The Strange Door
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The Strange Door
''The Strange Door'' is a 1951 American horror film, released by Universal Pictures, and starring Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff, Sally Forrest and Richard Stapley. Karloff's role is actually a supporting one but his name carried significant weight in the billing. The picture was directed by Joseph Pevney and was based on the short story "The Sire de Maletroit's Door" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Its alternative title was ''Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Door''.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 p 353-354 Plot Sire Alain de Maletroit (Charles Laughton), plots revenge on his younger brother Edmond (Paul Cavanagh) for stealing Alain's childhood sweetheart, who died giving birth to Edmond's daughter Blanche (Sally Forrest). Alain secretly imprisons Edmond in his dungeon for 20 years and convinces Blanche that her father is dead. Alain intends to further debase Blanche as revenge against Edmond. Alain tricks a high-born drunken cad, Den ...
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Joseph Pevney
Joseph Pevney (September 15, 1911 – May 18, 2008) was an American film and television director."Joseph Pevney, 96; prolific film, TV director worked on original 'Star Trek' series"
''Los Angeles Times'', May 29, 2008


Biography

Born in New York City, Pevney made his debut in as a boy soprano in 1924. Although he hated vaudeville, he loved the theatre and developed a career as a stage actor, appearing in such plays as ''
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Michael Pate
Michael Pate OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early life Pate was born in Drummoyne, New South Wales, and attended Fort Street High School. Initially interested in becoming a medical missionary, but unable to afford the university fees due to the Depression, he worked in Sydney before 1938, when he became a writer and broadcaster for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, collaborating with George Ivan Smith on ''Youth Speaks''. For the remainder of the 1930s, he worked primarily in radio drama. He also published theatrical and literary criticism and enjoyed brief success as an author of short stories, publishing works in both Australia and the United States. World War II During World War II, Pate served in the Australian Army in the South West Pacific Area. He was transferred to the 1st Australian Army Amenities ...
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The Black Castle
''The Black Castle'' is a 1952 American horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Stephen McNally, Rita Corday and Lon Chaney Jr. It was produced by William Alland. The film was made in the United States but premiered in Sweden.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 p 359-360 Plot Sir Ronald Burton, a British gentleman, investigates the disappearance of two of his friends at the Austrian estate of the sinister Count von Bruno. Bruno secretly seeks revenge against the leaders of a British force that set the natives against him in colonial Africa: Burton's missing friends are among Bruno's victims, and Burton is now also in the trap. Burton plans to escape with Bruno's abused Countess, but the Count's henchmen bar the way. Cast * Richard Greene as Sir Ronald Burton, alias Richard Beckett * Boris Karloff as Dr. Meissen * Stephen McNally as Count Carl von Bruno * Rita Corday as Countess Elga von Bruno (as ...
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The Climax (1944 Film)
''The Climax'' is a horror film produced by Universal Pictures, first released in the United States in 1944. The credits state this is based on the 1909 play of the same name by Edward Locke, although the plot has little connection to Locke's play. Originally intended to be a sequel to Universal's remake of the ''Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), it featured new characters and a new plot. Plot The physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, Dr. Hohner (Karloff) murders his fiancée, a prima donna, out of obsession and jealousy. Ten years later, he hears another young singer (Foster) who reminds him of the late diva, and is determined to make her sing only for him, even if it means silencing her forever. Cast * Boris Karloff as Dr. Friedrich Hohner * Susanna Foster as Angela Klatt * Turhan Bey as Franz Munzer * Gale Sondergaard as Luise * Thomas Gomez as Count Seebruck * June Vincent as Marcellina * George Dolenz as Amato Roselli * Ludwig Stössel as Carl Baumann * Jane Farrar as Jar ...
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Tower Of London (1939 Film)
''Tower of London'' is a 1939 black-and-white historical film directed and produced by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future King Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. The film is based on the traditional depiction of Richard rising to become King of England in 1483 by eliminating everyone ahead of him. Each time Richard accomplishes a murder, he removes one figurine from a dollhouse resembling a throneroom. Once he has completed his task, he now needs to defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain the throne. ''Tower of London'' was developed years before production began when Rowland V. Lee travelled to the United Kingdom to do research for a historical film and came up with the idea of developing a film about Richard III of England. Pressure was put on Lee to direct the film on time and on budget as his last two pictures had gone over budget and were not completed on schedule. Lee had problems when filming two b ...
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Night Key
''Night Key'' is a science fiction crime film starring Boris Karloff and released by Universal Pictures in 1937. Plot The inventor of a burglar alarm (Karloff) attempts to get back at the man who stole the profits to his invention (Hinds) before he goes blind. The device is then subverted by gangsters (Baxter, et al.) who apply pressure to the inventor and use his device to facilitate burglaries. Cast * Boris Karloff - David Mallory (billed as Boris Karloff) * Warren Hull - Jimmy Travis (billed as J. Warren Hull) * Jean Rogers - Joan Mallory * Alan Baxter - "The Kid" * Samuel S. Hinds - Stephen Ranger (billed as Samuel Hinds) * Hobart Cavanaugh - "Petty Louie" * David Oliver - "Mike" * Ward Bond - "Fingers" * Frank Reicher - Carl * Edwin Maxwell - Kruger Production Filming began on January 18, 1937 with a budget of $175,000. Filming ended on either February 16 or February 20, 6 days over schedule and $17,000 over budget. This was the last film in which Boris Karloff was bill ...
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Cattle Drive
A cattle drive is the process of moving a herd of cattle from one place to another, usually moved and herded by cowboys on horses. Europe In medieval central Europe, annual cattle drives brought Hungarian Grey cattle across the Danube River to the beef markets of Western Europe. In the 16th century the Swiss operated cattle drives over the St. Gotthard Pass to the markets in Bellinzona and Lugano and into Lombardy in northern Italy. The drives had ended by 1700 when sedentary dairy farming proved more profitable. In the eighteenth century up to 80,000 cattle were driven South from Scotland each year. From 1850 cattle trains were established from Aberdeen to London. Australia Australia is noted for long drives. Patsy Durack, for instance, left Queensland for the Kimberley in Western Australia in 1885 with 8,000 cattle, arriving with only half that number some two years and two months later, completing a drive of some 3,000 miles. Indeed, long cattle drives continued we ...
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Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he became best known. He appeared in over one hundred films, starring in over eighty, among them Alfred Hitchcock's espionage thriller ''Foreign Correspondent'' (1940), Preston Sturges' comedy classics ''Sullivan's Travels'' (1941), and ''The Palm Beach Story'' (1942), the romance film '' Bird of Paradise'' (1932), the adventure classic ''The Most Dangerous Game'' (1932), Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedy ''Bed of Roses'' (1933), George Stevens' six-time Academy Award nominated romantic comedy ''The More the Merrier'' (1943), William Wyler's ''These Three'', '' Come and Get It'' (both 1936) and ''Dead End'' (1937), Howard Hawks' '' Barbary Coast'' (1935), and a number of western films, including '' Wichita'' (1955) as Wyatt Earp and Sam Peckinpah's ...
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Robert Douglas (actor)
Robert Douglas Finlayson (9 November 1909 – 11 January 1999), known professionally as Robert Douglas, was an English stage and film actor, a television director and producer. Early career and personal life Douglas was born in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire. He studied at RADA and made his stage debut at the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth in 1927. A year later he made his first London appearance in ''Many Waters'' at the Ambassadors Theatre and went into films the following year. Personal life and death He was married twice, to actresses Dorothy Hyson (1914–1996) and Suzanne Weldon (1921–1995), fathering two children, Lucinda and Robert (Giles). He died from natural causes in Encinitas, California, aged 89. Career As an actor Theatre *1927: ''The Best People'' (Theatre Royal Bournemouth + tour) *1928: ''Crime'' (Grand Theatre Croydon + tour) *1928: ''Many Waters'' (Ambassadors Theatre London) *1928: ''Mrs.Moonlight'' (Kingsway Theatre London) *1929: ''Black St. ...
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Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a variety of forms originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text can vary. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible. It is called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning ''five books'') in Greek; the second oldest part was a coll ...
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Shakedown (1950 Film)
''Shakedown'' is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney, Bruce Bennett and Anne Vernon.. Plot Unscrupulous newspaper photographer Jack Early is sent to take a picture of racketeer Nick Palmer, who doesn't like to be photographed. Palmer takes a liking to Early and asks him to frame his henchman Colton, but Early double-crosses Palmer and informs Colton that his boss had planned to frame him. Shortly afterward, Palmer is killed by a car bomb and Early becomes famous for snapping a photo of the event. Eventually Early is killed by Colton but he manages to take a picture of his murderer in the act. Cast * Howard Duff as Jack Early * Brian Donlevy as Nick Palmer * Peggy Dow as Ellen Bennett * Lawrence Tierney as Colton * Bruce Bennett as David Glover * Anne Vernon as Nita Palmer (as Ann Vernon) * Stapleton Kent as City Editor * Peter Virgo as Roy * Charles Sherlock as Sam *Rock Hudson a ...
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Nocturne (1946 Film)
''Nocturne'' is a 1946 American film noir starring George Raft and Lynn Bari. The film was produced by longtime Alfred Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison, scripted by Jonathan Latimer, and directed by Edwin L. Marin. It was one of several medium budget thrillers Raft made in the late 1940s. Plot The film opens on Keith Vincent, a Hollywood composer, as he creates a new song called "Nocturne". As he plays his piano, a woman sits silently in the shadows and listens to the composer speak as he plays. But the mood changes a little when he says, "You're no longer the one," and encourages her to go away for a while. Moments later, as he alters the score with a pen, the composer is shot and killed. The police think it is suicide, but detective Joe Warne suspects murder. He encounters Vincent's housekeeper, Susan Flanders, who had been sleeping in the house but had been wearing ear-plugs because "she didn't like the music". They take her in for questioning. Warne begins looking for "Dol ...
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