoherent story but it has a great cast and it is entertaining to see Carradine, Chaney, Tor Johnson, Akim Tamiroff, Bela Lugosi, and Basil Rathbone all living under the same roof and trying to outdo each other as far as the scenery chewing is concerned. Admittedly, some members of the cast look healthier than others. Rathbone is as imperiously dashing as always and John Carradine appears to be having a lot of fun with his role. Akim Tamiroff gets all of the best lines as Odo and he delivers them with just the right amount of wit. Unfortunately, neither Chaney and Lugosi were in good shape when they appeared in this film. Lugosi was ill when he did the film. Chaney, meanwhile, had seen his one-promising career sabotaged by his own alcoholism and, by the time the 50s rolled around, his once handsome features were now ravaged by his drinking. It transformed him from being a somewhat dull leading man to a craggly character actor. (Producer/director Stanley Kramer considered Chaney to be one of the best character actors in Hollywood and cast him in both High Noon and The Defiant Ones.) In The Black Sheep, Chaney’s face is twisted and almost ravaged. It works for the film but it’s still sad to see. As for Tor Johnson …. hey, he’s Tor Johnson. He growls and he tosses things around and he does so convincingly.
(In an interview shortly before his death, Tor said he was offered the role of Oddjob in Goldfinger. It’s sad to think the world was robbed of the Sean Connery/Tor Johnson team-up it needed.)
This was Bela Lugosi’s final film performance before his death in 1956. (The footage that appears in Plan 9 From Outer Space was filmed before The Black Sleep.) It’s a shame that Lugosi wasn’t given more to do in his final film. Lugosi, with that famous voice, ending his career playing a mute just doesn’t seem right.
