Fellow Svengoolie Super SvenPals everywhere will be dancing and jumping for joy for his upcoming big coast-to-coast premiere of a classic mammoth American-International horror-comedy masterpiece with several film legends.
“Svengoolie” presents his big coast-to-coast broadcast premiere of “The Comedy of Terrors” (1963/64)
Original 1963/64 American-International Pictures theatrical release trailer for Jacques Tourneur‘s “The Comedy of Terrors” with Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Joyce Jameson, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone and Joe E. Brown. Fun Fact: At the 0:05 mark, note Les Baxter’s source orchestral cue– that was the same source music cue that American-International later used for their television syndication unit, American-International Television when Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s distribution firm entered TV syndication in the mid-1960s. -C.H.
Sidebar: Originally re-presented in Sept. 2014 for the now-out-of-print MGM*/Shout! Factory (Shout! Studios)/Scream! Factory “Vincent Price Collection II” Blu-Ray feature film anthology set, Kino Lorber is currently handling the Blu-Ray edition of Tourneur’s classic mammoth 1963/64 American-International horror/comedy masterpiece (by arrangement with the current incarnation of MGM*, owners of the American-International/Filmways/Orion holdings). -C.H.
“Your favorite ‘creeps’ together again!” Original 1963/64 American-International theatrical poster art for “The Comedy of Terrors” with Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Joyce Jameson, Joe E. Brown and Basil Rathbone.
The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth horror/comedy feature film masterpiece host will present his big coast-to-coast broadcast premiere of “The Comedy of Terrors” (produced in 1963, released in 1964) this Sat., March 16 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.
The classic mammoth 1963/64 American-International feature horror/comedy masterpiece production was directed by veteran feature film & TV director Jacques Tourneur.
Tourneur was best-known for his classic mammoth RKO Radio Pictures thriller feature film masterpiece with veteran RKO producer Val Lewton, “Cat People” (1942) with Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Jack Holt and Alan Napier (later of 1944’s “The Uninvited,” 1956’s “The Mole People” and TV’s “Batman” fame). After the box-office success of “Cat People,” both Tourneur and Lewton would follow with two more classic mammoth RKO thriller masterpiece productions, “I Walked with a Zombie” (1943) with Frances Dee, Tom Conway, Sir Lancelot, James Ellison, Christine Gordon, Theresa Harris and James Bell and “The Leopard Man” (1943) with Dennis O’Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Tuulikki Paananen/Tula Parma, James Bell, Ben Bard and Jacqueline deWit.
Tourneur also directed his classic mammoth RKO film noir-thriller masterpiece production of “Experiment Perilous” (1944) with Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker (of 1940’s “Dr. Cyclops” fame), Carl Esmond, Olive Blakeney and William Post Jr.
Alongside his earlier RKO feature film collaborations with Val Lewton and alongside “Comedy of Terrors” (1963/64), one of Tourneur’s other noteworthy films was his classic mammoth RKO film noir masterpiece production of “Out of the Past” (1947) with Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, young Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Steve Brodie, Dickie Moore, Virginia Huston, Brooks Benedict and Paul Valentine.
Ten years after “Out of the Past,” Tourneur directed his classic mammoth Columbia Pictures sci-fi creature/horror/thriller masterpiece production of “Curse of the Demon” (1957, a.k.a. “Night of the Demon”) with Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Liam Redmond, Brian Wilde (later of BBC‘s “Last of the Summer Wine” fame), Maurice Denham, Ballard Berkeley (later of “Fawlty Towers” fame), Athene Seyler, Reginald Beckwith, Ewan Roberts, Peter Elliott and Rosamund Greenwood.
The screenplay for Tourneur’s classic mammoth 1963/64 American-International masterpiece production of “The Comedy of Terrors” was co-written by veteran sci-fi/horror author-screenwriter Richard Matheson and veteran author/screenwriter Elsie Lee. Matheson wrote the original story treatment for Jack Arnold’s classic mammoth Universal Studios sci-fi/fantasy/visual effects masterpiece, “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957) with Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton, a pre-“Beverly Hillbillies” Raymond Bailey, William Schallert and Lock Martin (of 1951’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” fame). He also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Roger Corman‘s classic mammoth American-International macabre-thriller-comedy masterpiece adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe‘s 1845 gothic poem, “The Raven” (1963). Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg‘s classic mammoth Universal Studios action-adventure-thriller masterpiece production of “Duel” (1971, originally produced as a Universal/ABC made-for-TV movie masterpiece production and one of Spielberg’s earliest productions) with Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Lucille Benson, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Shirley O’ Hara, Gene Dynarski and Amy Douglass. Matheson also wrote the teleplay for John Llewellyn Moxey and Dan Curtis’ classic mammoth ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece pilot, “The Night Stalker” (1972, one of two ABC “Kolchak” made-for-TV movie masterpiece pilots that served as the inspiration for the classic mammoth 1974-75 Universal Studios/ABC “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” TV masterpiece series) with Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Claude Akins, Larry Linville (later of TV’s “M*A*S*H” fame), Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Charles McGraw, Kent Smith, Elisha Cook Jr., Stanley Adams, Jordan Rhodes and Barry Atwater. Matheson also served as an associate producer on the 1963/64 American-International feature production.
“The Comedy of Terrors” marked one of two productions that Elsie Lee was involved with during her brief screenwriting career. She previously wrote the screenplay for 1 episode of the MCA/Revue (Universal) adventure TV series, “Soldiers of Fortune” (for the 1957 episode “Pipeline to Danger”) with John Russell, Chick Chandler and guest Edward Platt (later of TV’s “Get Smart” fame).
Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson.
*The 1963 Tourneur production of “The Comedy of Terrors” was released theatrically through American-International Pictures, the independent distribution firm that was established by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson in 1954; according to the Samuel Z. Arkoff papers collection/archives housed at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. American-International was later acquired by Filmways in 1979, which was later acquired by Orion Pictures in 1982. Orion, along with the majority of the American-International/Filmways holdings was later sold to the present incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1997. Inspired by MGM’s revival of the “Orion Pictures” moniker for feature film releases in recent years, the current incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) also revived the “American-International Pictures” moniker. Alongside Arkoff, Nicholson and Matheson, veteran American-International feature film producer Anthony Carras also co-produced the classic mammoth 1963/64 Tourneur horror-comedy feature film masterpiece production of “The Comedy of Terrors.”
Who was in Jacques Tourneur’s classic mammoth American-International horror/comedy masterpiece production of “The Comedy of Terrors” (1963/64)?
The players who appeared in Tourneur’s classic mammoth American-International horror/comedy masterpiece production of “The Comedy of Terrors” (1963/64) were Vincent Price (as Waldo Trumbull), Joyce Jameson (as Amaryllis Trumbull), Boris Karloff (as Amos Hinchley), Peter Lorre (as Felix Gillie), Basil Rathbone (as Mr. John F. Black), Joe E. Brown (as a cemetery keeper), Beverly Powers (as Mrs. Phipps, Beverly Powers received screen credit under the pseudonym of Beverly Hills), Buddy Mason (as Mr. Phipps), Alan DeWitt (as Riggs), Douglas Williams (as a Doctor), Linda Rogers (as a maid), Luree Holmes (as a butler), Charles Soldani (in an uncredited role as a mourner), Harvey Parry (in an uncredited role as a man who was knocked down on the street), Paul Barselou (in an uncredited role as a stand-in for Riggs) and Orangey the Cat (as Cleopatra, Orangey received screen credit under the name of an earlier feline character that was portrayed by the feline actor, “Rhubarb“).
Silver Screen Reflections 