Fellow Svengoolie Super SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his big broadcast of a classic mammoth supernatural/horror/fantasy masterpiece a legendary feature film director.
“Svengoolie” to present his big broadcast of Roger Corman’s “The Undead” (1957)
Original 1957 American-International Pictures** theatrical release trailer for Roger Corman’s “The Undead.”
“A thousand years of naked terror!” Original 1957 American-International Pictures theatrical poster art for Roger Corman’s “The Undead.”
The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based horror film host will present his big broadcast of “The Undead” (1957), this Sat.; Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.
The classic mammoth horror/supernatural masterpiece production of “The Undead” (1957) was directed and produced by legendary veteran feature film director-producer Roger Corman. Corman got into the motion picture business as a messenger for Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios) in 1948 after graduating from Stanford University with an Engineering degree and was promoted to the story department; according to a March 1957 profile on Corman in Motion Picture Exhibitor. After studying at Oxford University in 1950, Corman returned to Hollywood and sold his first original screenplay to Allied Artists; which was made into a film by veteran director Nathan Hertz Juran, titled “Highway Dragnet” (1954). Corman would later produce one of his classic creature and sci-fi fantasy feature film masterpieces for release thru Allied Artists, “Attack of the Crab Monsters” (1957) with a pre-“Gilligan’s Island” Russell Johnson, Pamela Duncan and Richard Garland.
For the majority of his career, Corman collaborated with Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures and was responsible for most of the feature film successes for Arkoff and Nicholson’s motion picture releasing/distribution firm. Some of Corman’s best-known early classic mammoth AIP feature film masterpiece productions that he worked on include “The Fast and the Furious” (1954/55 which was one of the very first feature films released by Arkoff and Nicholson’s company) with John Ireland and Dorothy Malone, “It Conquered the World” (1956) with Peter Graves, Beverly Garland and young Lee Van Cleef and “A Bucket of Blood” (1959).
Both Arkoff and Nicholson established American-International as the American Releasing Corporation in 1954, according to the Samuel Z. Arkoff papers collection housed at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Arkoff later sold American-International to television and feature film production-syndication company Filmways in 1979, which was later acquired by Orion Pictures in 1982. Orion, along with the majority of the American-International/Filmways holdings** was then sold to the present incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1997. Inspired by MGM’s re-introduction of the “Orion Pictures” moniker for feature films and television productions (minus modern TV syndication of feature films, where the American-International/Filmways/Orion holdings are still syndicated under the MGM Television moniker), the modern incarnation of MGM recently revived the “American-International Pictures” (AIP) moniker for certain theatrical releases/feature film productions for theatrical release and premium streaming/video-on-demand service providers.
**”The Undead” (1957) was one of several early features from Arkoff and Nicholson’s American-International that were not sold to Filmways in 1979. Samuel Z. Arkoff acquired the rights to several early classic mammoth American-International feature film masterpiece productions. Under the moniker of Selma Enterprises, the Samuel Z. Arkoff estate owns the rights to “The Undead” (1957), the home entertainment, television syndication and streaming rights are currently licensed to Shout! Factory, LLC/Shout! Studios (by arrangement with Selma Enterprises/the Samuel Z. Arkoff estate). –C.H.
Roger Corman was also known for his classic mammoth American-International masterpiece screen thriller adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe’s literary thriller works, including “House of Usher” (1960, a.k.a. “The Fall of the House of Usher”) with Vincent Price, the American-International adaptation of Poe’s “Pit and the Pendulum” (1961, with Vincent Price and Barbara Steele), the American-International adaptation of Poe’s short stories, “Tales of Terror” (1962, with Price, Maggie Pierce, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone), the AIP adaptation of Poe’s “The Raven” (1963, with Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Hazel Court and young Jack Nicholson). Corman’s latter American-International productions include “The Wild Angels” (1966) with Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra and young Bruce Dern, Corman also produced Daniel Haller’s “The Dunwich Horror” (1970) with Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, the senior Ed Begley and Sam Jaffe.
Roger Corman and Charles B. Griffith, ca. 1957.
While he was producing features for Arkoff and Nicholson’s American-International, Corman founded his own brief independent production-releasing firm, Filmgroup. His company was known for the production of “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960) with Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph and young Jack Nicholson (Corman’s 1960 production inspired Howard Ashman’s latter 1982 Broadway musical-comedy, “Little Shop of Horrors” and Frank Oz’s modern classic mammoth 1986 Warner Bros. feature musical-comedy film adaptation of “Little Shop of Horrors”). Corman shut down his Filmgroup firm one year later, according to a June 1961 issue of Boxoffice.
Later in his career, Corman set up his own independent production-distribution firm, New World Pictures. Some of Corman’s classic mammoth New World masterpiece productions/releases include “Death Race 2000” (1975) with David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, young Sylvester Stallone and legendary Los Angeles radio disc jockey “The Real” Don Steele, Ron Howard (of “The Andy Griffith Show,” 1962’s “The Music Man” and “Happy Days” fame), “Grand Theft Auto” (1977, directed by Ron Howard, he also appeared in the aforementioned production with, Nancy Morgan, Marion Ross (also of “Happy Days” fame), Clint Howard (the real-life brother of Ron Howard) and “The Real” Don Steele (Corman was responsible for giving Ron Howard his first big break in directing motion pictures) and Allan Arkush and Joe Dante’s classic mammoth rock comedy masterpiece production “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” (1979) with legendary rock group The Ramones; along with P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten and “The Real” Don Steele.
Produced for Arkoff and Nicholson’s American-International under the moniker of “Balboa Productions,” the screenplay for Corman’s “The Undead” (1957) was written by veteran screenwriters Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna. Griffith collaborated with Corman for many feature film productions, including “It Conquered the World” (1956), “Attack of the Crab Monsters” (1957), “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960), “The Wild Angels” (1966) and “Death Race 2000” (1975). Mark Hanna also wrote the screenplay for Bert I. Gordon’s classic mammoth American-International Pictures sci-fi masterpiece, “The Amazing Colossal Man” (1957). The original working title for the 1957 Corman/American-International Pictures production of “The Undead” was “The Trance of Diana Love.”
According to veteran director Joe Dante’s “Trailers From Hell” video on Roger Corman’s classic mammoth American-International supernatural/horror masterpiece production of “The Undead” (1957) and IMDB; it was reported that Corman was partially inspired by hypnotist/businessman/author Morey Bernstein’s book, titled “The Search for Bridey Murphy.”
According to historian Chris Root’s 2019 Denver Public Library article on Bernstein and Bridey Murphy, it was reported that Bernstein hypnotized Ruth Mills Simmons of Pueblo, Colorado; a.k.a. Virginia Tighe into a past life. Bernstein claimed that under hypnosis, Simmons/Tighe recounted a “past life” under the name of “Bridey Murphy” of Ireland, claimed to be born in 1798. For the “past” life of “Murphy,” Simmons/Tighe recounted past stories of her past life as “Murphy” in several hypnotism sessions. When Bernstein published his book about the hypnotic findings of Simmons/Tighe/”Murphy,” it was mentioned that there were many inaccurate findings from Bernstein and Simmons/Tighe’s “Murphy” trance.
Roger Corman’s classic mammoth American-International supernatural/horror/fantasy masterpiece production of “The Undead” (1957) was not the only film that was partially inspired by Bernstein’s story. According to additional details from Chris Root’s 2019 Denver Public Library article and IMDB, veteran film director Richard Bartlett directed the classic Universal Studios supernatural-fantasy drama production of “I’ve Lived Before” (1956) with Jock Mahoney, Leigh Snowden and a pre-“Beverly Hillbillies” Raymond Bailey. Veteran screenwriter Norman Jolley and veteran actor/writer William Talman (who played Hamilton Burger opposite Raymond Burr in TV’s “Perry Mason”) co-wrote the screenplay adaptation.
For the exterior sequences in Roger Corman’s classic mammoth production of “The Undead” (1957), elements were filmed on location at the “Witch’s Cottage”/”Witch’s House” Spadena House in Beverly Hills, California; according to film historian Tom Weaver’s retrospective book on classic mammoth sci-fi and horror film masterpieces “A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde” and Allison Martino’s Los Angeles Magazine article on the “Witch’s House.” Alongside Corman’s production of “The Undead” (1957); the “Witch’s House” was previously used as an office for film producer Irvin Willat for his studio lot in Culver City, California and was featured in several of Willat’s feature film productions The house was later moved to Beverly Hills, California and in recent years, the “Witch’s House” is one of the top non-celebrity houses within the Beverly Hills area in terms of visitor and tourist requests, especially around Halloween season.
This will mark Sven’s third big coast-to-coast broadcast of “The Undead” (1957) on Me-TV. He previously showcased Corman’s classic mammoth 1957 American-International supernatural horror feature film masterpiece as a big coast-to-coast Me-TV broadcast premiere back in April 2021 and as a regular Me-TV big broadcast back in Dec. 2021. From Sven’s earlier 2021 Me-TV big broadcasts of “The Undead” (1957), an older “Teleworld, Inc.”-syndicated print was supplied to Me-TV by Shout! Factory/Shout! Studios. According to additional details from the syndicated print via Shout! TV (which includes the 1980s-era Teleworld logo at the conclusion) and according to 1997 edition of the International Television & Video Almanac, syndicator Teleworld, Inc. handled the TV syndication rights to “The Undead” (1957) under the moniker of “17 AIP Science Fiction Classics,” by arrangement with Arkoff’s Selma Enterprises at the time.
Who was in Roger Corman’s classic horror-fantasy masterpiece production of “The Undead” (1957)?
The players who appeared in Roger Corman’s classic American-International horror-fantasy production of “The Undead” were Allison Hayes (as Livia the witch), Pamela Duncan (in the dual roles of Diana Love/Helene), Richard Garland (as Pendragon), Dorothy Neumann (as Meg Maud the witch), Billy Barty (as an imp), Val Dufour (as Quintus Ratcliff), Mel Welles (as Smolkin, the gravedigger), Bruno VeSota (as Scroop, the innkeeper), Dick Miller (as a leper, Miller received screen credit in Corman’s production of “The Undead” under his full name of Richard Miller), Maurice Manson (as Prof. Ulbrecht Olinger), Richard Devon (as Satan), and Aaron Saxon (as Gobbo, the jailer) and Don Garrett (as a knight).
Silver Screen Reflections 
