curse of the faceless man
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blu - ray review curse of the faceless man edward l. cahn kino lorber
curse of the faceless man is now available on blu - ray from kino lorber .
adele mara curse of the faceless man edward l. cahn elaine edwards kino lorber richard anderson
curse of the faceless man (1958) - edward l. cahn | review
chris alexander curse of the faceless man edward l. cahn kino lorber luis van rooten richard anderson
a scene from edward l. cahn’s curse of the faceless man (1958) [ click to enlarge ]
tagged with: adele mara curse of the faceless man edward l. cahn elaine edwards kino lorber richard anderson
“curse of the faceless man”: edward l. cahn’s low - budget b - movie features a mummy - ish monster called the volcano man
well, they can' t all be timeless classics. actually, 1958' s curse of the faceless man
‎curse of the faceless man (1958) directed by edward l. cahn • reviews, film + cast • letterboxd
“curse of the faceless man”: edward l. cahn’s low - budget b - movie features a mummy - ish monster called the volcano man – night flight
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a scientist excavates a faceless man of stone from a site at ancient pompeii .
we change to a shot of the faceless man, stretched out on a marble slab .
i still remember watching edward l. cahn’s curse of the faceless man (1958) as a kid, in the early 80’s, and & hellip ;
read on for a listing of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription options - along with the availability of' curse of the faceless man' on each platform. now, before we get into all the details of how you can watch' curse of the faceless man' right now, here are some finer points about the united artists horror flick .
urltoken curse of the faceless man (1958) [ blu - ray ]: richard anderson, elaine edwards, adele mara, edward l. cahn: movies & tv
“the startling narrative of the faceless man begins on june third of this year when a gold jewel box was discovered by a workman of the expedition unearthing the ancient ruins of pompeii. ”
ugh, he’s back again. no, not the faceless man. something far worse: the clown .
b - movie lovers and anyone who had seen curse of the faceless man early in life will certainly enjoy kino lorber’s new blu - ray. the transfer is very good; the extras are a bit short measure, but chris alexander’s commentary is worth listening to, and it serves as an excellent introduction for anyone who has never seen the film. even today, curse of the faceless man remains an effective little black & white creeper .
' curse of the faceless man' comes with a 25gb blu - ray disc that is region a - locked from kino lober. the disc comes in a hard blue plastic case. there are no inserts here .
the screenplay for curse of the faceless man was penned by jerome bixby, who went on to write episodes for tv’s “the twilight zone” (most famously “it’s a good life”) and “star trek, ” as well as films like fantastic voyage, and the posthumously filmed, very underrated the man from earth .
curse of the faceless man — which clocks in at just over an hour — was directed in just six short days by edward l. cahn, who originally apprenticed as an editor and worked on some of the most memorable movies of the late 1920s and early 30s before making the move to directing .
segments from curse of the faceless man were included in it came from hollywood, a comedy - documentary that was released theatrically in 1982; [ 19 ] curse was referred to in the 1985 comedy - horror - thriller dead end; [ 20 ] and the us theatrical trailer was featured in the 2007 video out of this world super shock show. [ 21 ]
“for the first time since the destruction of pompeii, quintillus aurelius was a free man. ”
the 1958 horror film curse of the faceless man renewed the popular 1930s mummy legend by having the story originating not from the egyptian tombs and pyramids in the desert but instead from the ruins of pompeii, where a faceless man, known as “the volcano man, ” is mummified in molten lava and turned to stone, only to come to life two thousand years later in order to rescue a woman (“on a rampage for a human bride! ”) who he believes is the reincarnated love of his life. watch it now on night flight plus .
edward l. cahn, who is probably most known for directing a number of our gang shorts in the early 40’s, was a pretty prolific b - movie director in the 50’s. one of those b - movie titles is 1958’s curse of the faceless man, which is an awful lot like karl freund’s the mummy .
( 1959), among many others, does a credible job at telling the story of the faceless mummy, and the acting is remarkably gripping, considering the flatness of some of the material. the faceless man himself is a superb creation, and is the one element in the production that really stands out for its creepiness, particularly in the museum scenes described above .
we return to the transport truck, bringing the faceless man to the museum. looking for all the world like some sort of cheap crusty mummy, the faceless man breaks open his crate and rises. standing in the bed of the truck, he reaches through the window and grabs the startled driver by the neck. for his part, the driver emits a scream that sounds like he just spilled scalding hot coffee on his balls .
the excavation of pompeii at the beginning of the film: one man with a pick ax digging in the hillside. certainly guaranteed to preserve anything hit .
police inspector renaldi - called in to investigate the first strange death, this is the local cop who ultimately deals with the case of the faceless man, though at first he isn’t sure he believes in a walking dead man and thinks a more mundane killer is on the loose .
curse of the faceless man is the latest addition to kino lorber’s growing blu - ray collection of 50’s era b - movies. i think kl has knocked most of these releases out of the park and this is yet again another fine looking release. i’m constantly impressed that movies this old made on such small budgets have the necessary materials available to produce great looking blu - rays .
1. not to be confused with the blockbuster pbs children' s classic face of the curseless man. return
still a second feature almost 60 years after its first release, curse of the faceless man was shown in august 2016 as the bottom half of a double feature with the 1967 british film it! at the historic balboa theater in san francisco. it was part of a weeknight horror film series sponsored by the overlook theater website and shown at various theaters around the bay area. [ 16 ]
curse of the faceless man isn’t a great movie. maybe not even a good one by most standards. it is, however, a good snippet of the 50’s b - movie that serves as a sunday afternoon treat. plus it’s not available on a great blu - ray. for those reasons it’s worth your time .
when i first started watching curse of the faceless man, i was sure this would be another candidate for movies that need to be overlooked. then it started to veer into that territory of so bad that they become good. the story here is a gladiator killed in the eruption of vesuvius that buried pompeii and an undying love that stretches over nearly two thousand years .
“vesuvius was reaching its terrible climax of death and destruction, and the strange unreal strength of the stone man drove him on, seeking escape, seeking the water of the cove of the blind fisherman to save his beloved lucilla helena. ”
they bring the body to a lab, where they conduct chemical tests and x - ray the mummified man and begin to try to understand what’s going on, but then dead bodies with smashed skulls start showing up whenever they’re left alone with the faceless man .
speaking of the remains, we now see a truck heading down the road with the words “museo di pompeii” on its door. in the back is a large crate containing the body. as the vehicle bounces down the road, the driver blissfully unaware of any danger, the body in the back – aka the faceless man, begins to stir .
the mgm limited edition collection dvd - r of curse of the faceless man is particularly frustrating in that the mgm people have once again fielded a transfer that isn' t up to minimum format requirements in the current state of home video disc collecting, now that we all have widescreen tv monitors. the transfer is flat, when almost all studio - distributed product in 1958 (there are exceptions) was matted to 1: 85. with its featureless sets and artless art direction curse of the faceless man doesn' t come off well un - matted - - the actors and all the relevant action are squeezed into a horizontal area across the center of the frame, and the rest of the image is
dead space
. the last image included here is a scan of the title card - - most everything above and below the area covered by the title text was meant to be matted away for theater projection .
the strangest aspect of curse of the faceless man is a very unnecessary narration from an uncredited morris ankrum. it literally serves no purpose. he’s telling us exactly what we are watching on screen. it’s not as if time passes and he feels in the gaps or anything. just a really odd choice for narration. maybe cahn didn’t trust the audience all that much ?
' curse of the faceless man' is certainly a fun b - movie film from the 1950s. there are zero scares or horror in it, but it' s good popcorn fun, if you' re in the mood for this sort of thing. it has a sense of nostalgia of what films used to be like some sixty years ago. the video and audio presentations are both passable and the one extra is worth listening to, if you' re a fan of the film and of the era. recommended !
curse of the faceless man owes much to universal’s mummy films, only instead of an egyptian mummy, we have an ancient roman one; an etruscan gladiator named quintillus aurelius, who was buried under a mountain of ash in the city of pompeii, when mount vesuvius exploded in ad 79. unearthed by an archeological excavation (presumably around 1958), the mummified quintillus is sent to a local museum for study, where he goes on a rampage in search of his lady love–reincarnated as the girlfriend of one of the scientists who is studying him .
interested in bringing curse of the faceless man to your school or library? if you' d like to have an in - class viewing, on - campus screening, or purchase the dvd for your library' s collection, please contact estelle grosso at edu @ urltoken or call (212) 629 - 6880 with your request .
out at the scene of said accident, we see the truck has crashed into a tree. two guys are hauling away the driver’s body and the faceless man can be seen lying in the dirt nearby, stiff as ever. maria wonders how the accident could have happened. paul notes that the truck is not that badly damaged. he also wonders how the deceased driver sustained a wound to the back of his head. the faceless man is intact and everyone believes that he was thrown from the truck to where he is now laying .
for once the volcano erupts at the beginning of the film rather than the end .
3. this' not scary' assessment of course does not count if curse of the faceless man catches you at a susceptible age. i was six when i saw the film' s trailer, i think at a screening of man of the west (i remember only one scene from that, and the red desert color). i had no idea what a trailer was, nor that it represented another movie that would soon be shown at the theater. the stone hand reached through the back of the truck and choked the driver, which really impressed me - - my dream - enhanced childhood memory of the scene is much scarier than what happens in the film itself .
anderson, as the evidence mounts up, is the disbelieving man of science (amid the italian archeologists with the opposite beliefs. the idea of a two thousand year old petrified body coming to life .
curse of the faceless man may also be available with public performance rights (ppr) and digital site licensing (dsl) for colleges and universities. to purchase the dvd with ppr or dsl, please contact estelle grosso at edu @ urltoken or call (212) 629 - 6880. click here to learn more at kino lorber edu .
when the authorities arrive, they find the stone man inert and lifeless and succeed in bringing him to the museum .
' the curse of the faceless man' mostly holds up after all these years. for a film that came out in 1958, it has some decent practical effects and never hides the monster from sight. in fact, you' ll see this' faceless man' quite a bit. but is he cursed? not really if you' re into the whole witchcraft realm. this b - movie plays out like a second rate' mummy' film where both movies have a covered from head to toe type of monster, killing people and looking for their long lost love .
curse of the faceless man gets little respect from today' s impatient monster fans, but i have to say that it was good enough to pass muster when it was made. the sunset for micro - budget monster fare distributed by major labels was only a year or two away. ed cahn' s pompeii quickie was just good enough to make the bottom half of a 1958 double bill .
the faceless man comes alive, mayhem ensues, and audiences realize that, despite its monotony, the film is still easier to take than paul w. s. anderson' s 2014 turkey pompeii .
he’s likely best known for directing the our gang comedy shorts from 1939 to 1943, and for weirdo sci - fi and horror b - movies like the film which accompanied curse of the faceless man into theaters on a b - movie double - bill, the other title being the 1958 sci - fi film it! the terror from beyond space, which is said to have been a big influence on the 1979 ridley scott classic alien .
the more important thing for us to ask at this point is this: how did the truck come to stop relatively unscathed? while paul and the others do not know it, we know how the driver was killed: by the dead guy in the back. so after killing him, did the faceless man hop through the window into the cab and bring the vehicle to a stop? the truck certainly does not look like it suffered from a high speed impact. the location of the faceless man should also be noted. he is on the ground about half a dozen yards away, but not only is he is almost parallel with the truck, he’s damn near behind it! if the truck came to a halt by crashing into the tree and the faceless man was still in the back, the impact would have thrown him forward, not to the side and back !
the odd situation of curse of the faceless man (lively idea, poor execution) brings up the issue of remakes. look up the great science fiction movies of the 1950s and early 1960s and you' ll find that quite a few of the better - known titles have been remade, some of them twice. very few are improvements over the originals. the central concepts of others have been looted enough times to render a remake redundant. curse belongs in that category of pictures that ought to be remade, because its potential for scares and bizarre imagery wasn' t exploited the first time around. the idea of a lovesick etruscan shuffling down modern streets in search of his dream girl is too good to pass up. quintilllus may not pass the acceptability test for a prize boyfriend, but one has to admit that he' s a loyal cuss, and persistent, too. and don' t forget durable .
yes, curse goes into that vault in my mind of those films so bad that i love them (joining plan 9 from outer space and little shop of horrors). check out the trailer below :
' curse of the faceless man' comes with a brand new transfer in 1080p hdpresented in 1. 85: 1 aspect ratio. for being almost sixty years old, this film looks surprisingly good. not only that, this film was made on an extremely low budget in a six day time frame, so the best cameras and talent were definitely not used here .
a team of archeologists — including dr. carlo fiorillo, an italian (played by luis van rooten) and led by dr. paul mallon, an american (played by richard anderson, who in the 1970s would appear on tv’s “the six million dollar man”, and “the bionic woman” — excavates the perfectly preserved faceless man of stone encased in lava from a site at ancient pompeii .
“the house on the fourth hill of pompeii shall fall. its people shall perish, and whatsoever stands between me and what is mine shall perish. i visit the curse upon the until eternity… the fires of the earth shall consume them. i am the son of etruscan. i will live when the roman is no more. quintillus aurelius. ”
united artists distributed curse of the faceless man to us theaters. it opened in the uk in november 1958, receiving an x certificate from the british board of film censors, which
only permitted a film to be exhibited to persons over the age of 16
. the film was released theatrically at unspecified dates in brazil and spain, and also in mexico, where it was distributed by peliculas bank de mexico sa. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ]
i still remember watching edward l. cahn’s curse of the faceless man (1958) as a kid, in the early 80’s, and how much the experience had creeped me out at the time. in particular, the scenes where the faceless mummy rises from its slab in the museum, and slowly marches toward its victims like an unstoppable monolith, left an indelible impression. revisiting the film today as an adult, in kino lorber’s good - looking new blu - ray, does not alas distill quite the same innocent magic, but it is still an effective little monster film, and some of the monster set pieces remain genuinely creepy .
gerald fried’s tempestuous music score also deserves special mention, particularly the eerie string and percussion moments when the faceless man begins to stir on the slab, which invoke something truly frightening and otherworldly. but the louder parts are effective too, with brass to the fore .
meanwhile, dr. emanuel (felix locher) translates the etruscan writing found on a bronze brooch that was inside the jewel box. it is a curse placed on his owners by quintillus aurelius, the gladiator who is now a faceless monster, somehow reanimated after 2, 000 years .
the scientists decide to use hypnotism to uncover the faceless man’s secrets. while under hypnosis, she relives aurelius’s last day at pompeii, and narrates for us the backstory about the woman who dismissed the gladiator slave’s love and had him jailed, and how he cursed her .
inside, quintillus aurelius has found tina’s apartment and in the same fashion as home invasions everywhere, proceeds to smash through the door. this time the racket wakes her and she gets up to investigate. when she spies the faceless man, she lets loose with one of her patented screams to wake the dead…or in this case, annoy the dead as she is already dealing with a recently awoken dead man .
i watched the curse of the faceless man on a sunday afternoon and it was the perfect setting for a movie of this ilk. something about it gives off a sunday matinee vibe. it’s a short movie, coming in at just 67 minutes, so it’s perfect when you’re looking to kill just an hour or so. it’s not a great movie by any stretch, so another twenty minutes or so would really kill its watch - ability .
tina enright - this is paul’s fiancée, who also seems to be living in italy, despite being an american. she’s a painter, so maybe she’s over there studying art or something. the poor woman soon finds herself the center of the faceless man’s unwanted amorous advances .
the faceless man actually has a name: quintillus aurelius, an etruscan gladiator slave who was tortured and sentenced to death for daring to fall in love with a woman he should not have fallen in love with .
the next day arrives and we turn our attention again to the griffith park observator…er…the museo di pompeii. dr. emanual drives up and heads inside where he babbles on at length about what they know about quintillus aurelius and theorizing on what enables him to move and why. he even gives paul a bunch of books on alchemy, urging the other man read them. he really is beginning to go out on a limb looking for reasons for the faceless man’s existence. next thing you know, he’ll be talking about thetans and xenu of the galactic confederacy. we should note at this point that the faceless man is restrained on a table with several large straps .
( which was famously destroyed when the volcano vesuvius erupted in 76 ad) a workman discovers a cache of gold jewelry along with a stone - encrusted body of a man .
kino’s new blu - ray release of 1958’s curse of the faceless man is a satisfying 67 - minute diversion into b - movie nostalgia. while the film itself might seem so brief it would fit better on one of those 4 - or - 5 - in - one packs with other monstersploitation cheapies, a fun commentary track and stellar presentation make this an okay single - title buy, especially for any mummy (or, in this case, pseudo - mummy) completists .
richard anderson, of six million dollar man and bionic woman fame, stars as dr. paul mallon, a medical researcher, and elaine edwards is tina enright, his fiancee / artist, and the focus of the stone man’s affections, what with her being the reincarnation of his long ago love. she begins to have dreams of a man coming for her and starts painting them, a vague looking figure. she eventually adds straps9more about that later) .
“if the ghosts of memory exist in time, then the cove of the blind fisherman was alive with ghosts. for this had once been the scene of violent death. ”
“the dreams in the mind of tina enright returned. baffling dreams that she could not understand. yet, the dreams were very real, for she could see approach of the man of stone, could feel his terrifying presence as he neared the apartment in which she slept. ”
the man from u. n. c. l. e. thrush authority (1964 - 1967 )
outside, paul, maria and carlo arrive and greet renaldi, who isn’t sure if he believes in the story of this walking dead man .
she starts to have a connection to ol’ stoneface himself, painting an image of the faceless man before having seen him, and then having a dream about how he was found at an excavation site, describing in detail for us how the mummy - wannabe was after her in the dream .
the big selling point for this one is the actual faceless man. this was a small budget movie in the 50’s and they were actual able to create a creature that is pretty creepy at times. layne britton did the makeup effects and did a delightful job. the creature is supposed to look very rock - like and for the most part that is captured. when he moves of course things don’t look as well. you can kind of see that it’s a man in a suit, but all in all i enjoyed it. there are a few moments in the film when the faceless man rises from his slumber that when mixed with the standout score from gerald fried are genuinely creepy. not scary, but creepy .
we introduced to a couple of key women who become an interesting part of the story .
“an ancient brooch, yet the mystery of it had survived the ages to make itself felt again in the presence of tina enright. now perhaps the face of the mystery might be solved. ”
entombed for eons and turned to stone, the volcano man of 2, 000 years ago stalks the earth to claim his woman! a team of archeologists, led by dr. paul mallon (richard anderson, tv' s the six million dollar man and the bionic woman) excavates a perfectly preserved faceless man of stone encased in lava from a site at ancient pompeii. mallon begins to piece together the history and identity of the stone figure, he uncovers the story of quintillus aurelius, an etruscan gladiator - slave who was tortured and sentenced to death for daring to love a noblewoman, but the eruption of the vesuvius volcano destroyed the city and buried the jailed quintilus aurelius. but when dead bodies with smashed skulls begin to pile up, not only do the scientists believe that the faceless man is still alive, but bent to carrying out his final wish, rescuing his beloved - reincarnated as tina enright (elaine edwards, the bat), mallon' s fiance. directed by cult - great edward l. cahn (invisible invaders) .
while keenly aware of the movie’s shortcomings as compared to a more cash - rich production, alexander goes to the mat for the film’s bombastic jazz score by gerald fried, which is about as far away from minimalist synths as you can get yet still has an era - appropriate quality that brings out the scares. he also rails against the lameness of trying to make fun of the film “mystery science theater 3000” - style, or really any movie from this era for that matter. though it may have been shot in a week, curse of the faceless man approaches its material from a place of earnestness as opposed to cynicism, and so should you .
title: curse of the faceless man year of release: 1958 running time: 76 minutes dvd released by: cheezy flicks directed by: edward l. cahn writing credits: jerome bixby starring: richard anderson, elaine edwards, adele mara, luis van rooten taglines: 1. entombed for eons - turned to stone - seeking women, women, women! 2. a monster on the rampage for a human bride! 3. the volcano man of 2000 years ago stalks the earth to claim his woman! alternate titles: none found review date: 3. 27. 11 see some lobby cards for this film here .
dr. ricci informs mallon that he would like to discuss the meaning of the medallion’s inscription, but only in private, out of earshot of the italian police .
this here wasn’t all that bad of a drive - in feature. one of the films’ better features is the fact that there’s quite a lot of work here on the build - up to the reveal of the mummy and its condition. the connection to ancient roman history, setting the whole affair around the eruption of vesuvius which is carried out rather nicely through the discovery of the mummy, and it’s contents from the…
the guard - this guy had no real part in the film and was only around long enough to get his ass fatally beat by the faceless man. i only included him here because i stumbled upon that screen cap by accident and his listing makes these columns even .
episode 2: scores of lickerish – radley metzger and the art of pornography, pt. 2
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
entombed for eons and turned to stone... the volcano man of 2, 000 years ago stalks the earth to claim his woman! a team of archeologists, led by dr. paul mallon (richard anderson, tv s the six million dollar man and the bionic woman) excavates a perfectly preserved faceless man of stone encased in lava from a site at ancient pompeii. mallon begins to piece together the history and identity of the stone figure, he uncovers the story of quintillus aurelius, an etruscan gladiator - slave who was tortured and sentenced to death for daring to love a noblewoman, but the eruption of the vesuvius volcano destroyed the city and buried the jailed quintilus aurelius. but when dead bodies with smashed skulls begin to pile up, not only do the scientists believe that the faceless man is still alive, but bent to carrying out his final wish, rescuing his beloved - reincarnated as tina enright (elaine edwards, the bat), mallon s fiancée. directed by cult - great edward l. cahn (invisible invaders). special features: audio commentary by horror cinema historian chris alexander | trailers
entombed for eons and turned to stone... the volcano man of 2, 000 years ago stalks the earth to claim his woman! a team of archeologists, led by dr. paul mallon (richard anderson, tv s the six million dollar man and the bionic woman) excavates a perfectly preserved faceless man of stone encased in lava from a site at ancient pompeii. mallon begins to piece together the history and identity of the stone figure, he uncovers the story of quintillus aurelius, an etruscan gladiator - slave who was tortured and sentenced to death for daring to love a noblewoman, but the eruption of the vesuvius volcano destroyed the city and buried the jailed quintilus aurelius. but when dead bodies with smashed skulls begin to pile up, not only do the scientists believe that the faceless man is still alive, but bent to carrying out his final wish, rescuing his beloved - reincarnated as tina enright (elaine edwards, the bat), mallon s fiancèe. directed by cult - great edward l. cahn (invisible invaders). special features: audio commentary by horror cinema historian chris alexander | trailers
however, the volcano vesuvius erupted, destroying the city of pompeii and turning the jailed gladiator into stone. despite taking place in italy instead of egypt, the film still retains a connection to primitive religious beliefs and, in this case, a magical bronze medallion, which comes with a strange curse inscription :
tina passes out and as quintillus aurelius bends over to pick her up, the guard enters and wastes no time in firing his pistol at the walking dead man. naturally this is as about effective as using a hair dryer to properly cook a steak. quintillus aurelius backhands the guard, who flies across the room and collapses in a heap. then the faceless man retrieves a brooch and places it on tina’s blouse .
“for quintillus, the cove of the blind fisherman as it had been for the people of old pompeii, was a reality, not a name long lost in the archives of musty history. ”
curse doesn’t have a bad pedigree. directed by genre veteran edward l. cahn, the script was by jerome bixby, an sf writer who did a lot of hollywood work. he wrote four episodes of the original trek series, but he’s most known for his short story it’s a good life, which the science fiction writers of america voted as one of the twenty best ever written. billy mumy starred in the 1961 twilight zone episode as the six year old boy with remarkable powers that terrorized the adults and also did the sequel as the adult version, still in charge, whose own daughter starts to exhibit similar powers in an episode on one of the later versions of twilight… and of course richard matheson used the story as one of the segments in the film version of the show .
when on one of his walkabouts, after his love, the lovely tina enright, the police and the good fiance surrounding her apartment, the stone man manages to sneak into the building. they seem to miss the sound of him him smashing through several solid wood doors, standing oblivious on the street, only reacting when she screams loud and long at sight of the monster .
albert glasser, described by tom servo as
the man who holds you down and pummels you with music ,
was one of hollywood' s most prolific movie score composers. of the some 200 movies he scored, 11 were msted: 201 - rocketship x - m (arrangement only); 309 - the amazing colossal man; 313 - earth vs. the spider; 315 - teenage caveman; 317 - viking women and the sea serpent; 319 - war of the colossal beast; 409 - the indestructible man; 414 - tormented; 517 - beginning of the end; 602 - invasion usa; and 611 - last of the wild horses. some other cheesy movies which he scored are: gordon' s the cyclops and attack of the puppet people; and the giant from the unknown .
even with the hokey dialog, the director and crew did a good job of creating a bit of an eerie atmosphere .
the level of detail was good, the contrast was excellent and the blacks were strong and even .
dr. emanual - this guy is so old, i think he may have actually survived pompeii’s destruction. he works at the museum and after translating some old engravings found with the faceless man, immediately begins believing in curses and walking dead folks. good thing he was right .
as if on cue, dr. ricci wheels in a table with the faceless man aka quintillus aurelius on it. everyone gathers around and paul sees that there is blood on the right hand. emanual believes it is from the dead truck driver, but paul isn’t eager to believe in the idea of curses and living dead men. emanual hopes he is right .
“only scholars of ancient history had ever heard of the cove of the blind fisherman. the test which dr. emanual was about to conduct would be a conclusive one for tina enright. ”
01 min – is peter brady nearby? 08 min – why do the cops let them stomp all over an accident scene? 23 min – bam! scratch one security guard. 33 min – faceless man almost trips and falls on his crusty ass. 55 min – unconscious tina just moved her head to avoid bumping it. 57 min - ask doctor stupid! 60 min - time to get the flock out of there! 61 min - wait, is it day or night? 63 min – butterfingers! 64 min - the faceless man dissolves... as does my sanity .
curse of the faceless man mgm limited edition collection 1958 / b & w; / 1: 33 flat un - matted (should be 1: 85 widescreen) / 67 min. / street date june 28, 2011 starring richard anderson, elaine edwards, adele mara, luis van rooten, gar moore, felix locher, jan arvan, bob bryant. cinematography kenneth peach original music gerald fried written by jerome bixby produced by robert e. kent directed by edward l. cahn
paul, carlo, maria and renaldi arrive at this point. paul calls to tina and then races toward the water. the surviving cops stop him from getting any closer. as everyone watches, quintillus aurelius walks into the water with tina…and promptly starts to dissolve. whoosh! the faceless man dissolves into powder and tina is dumped into the water .
in the excavation of pompeii, a stone - encrusted body is found with a bronze medallion bearing a strange etruscan inscription. carlo fiorillo, italian archaeologist, speculates the robust body may hold some life; medical researcher paul mallon scoffs at the idea. but people left alone with the seemingly petrified
faceless man
keep dying of crushed skulls; and paul' s artist fiancée tina starts having strange visions ...
when mallon wonders how the creature can see since it is, well, faceless, the curator opines that
if its mind is intact... it can receive images .
its surfside climax is pure pulp poetry that functions as both a literal dramatization and a romantic evocation of the devastation wrought by the tides of time as they break against the eternal shore of love .
they have a harder time explaining why mallon' s artist girlfriend, tina (elaine edwards), has been having dreams of the stone man pursuing her, even before she hears about the discovery .
“dr. paul mallon began to feel a deep concern for his fiancée, for he was wondering now if the faceless apparition she had painted was an impossibility. ”
ultimately, the film’s weakest link is the writing. when the faceless man is unearthed at the start of the film, his hand is already moving. the fact that he is alive is presented as a foregone conclusion, which robs the story of tension, and the audience of discovering the mystery for themselves. tension is further eroded by a pointless expository narration which assails you when you least expect it, during various key and non - key moments. the narration fills no plot gaps, and tells us nothing you couldn’t deduce for yourself by watching the action. these is not huge problems, and lovers of b - movies should find it easy to forgive such hiccups .
the narrator’s nightmare begins in earnest in the first chapter, when his grandfather, on his deathbed, gives the narrator an ominous piece of advice. “live with your head in the lion’s mouth, ” he says. “overcome ’em with yeses, undermine ’em with grins, agree ’em to death and destruction, let ’em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open. ” the old man’s words, ellison writes, “were like a curse. ”
“i recognize no dichotomy between art and protest, ” said ralph ellison in his 1955 paris review interview, but it is impossible not to recognize this dichotomy in invisible man. in ellison’s novel, art pauses for protest, which usually takes the form of sermons, speeches, and lectures about race and american history. saul bellow, an early and vocal champion of ellison’s, made the point in a private letter: “i myself distinguish between the parts of the novel that were written and those that were constructed as part of the argument; they are not alike in quality. ” the sections to which bellow refers—the speech of the blind preacher, the narrator’s work for the political group known as the brotherhood, his seduction of sybil—have aged the least gracefully. but invisible man remains a terror. ellison dramatized, as forcefully as any novelist of the last century, stephen dedalus’s vision of history. in invisible man we experience american history as a nightmare. sixty years after the novel’s publication we still haven’t woken up .
back at the museum, emanual provides the translation. see the screen cap to the left as i am too lazy to type it all out right now. there is a conversation on whether this quintillus aurelius guy actually caused the destruction of pompeii with his curse, but emanual is more interested in the line about outliving the romans. he wonders if “that thing” is still alive .
anyway, while this guy snoozes away, we see quintillus in the background, walking down the path in his direction. the dog – a german shepherd – sees the faceless man and starts barking. this wakes up mr. snooze, who catches one glimpse of quintillus aurelius and then turns to flee. even more frightening than waking up to see a stone man coming towards you is watching a movie and having it constantly interrupted by an idiot. yep, that’s right. mr. clown is back .
it will enhance any encyclopedic page you visit with the magic of the wiki 2 technology .
shadows were used to great effect in most of the film and there are a lot of close - ups of scared faces that also serve to build that tension .
there’s always clueless scientists in this sort of film. here’s an exchange between two of them :
note - it is at this point that the movie enters its final segment, so if any of you really feel the need to watch this film and not know the ending ahead of time, skip the rest of this section .
“the terrified laborer was the first to bring the news of the white, stone - like hand to the headquarters of the expedition. that same day, a body was taken from the earth, where it had been buried for two thousand years. ”
a. k. a. the amazing nth man (working) a. k. a. i giganti invadono la terra (italy )
later, inspector renaldi is there as maria and carlo examine paul, who is stretched out on an examination table. she tells the inspector that paul got off easier than ricci and did not suffer a fracture, but just a slight concussion. renaldi is still curious about the whole situation, as he noticed that someone had deliberately released the faceless man. he mentions than half the cops in naples are out looking for him now. wait! the cops are out looking for a stoned man? ha !
sure enough, the faceless man stirs and rises to his feet. he steps forward and scoops up the brooch. then he begins moving forward again. now, rather than turning and running through the open door, the trio closes it and disperses into the room, under the theory that they cannot let quintillus aurelius escape. paul grabs an ax and swings at the dead guy a couple times, but it has no effect .
the movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 6 min, and received a score of (out of 100) on metacritic, which collated reviews from top critics .
a narrator at the beginning explains the history of pompeii (the narration apparently replaced a lost soundtrack), of how an entire civilization of people were wiped out by a volcano, and how countless people died instantly .
jermaine fowler and omari hardwick of sorry to bother you take us back in time to the worst jobs of their careers .
it' s hokey but a lot of fun to watch, especially if you can enjoy some of the outlandish dialog .
the curator calls in the help of dr. paul mallon (richard anderson) and together they discover that the body is that of a roman slave, quintillus aurellus .
during an excavation at pompeii, a worker discovers the stone - encrusted body of a roman dating back to the eruption of mount vesuvius and the destruction of the city. an american doctor, paul mallon, agrees to assist the curator of the museum in researching the origin of the find. unbeknownst to them however, the creature still has life in it and takes a particular liking to tina enright, whose dreams foretell the creatures desires. along the way, the creature manages to kill anyone that may get in its way .
another discovery for me. this small, brisk b movie features one of the best suits of the
guy in a suit
era. totally ripping off creature of the black lagoon. the acting in creature is better though. recommended .
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it is also g. k. chesterton, a writer from a very different place and time who nevertheless wrote a novel that bears much in common with invisible man. in the man who was thursday, subtitled a nightmare, revolutionaries use subterfuge and disguise to enter the innermost chambers of political power. the novel becomes increasingly fantastic, and chaotic, climaxing in an absurdist celebration of the amorality that lies behind the actions of all ruling governments. stylistically it is a progenitor of invisible man, which ellison described as “realism that goes beyond and becomes surrealism. ” in both novels, power is experienced as a form of madness—think of the red - faced men in the hotel ballroom, reduced to drooling, violent savages. ellison’s hero, like chesterton’s, discovers his own identity through a process of negation. disenchanted and sickened by his experiences in society, he comes to realize the cruel extent of his powerlessness. the only escape available to him appears in the form of a manhole, through which he escapes underground. an invisible man can’t be a college president, a business leader, or a politician. but at least he is spared the indignities of an oppressed class. if you can’t see him, he might be anywhere. he might be everywhere.
curse of the faceless man is an independently made 1958 low-budget black-and-white horror film , released by robert e. kent productions and united artists . it was produced by robert e. kent and edward small ( uncredited ) , directed by edward l. cahn , and stars richard anderson and adele mara . the screenplay was written by jerome bixby . the film was theatrically released on a double bill with it ! the terror from beyond space . director cahn also helmed the feature films creature with the atom brain ( 1955 ) , invasion of the saucer men ( 1957 ) and the four skulls of jonathan drake ( 1959 ) . 
curse of the faceless man is an independently made 1958 low-budget black-and-white horror film, released by robert e. kent productions and united artists. it was produced by robert e. kent and edward small (uncredited), directed by edward l. cahn, and stars richard anderson and adele mara. the screenplay was written by jerome bixby. the film was theatrically released on a double bill with it! the terror from beyond space. director cahn also helmed the feature films creature with the atom brain (1955), invasion of the saucer men (1957) and the four skulls of jonathan drake (1959).
curse of the faceless man is an independently made 1958 low-budget black-and-white horror film, released by robert e. kent productions and united artists. it was produced by robert e. kent and edward small (uncredited), directed by edward l. cahn, and stars richard anderson and adele mara. the screenplay was written by jerome bixby. the film was theatrically released on a double bill with it! the terror from beyond space. director cahn also helmed the feature films creature with the atom brain (1955), invasion of the saucer men (1957) and the four skulls of jonathan drake (1959).