Showmanship: The Cinema of William Castle

Copertina anteriore
BearManor Media

 William Castle was cinema’s Abominable Showman – the marketing genius who thought “outside the coffin” to dream up outrageous public relations gimmicks, such as PERCEPTO! and EMERGO! He was also the talented director of fifty-six feature films, from the Film Noir When Strangers Marry and the Whistler mysteries to Westerns, swashbucklers, and – his fearsome forte – celebrated shockers, such as House on Haunted Hill, Strait-Jacket, Homicidal, and The Tingler.

Author Joe Jordan provides exhaustive scholarly analysis of each of Castle’s directorial efforts, as well as production background, little-known anecdotes, and succinct plot synopses.

“Joe Jordan dissects the films of William Castle with delicious abandon, as if he wields the razor edge of Joan Crawford’s axe from Strait-Jacket. Like slicing tendons from marrow, he carves into the masterful showman’s work with surgical precision and pulls the mask from the myths. A genuine thriller from A-Z. Hardly a shadow misses his myopic scrutiny. Every page keeps you on the edge of your seat.” – David W. Menefee, Pulitzer nominated author of Wally: The True Wallace Reid Story.

“Fills in the missing ‘Fright Break’ in every horror aficionado’s film library!” – Lucy Chase Williams, author of The Complete Films of Vincent Price.

 

Sommario

Foreword
Klondike Kate 1943
When Strangers Marry 1944
Voice of The Whistler 1945
Crime Doctors Man Hunt 1946
Johnny Stool Pigeon 1949
The Fat Man 1951
Fort Ti 1953
House on Haunted Hill 1958
The Tingler 1959
13 Ghosts 1960
Homicidal 1961
Mr Sardonicus 1961
Zotz 1962
The Old Dark House 1963
The Night Walker 1964

Slaves of Babylon 1953
Jesse James vs the Daltons 1954
Masterson of Kansas 1955
The Gun That Won the West 1955
Uranium Boom 1956
Lets Kill Uncle 1966
The Busy Body 1967
Project X 1968
Authors Note
Copyright

Parole e frasi comuni

Informazioni sull'autore

 

Informazioni bibliografiche