An American horror directed and produced by William Castle, starring Charles Herbert, Margaret Hamilton and Donald Woods.
A family inherit a rich and eccentric uncle's house. The house is supposedly haunted and comes with a maid who had been helping the uncle in his ghost research. The lawyer who informs the family is looking for money, which the uncle hid.
This was pretty hokey, but better than most modern trash. I would much rather see old double exposures, physical effects and editing tricks than CG ghosts that look like a video game. The simple plot did actually hold my attention and the characters were acted well. I could hear all of the dialogue and everything was clearly visible. This is important because some horror films from the late '50s and early '60s used underexposure to make it look darker and hide physical effects. This film doesn't really require a long review. I rate it adequate because it was hokey, but entertaining. You may want to check it out if you're into cheesy, not-scary horror flicks.
An American romance directed by William Castle, starring Guy Madison, Diana Lynn and James Dunn.
A man orders a drink at a bar and the bartender tells him a story. A newspaper writer's grandfather dies and leaves him money so he heads for New York to write a play. On the way, he picks up a young woman who is a compulsive liar. The woman lies him into being her brother and also a bank robber. Another lie gets them a mother who is a pickpocket. When the bartender shows up at the hotel where the writer is staying they go to a shop with fake things to ride.
The main theme of this film was deception. I thought it was alright. The style was of the time and there were a few editing/continuity mistakes. These were mainly sloppy video editing with characters moving. The video was otherwise adequate and the audio wasn't too bad. I liked the complex plot that filled the entire duration correctly without using lots of pointless filler. The characters were good and unique. Overall, it's a decent old movie to watch. I rate it adequate. You may want to check this out.
A mystery directed by William Castle.A rich man invites strangers to stay in a haunted house for the night in order to win money.The video was in black and white.check out: The difference between this and the 1999 remake.Having watched the 1999 film first, I must make some type of comparison. If the newer one had followed this plot faithfully, where would they have used all that CG that they needed a giant budget for? How would 1959 audiences have viewed a black man being involved in this? How would 1999 audiences react to the absence of an actual haunting? Cultural differences aside, this film was a much more modest affair. I didn't dislike it enough to rate it bad, so it's MUCH better than the 1999 remake.
