Richard Foreman 1937-2025

 

First new pieces of 2025. Mixed on paper

 

Linda Lavin 1937-2024

 

Jimmy Carter 1924-2024. The 39th President of these troubled states.

 

Definitely my last pieces of 2024

 

Olivia Hussey 1951-2024

 

Pieces into private collections yesterday.

 

Homicidal 1961

 

When I first saw this little lower than B open sore of a movie I was 14 and me and my friend Howard screamed our heads off like little girls watching it at our neighborhood RKO theatre. Upon viewing it the other night on Tubi it seemed this time more silly then scary.

William Castle schlock master 101 opens the film with a warning and sets us up to be scared. His movies from the 50's and early 60's were full of gimmicks, skeletons floating high above us in the theatre, vibrating seats and in this one there is a fright break warning to viewers that they can leave before the shocking ending, which of course no one did. Its fun that its still here on the dvd warning us with a ticking timer to get the hell out of our living room before the scare filled ending.

The plot is pretty much lifted or to be nice about it inspired by the great Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho from the year before, which in itself had the feel of a B movie. As I said this is lower than a B but it has some good touches and a few top notch people worked on it including the cinematography by the great Burnett Guffey who won two Oscars and whose filmography is damn impressive. The cheap looking interior sets look cheap but some of it was actually filmed on location in a small town in California called Solvang which is notable for its large Danish population and has some meaning to the convoluted plot while the location work brings a realness to the crazy doings.

After a short flashback where we see two children, a strange looking boy and a girl playing when suddenly the strange looking boy takes the girls doll which will be clearer as the movie concludes. I will add that the two children are half brother and sister Warren and Miriam who will be prominent later in the movie as grown ups.

We are now in present time and are introduced to the strange looking (that hairdo) Jean Arliss who after checking into a cheap hotel propositions the sexy bellhop played by the sexy supporting bad guy actor Richard Rust to marry her for a lot of money which will be quickly annulled. He of course goes along with it, and soon there is a grisly murder and Jean just continues on her merry way. Where are the police in all of this? Oh never you mind.

Arliss it turns out is a nurse and caretaker to Warren and Miriam's childhood guardian Helga played by Eugenie Leontovich who has suffered a stroke and is now in a wheelchair unable to speak or move and still resides in the family home. At some point in the past there was a trip to Denmark that Warren and his guardian Helga took for some mysterious reasons that are not mentioned but they came back with Arliss who we are told is Warren's wife in tow. This is a deep dish clue that some might pick up on if they are knowledge about late 50's cultural news.

Meanwhile we meet the adorable Glenn Corbett who by the way modeled for gay physique photographer the wonderful Robert Henry Mizer who was behind the seminal Athetic Model Guild. Corbett works and maybe he owns the local pharmacy and soda fountain and is involved with Miriam played by Patricia Breslin who owns the local flower shop and looks like she is wearing clothes from her own closet. Miriam and Warren are in a tussle over a large family inheritance, along with Arliss who also has a big interest in the outcome. It's a lot of money.

Finally the fear break comes and so does the convoluted ending which might leave you scratching your head over what you have just witnessed.

In early 1962 Time Magazine actually said "Made in imitation of Hitchcock's Psycho, it surpasses its model in structure, suspense and sheer nervous drive" and placed it on its list of top ten films of the year for 1962.

This might be my last piece of 2024. Mixed on notebook paper

 

Marisa Paredes 1946-2024

 Damn I loved her. 

Everything I made in 2024