October 1974
AS PROMISED last month - let's begin with the film that, now it's on 8mm, includes the scenes which the British censor removed. I refer to Columbia's release of William Castle's Straightjacket. Surprised ? Amazed that the censor would cut a tongue-in-check thriller film ? Well take my word for it - he did!
We are, of course, speaking of ten years ago. Straightjacket hit the screen way hack in 1964 and starred Joan Crawford. It's amazing how many once-great stars spend the 'twilight' of their careers making progressively worse horror movies. I suppose it all started in 1962 when Joan was teamed with Bette Davis in William Aldrich's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. That was a great movie of its kind but since then many old stars have appeared in some pretty third rate horror tales. Money talks presumably but this can't apply to Joan Crawford, for she's a big business tycoon who bathes in - is it Coca Cola? She's obviously, must have other more egotistical reasons for appearing in her more recent horror corn.
Anyway back to the film in hand. Straightjacket opens in the 1930's with Miss Crawford coming home late one night, anxious to be with her much younger husband. Unfortunately, she decides to surprise him and tiptoes round to the bedroom window. On peeping through she finds surprise, surprise - that her handsome young husband is not alone, he's fast asleep with a pretty young thing by his side.
Well we all know that Joan Crawford won't stand for this and we next see her quietly entering the bedroom clutching a woodman's axe! By the look in her eyes, we know she's not going to chop firewood - she approaches the bed and with a couple of mighty swings decapitates both her husband and his girlfriend.
This is the first scene which the British censor considered too strong for us in 104; as the axe fell he just as skillfully snipped with his scissors. However, in this 8mm print, taken from the American original, we see, in silhouette form, the axe hit the husband and his head roll off the bed!
Back to the plot - Joan, far too busy rearranging the anatomy of her husband - did nor see her five-year-old daughter enter the room and witness the whole chopping business. The camera closes in on a close-up of the girl's panic stricken eyes, a quick lap- dissolve and the camera pulls back to reveal the daughter twenty years older as she greets her mother, suitably aged, who has just been released from a lunatic asylum.
Next we see Joan's doctor visiting their farm. Hearing a noise in the old water pump tower he enters. Finding nothing out of the ordinary he decides to clean and light his pipe; he bends over a large block of wood - Ann Boleyn never took up a more tempting position for the axeman? Sure enough, from out of the shadows leaps what looks like Joan Crawford with axe raised high. Needless to say, the poor old doctor never manages a puff of his St. Bruno!
Simple handyman.
An abrupt cut and we find ourselves back in the farmyard as the rather simple-minded handyman appears to have lost something - actually it's Isis axe but that isn't explained in this 8mm version. He goes in search and enters one of the out-houses. ,Suddenly the door slams behind him; he walks towards a large Coffin-like box; bends over it - here we go again! and lifts the lid; nothing.
A shadowy woman raises the axe and off comes his head. This is the main sequence which was tampered with by the British censor for as the axe fell he dictated 3 rapid change of scene to the cock crowing on the barn roof. Now, in this 8mm print, You see the axe hit the back of the actor's neck and his head literally fly off into the box not in silhouette but in big close-up, its a very clever special effect, far superior to the Madam Tussaud's type dummy usually employed in a screen beheading.
The axe swinging slows down fora couple of minutes so that motivation for the murders can be explained. Joan is seen meeting the wealthy parents of her daughter's boyfriend and expresses her delight at the prospect of their marriage. She's shattered to discover that they have no intention of allowing the marriage to go ahead. She storms out of the house vowing that Michael and Susan are going to be married - and nothing is going to stop them! Nice piece of Crawford hysterics here.
They should have known better than to tangle with our Joan for as Michael's father hangs his tie in the closet we see among the jackets a glint of light on the axe blade - and another stout fellow bites the dust. The snooty mother enters the bedroom, sees her husband's body in the closet and screams blue murder. The door bursts open and in rushes Joan, axe at the ready.
Another door opens and another Joan enters. After a furious struggle between the two, the real Miss Crawford tears the skin tight mask off the other's face to reveal - her own daughter! Yes folks, Joan was innocent after all. The insane Susan raves that this was the only way she could marry Michael - eliminate all the opposition and put the blame on her once insane mother.
And that's it; an entertaining little excerpt typical of its director William Castle - a good showman trying hard to ape Hitchcock's Psycho with its twist ending. Castle was aware of his artistic limitations and resorted to several gimmicks to promote his pictures. Remember House on Haunted Hill released in Emergo? Or Homicidal with the fright break five minutes before the end - `to enable shattered patrons to leave the cinema if they felt unable to take any more'. Or The Thirteen Ghosts which had to be seen through a 'ghost spotter' - actually just the old cellophane 3D specs. Or The Tingler where the big promotional cinemas actually had small batteries located under various seats in the auditorium which, at given points in the film, were activated,so as to give the occupants a vibrating sensation! That's what I call a showman.
Straightjacket is released by Columbia and distributed in this country by Mountain Films Ltd; it's available in a super 8 silent version at £6 or with sound at ,£8 - the recommended retail prices. Mailmaster Films the retail outlet for Mountain - price them at £3 (silent) and £5 (sound). Should you require standard 8, contact Dcrann Film Services who, by special agreement with Mountain, Print this title in standard 8 sound.
If you saw the film at the cinema then this is a good souvenir to add to your collection. If you just want SO scare the pants off your friends then this package is good value; but buy the sound print if you can afford it; the exaggerated sound effects during the axe swinging make all the difference.
Just one grouse - I have both Columbia's American print and Mountain's print for distribution in this country. One would naturally assume that they would be identical; not so, I'm afraid, for Mountain's release print clocks in at 7 mins 35 secs, Columbia's at 8 mins 50 secs!
I started this month by pondering why so many top stars end their careers in the Chamber of Horrors. Well, Joan Crawford is a typical example. Straightjacket is a good thriller - which is more than can be said for Trog, her most recent horror venture. Why she made it I'll never know - judge for yourself, it's available as a super 8 silent from Enfield Film Services. Joan plays the part of a scientist who discovers a sort of pre-historic cave man - a troglodite, -Trog for short. It looks like Charlie Drake in loin cloth and fairground mask! What a pity that the film world has nothing better to offer Miss Crawford these days.
To finish this month, how about a cartoon starring none other than Betty Boop. Who? - you may be asking. Well I must admit that until I saw Philip Jenkinson on BBC2's Film Night recently I hadn't heard of her either. Very popular in the early thirties, she was created by Max Fleischer better known for his famous Popeye cartoons.
Betty's bloomers.
Betty Bopp, along with many flesh and blood stars, fell foul of the Hays Office - the censorship board of the thirties. Apparently the censors objected to the glimpse of bloomers and garters that she occasionally flashed. There are four titles available on 8mm - I bought No, No, a Thousand Times No and it's great. Made in 1935 the whole thing is presented as a stage performance. The heart shaped curtain rises to reveal Betty Boop and her handsome boyfriend kissing on a park bench.
"Love like ours can never die, even when dark clouds hover by," he woos in a very genteel Noel Coward-type voice.
Enter the villain from the wings hanging from a balloon. He quickly ties up the hero and makes his play for the innocent Betty. "My prairie flower come fly with me," he bleats but soon drops the poetry and demands - "Waddya say, toots?" Betty goes all coy and blinks her long eye-lashes - "But I do not love you, sir."
From under his coat the villain produces a succession of gifts to shake her virtue; a diamond which flashes via a hidden light bulb, a tray of oysters which, on the word of command, promptly snap open to reveal their pearls and finally a guaranteed moth-proof fur coat.
All to no avail for Betty sings:
No, No a thousand times no
You cannot buy my caress.
No, No a thousand times no,
I'd rather die than say yes.
Then follows a furious punch-up between the villain and Betty's boy friend you can guess who wins and Betty's. virtue survives to be fought over in another cartoon.
The Betty Boop cartoons are released Thunderbird Films of California and distributed in this country by Perry's Movies of 129, Kingston Road, London, SW19 1LU available in super 8 sound only at £7.70. Print and sound quality are first class. They are perhaps above the heads of children but will go down well with a more sophisticated audience.
'that's all for now -see you next month.
Back to Bootlace Cinema 1974
