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Joseph Stefano
Joseph William Stefano (May 5, 1922 – August 25, 2006) was an American screenwriter, known for adapting Robert Bloch's novel as the script for Alfred Hitchcock's film '' Psycho'', and for being the producer and co-writer of the original ''The Outer Limits'' television series. Early years Stefano was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a father who was a tailor and a mother who made silk flowers. As a teenager, Stefano was so keen to become an actor that he dropped out of high school two weeks before graduation and traveled to New York City. In Manhattan he adopted the stage name Jerry Stevens. Stefano's initial career was as a composer of pop music in the 1940s, writing songs for Las Vegas showman Donn Arden. In possession of a large collection of sheet music, he once spent five hours challenging pianist Michael Feinstein on the titles of obscure Tin Pan Alley songs. Career as screenwriter, producer and director Stefano began writing movie scripts in the late 1950s, first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psycho (1960 Film)
''Psycho'' is a 1960 American psychological horror Psychological thriller, thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the Psycho (novel), 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin), and her sister Lila Crane, Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance. ''Psycho'' was seen as a departure from Hitchcock's previous film ''North by Northwest'', as it was filmed on a lower budget in black-and-white by the crew of his television series ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''. The film was initially considered controversial and received mixed reviews, but audience interest and outstanding box office, box-office return ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psycho (novel)
''Psycho'' is a 1959 horror novel by American writer Robert Bloch. The novel tells the story of Norman Bates, a caretaker at an isolated motel who struggles under his domineering mother and becomes embroiled in a series of murders. The novel is considered Bloch's most enduring work and one of the most influential horror books of the 20th century. The story was famously adapted into Alfred Hitchcock's seminal 1960 film of the same name, and also loosely adapted into the '' Bates Motel'' television series (2013–2017). Bloch later wrote three sequels, which are unrelated to any of the film sequels. Plot Norman Bates, a middle-aged bachelor, is dominated by his mother, a mean-tempered, puritanical old woman who forbids him to have a life outside of her. They run a small motel together in the town of Fairvale, but business has suffered since the state relocated the highway. In the middle of a heated argument between them, a customer arrives, a young woman named Mary Crane. Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film and it is derived from the classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1930s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. In '' The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story. Therefore the labels "drama" and "comedy" are t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eye Of The Cat
''Eye of the Cat'' is a 1969 American horror film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Michael Sarrazin, Gayle Hunnicutt, and Eleanor Parker. The screenplay is by Joseph Stefano, best known as the co-creator of the tv-series ''The Outer Limits'' and the author of the script for Alfred Hitchcock's '' Psycho''. Plot Danielle, a rich, elderly woman, accompanied by her nephew, Luke, goes to a beauty parlor to get her hair done. While she is there, she begins to struggle breathing, due to two-thirds of her lungs being missing. When Danielle's beauty girl, Kassia Lancaster, sees this, she calls Danielle's other nephew, Wylie, who is with a girl when she comes to pick him up. Kassia takes Wylie to her parlor and explains that after she saw Danielle, or Danny as Wylie calls her, collapse, she got the idea to kill Aunt Danny by shutting off the oxygen supply in the oxygen tent she uses every night. Wylie agrees to do it, and then he hears a cat. He has an intense fear of cats, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thriller Film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. Tension is created by delaying what the audience sees as inevitable, and is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods. Life is typically threatened in a thriller film, such as when the protagonist does not realize that they are entering a dangerous situation. Thriller films' characters conflict with each other or with an outside force, which can sometimes be abstract. The protagonist is usually set against a problem, such as an escape, a mission, or a mystery. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies thriller films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters' taxonomy, claiming that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ghost Of Sierra De Cobre
''The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre'' is a 1964 American made-for-television horror–thriller film starring Martin Landau, Judith Anderson and Diane Baker. It was written, produced and directed by Joseph Stefano, author of the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller '' Psycho''., and he cast actors who had been in Hitchcock's films, since Landau was in North by Northwest (1959), Anderson was in Rebecca (1940 film), and Baker was in Marnie (film) (1964). The film was a pilot for a proposed supernatural anthology series for CBS called ''The Haunted''. The series was not picked up after CBS president James T. Aubrey left but some additional footage was filmed and it was released as a standalone film. Plot Nelson Orion (Martin Landau) is an architect by profession and paranormal investigator by choice. He is engaged by heiress Vivia Mandore (Diane Baker) who mistakenly thought herself free from the domination of her recently deceased mother-in-law. However, the old woman is deter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality. Story creation and scientific accuracy Science fiction tries to blend fiction and reality seamlessly so that the viewer can be immersed in the imaginative world. This includes characters, settings, and tools. Viewers often critique the scientific plausibility and accuracy of technology and technological concepts. In the 2020 series ''Away (TV series), Away'' a notable plot point in the eight episode, ''Vital Signs'' has astronauts listen intently for a sound boom picked up by a real-life Mars rover called InSight. Similarity, in 2022 scientists used InSight to listen for the landing of a real spacecraft. Visual production process and methods The need to portray imaginary settings or char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Stevens
Leslie Clark Stevens IV (February 3, 1924 – April 24, 1998) was an American producer, writer, and director. He created two television series for the ABC network, '' The Outer Limits'' (1963–1965) and '' Stoney Burke'' (1962–63), and ''Search'' (1972–73) for NBC. Stevens was the director of the horror film ''Incubus'' (1966), which stars William Shatner, and was the second film to use the Esperanto language. He wrote an early work of New Age philosophy, '' est: The Steersman Handbook'' (1970). Biography Stevens was born in Washington, D.C. His interest in science was sparked when he studied for the United States Naval Academy at the behest of his father, Leslie Clark Stevens III, an admiral in the United States Navy. But the Broadway theater intrigued him more than a military career, and he headed for New York as a fledgling writer. He sold his play ''The Mechanical Rat'', to Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre and ran away from home to join the troupe before being returned ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marnie (film)
''Marnie'' is a 1964 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay by Jay Presson Allen was based on the 1961 novel of the same name by writer Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. The music was composed by Bernard Herrmann, his last of seven critically acclaimed film scores for Hitchcock. ''Marnie'' also marked the end of Hitchcock's collaborations with cinematographer Robert Burks (his 12th film for Hitchcock) and editor George Tomasini (who died later in the year). Plot Marion Holland flees with nearly $10,000 she stole from the company safe of her employer, Sidney Strutt, the head of a tax consulting company, whom she charmed into hiring her without references. Changing her appearance and identity, Marian, whose real name is Margaret "Marnie" Edgar, travels to Virginia, where she stables a horse named Forio. She then visits her invalid mother, Bernice, whom she supports financially, in Baltimore. Mark Rutland, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Birds (film)
''The Birds'' is a 1963 American natural horror-thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Loosely based on the 1952 short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, it focuses on a series of sudden and unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California, over the course of a few days. The film stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren in her screen debut, alongside Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright. The screenplay is by Evan Hunter, who was told by Hitchcock to develop new characters and a more elaborate plot while keeping du Maurier's title and concept of unexplained bird attacks. At the 36th Academy Awards, Ub Iwerks was nominated for Best Special Effects for his work on the film. The award, however, went to the only other nominee, Emil Kosa Jr. for ''Cleopatra''. In 2016, ''The Birds'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 Film)
''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel (in his feature directorial debut), written by Scott Kosar, and starring Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, and R. Lee Ermey. Its plot follows a group of young adults traveling through rural Texas who encounter Leatherface and his murderous family. It is a remake of Tobe Hooper's 1974 film of the same name, and the fifth installment in ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' franchise. Several crew members of the original film were involved with the project: Hooper and writer Kim Henkel served as co-producers, Daniel Pearl returned as cinematographer, and John Larroquette reprised his voice narration for the opening intertitles. The film was released in the United States on October 17, 2003, received mostly negative reviews from critics, and grossed $107 million at the box office on a budget of $9.5 million. A prequel was released in 2006, titled '' The Tex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
