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Tom Weaver is a noted classic science fiction and horror film historian, whose articles and interviews have appeared in such magazines as Starlog, Fangoria and Video Watchdog. He's also had eleven books of interviews published (ten by McFarland, of which this is the tenth), and books on John Carradine and Poverty Row Horrors.
| What's to review, in a collection of interviews of filmmakers? If you're a fan of classic horror and science fiction films, then you'll love this book, with its interviews - from actors such as Gene Barry, to screenwriters such as Stanley Rubin, to film producers such as Merian C. Cooper. If you're a fan of classic movie making in general, you'll also love this book, for these films and filmmakers didn't exist in a vacuum, but rather were part and parcel of the whole movie making experience of the '40s onward.
And if you're just in to biographies of interesting people, than once again this book is for you, for who better to tell their story than the person most intimately involved in it?
The book is illustrated throughout with lots of fun b&w photos, from shots of Gene Barry and Ann Robinson clowning on thet set of War of the Worlds to photos of all the different makeups Jan Merlin wore in The List of Adrian Messenger.
Flaws? Well, there are a couple - but they are a danger with any collection of interviews of oldtimers. Most of the people Weaver interviews are talking about films they made thirty to forty years ago, or sometimes even more, so - at times, not always - memories can be somewhat sketchy.
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Contents
Gene Barry
Gary Clarke
Gary Conway
Merian C. Cooper
Robert Dix
Donnie Dunagan
Alex Gordon
Peter Graves
Gary Gray
Arch Hall, Jr.
Stephen Kandel
Carolyn Kearney
Ken Kolb
Robert L. Lippert, Jr.
Jan Merlin
Mary Mitchel
Elliott Reid
Stanley Rubin
Frankie Thomas
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Weaver asks the subject to give opinions on other actors/individuals worked with. Sometimes the answers are interesting, sometimes they're merely of the "oh, he was great, a nice man," variety.
There's some really sparkling gems here. Weaver didn't interview Cooper (he died in 1973, but film collector Bob Burns provided him with an audiotape of a Q & A session Cooper had during a screening of King Kong in 1964.
Jan Merlin speaks exclusively of his experiences on the set of The List of Adrian Messenger. That's the movie starring George C. Scott, in which quite a lot of big name Hollywood stars had cameo parts - in makeup. At the end of the film, each lifts off their makeup to show who it really is. But...was it them...or was it Merlin?
In addition to their movie experiences, the interviewees discuss their private lives as well,especially as to "what they're doing now," which also makes for fascinating reading.
There's no real theme running through the book, except for the fact that they're all to do with classic horror or science fiction, of course. Gary Clarke and Gary Conway each have interviews (they were the stars of How To Make A Monster), and Jan Merlin and Frankie Thomas each have interviews. (However, Merlin talks about his roles in The List of Adrian Messenger, not his time on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, which is the thrust of the Frankie Thomas interview. Elliot Reid starred in The Whip Hand, and Stanley Rubin produced it, but that's only 6 out of 20.
McFarland books are priced for the library trade, but they've been bringing out Weaver's books in more affordable paperback editions. This one, however, is a hardback, retailing for $39.95. For dedicated fans, or for students of the genre, this is a must have, as are all of Weaver's books. For the average fan...start a campaign to have them acquired by your local library!
| Interviewee |
Profession |
Major film discussed |
Gene Barry
Gary Clarke
Gary Conway
Merian C. Cooper
Robert Dix
Donnie Dunagan
Alex Gordon
Peter Graves
Gary Gray
Arch Hall, Jr.
Stephen Kandel
Carolyn Kearney
Ken Kolb
Robert L. Lippert, Jr.
Jan Merlin
Mary Mitchel
Elliott Reid
Stanley Rubin
Frankie Thomas
Burt Topper
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Actor
Actor
Actor
Producer
Actor
Actor
Producer
Actor
Actor
Actor
Writer
Actress
Writer
Producer
Actor
Actor
Actor
Writer
Actor
Director
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The War of the Worlds
How To Make A Monster
I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, How To Make A Monster
King Kong
Forbidden Planet, father was Richard Dix
Son of Frankenstein
Day the World Ended
It Conqered the World, Killers From Space
The Next Voice You Hear
The Choppers, Eegah
Chamber of Horrors (with Patrick O'Neal)
The Thing That Couldn't Die
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
Bandit Island, The Big Chase, and Lon Chaney Jr.
The List of Adrian Messenger
Panic in the Year Zero, Dementia 13
The Absent Minded Professor, The Whip Hand
The Whip Hand
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (TV series)
The Strangler (with Victor Buono) |
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