Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)

 

Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)

Actor Michael Gough was essentially the UK’s answer to Vincent Price. Though that Nation has other great Horror Stars, only Gough displays Price’s flair for serio-comic Villains and his career was only modestly less prolific than Price’s (more than 150 films and TV performances for Gough and maybe slightly more than 200 for Price). Both were blessed with strikingly angular features and great theatrical voices, both could make hammy performances seem artful, but there were distinctions: Price was somewhat more flamboyant with the velvety sinisterness of his tongue, while Gough’s face allowed him to be wholly relaxed in his Evil deeds, relying less on broad gestures or maniacal-ness (example: in “The Legend of Hell House” (1973) he’s a powerful presence even though he’s only a long-dead corpse sitting motionless in a chair).  

Gough could also fly into a rage with the best of them and combining that with his repose of wickedness made seem like a coiled snake; this led him to be cast as sleazier, but often more realistic, Villains than Price (example: in “Crucible of Horror” (1971) he dominates, demeans, and abuses his wife and daughter; his performance was so believable it was, he, not the weak-willed Murderesses, that gave nightmares).

 

He was already a cinema veteran when the Horror Genre embraced him because of his supporting role in Hammer Studios’ Genre re-defining “Horror of Dracula” (1951). As UK Horror became more Taboo-breaking, he got more and more parts in films that promised a sleazy atmosphere tempered by a proper British sense of decorum. This film, a wholly unserious Serial Killer romp, certainly fits that bill, a co-production of Anglo-Amalgamated and American International Picture (AIP).

 

“Horrors of the Black Museum” is technically a Mystery, but had little interest in being a Whodunnit; the film points the finger Gough’s Character, Edmond Bancroft, from the moment barges into an office to belittle the Police, haranguing the Investigator, "Have I published anything that isn't true? … Three young women have been killed in London… each murder more horrible than the last! … Not that I enjoy being sordid…"

 

Edmund is an arrogant, self-important, and hugely successful, True Crime Author, and obviously the Killer even though his full reveal doesn’t come until about the half-way mark.

 

That reveal came only a few seconds after throwing in a Red-Herring that could've potentially exonerated him. That Red-Herring will prove to be the start of a sub-plot that gives the story somewhat more complexity than one was expecting early on.

 

The obviousness of the Killer’s identity probably was driven by an instinctual understanding that everything in this film was on the shoulders of the lead Actor, if the role was well-cast, concealing anything would mean not exploiting him to the fullest. Actor Price was originally considered for part, and the story-structure has a more-than-passing resemblance to Price’s career-defining “House of Wax” (1953) which was a remake of “Mystery in the Wax Museum” (1933). The Price version diverged from the original by revealing the leads Character’s Villainy quite early on. In this film, Gough has great fun in early parts of the film, making Edmond so repulsive that you’d be disappointed if you somehow learned he wasn’t Guilty.  

 

Studio Anglo argued successfully with Studio AIP for Gough over Price for this role, not because he’d be the better choice here (though I’d say he was) but because he came cheaper and allowed them to exploit the “Eady Levy,” a quirk in English law created to buttress the Country's struggling film industry. Administered by the British Film Fund Agency, it was a punitive Tariff, an extra-charge on Box-Office Proceeds which was then steered back to qualifying Filmmakers and Exhibitors. To qualify for the kick-back, 85% of the film had to be shot in the UK and/or Commonwealth and among the Crew there could only be three foreign salaries both in front- and behind-the-camera. AIP's Producer Herman Cohen was already one foreigner, citizen of the USA that had so rudely turned Traitor during the Revolution of 1776, so USA Actor Price would be a second. In fact, Gough was also foreign born, in Malaya, but he still enjoyed a loophole that allowed him to claim to be UK in ways that are denied to the USA born for the last few centuries. (If you find the tone of this paragraph snide and sarcastic, that's only because you're paying attention.)

 

UK's Studio Anglo was most successful with Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge Sex Comedies like the “Carry On” Franchise (first film 1958) but also was unapologetically trying to tap into the Horror-market that Hammer Studios had brought new life into and for their films they loved to employ Hammer House of Horror Star like Gough. Unfortunately, many of Anglo’s films suffered from poorer Production Values and indifferent Direction, which is the case here and that’s odd, given that it was wide-screen and in color, the first USA's AIP-financed film that featured these.

 

One of the distinctions of this movie is that it was the first in what Critic David Pirie dubbed the "Sadean trilogy," which went a far more exploitive route than Hammer, avoiding Supernatural themes and emphasizing Sadism, Psychological Cruelty, and Sexualized Violence, at least to the degree possible given England’s heavy-handed Film Censorship. The other two films were “Cirus of Horrors” and “Peeping Tom” (both 1960). Both “Horrors of the…” and “Circus of Horrors” were campy in their Sordidness and great successes, but in the case of “Peeping Tom,” the great Director Michael Powell made the mistake of delivering a true Masterpiece of Psychological Horror, not a cheeky imitation of it. Because Powell took his unpleasant subject-matter seriously the Critics and public balked, the film bombed, and Powell, one of the UK’s finest Directors, saw his career ruined. 

Critic Pirie was arguing that the films were disingenuously promising to punish the audience for the sin of enjoying watching such Wickedness, but it was all, like Anglo’s Sex Comedies, really Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge, and that’s clearly why the more serious “Peeping Tom” pissed people off the way other two films did not.

 

This film even addresses that hypocrisy in its final shot, a quite cynical expression of the publics lust for distraction, the crowd at the Carnival that had witnessed a Murder/Suicide just seconds before, but aren’t disturbed, they just wander off looking for the next thrill.

By the way, Critic Pirie was wrong about the “trilogy” part. Lots of Anglo’s movies were Sadean, including their five Adaptations of Sax Romer novels (starting with “The Face of Fu Manchu” (1965) featuring Hammer House of Horror Star, Christopher Lee, in the title role), “Circus of Fear” and “Berserk!” (1966 & 1967, respectively, and both starring Gough).

This can’t be called a good film, aspects of the production are painfully indifferent, but much of it is lively. Fully aware of its limitations (Critic Greg Goodsell wrote, “Cheap, gaudy and ugly – like it’s supposed to be”) there’s a wonderful sense of the most childish aspects of the Horror Genre. An indication of the maturity of this movie, this was X-rated (in England at least) yet its audience was (according to Producer Cohen) 72% between 12- and 26-years. In the USA it got a far-more general release than the UK and before too-long was being shown on TV. Also, UK Theater Owners were notorious in their indifference to Censorship rules.

 

The concept is built around a Real-World thing, a “Black Museum” meaning Museum of True-Crime memorabilia, and the more famous or bizarre the Crime the better. Just as in the script, Scotland Yard has one, which is closed to the public. Producer Cohen somehow managed to get a tour and he and Writer Aben Kandel developed the screenplay around the more unusual weapons he found there. In the film, Character Edmund has built one of his own in his basement, "You know, Rick, the Black Museum at Scotland Yard is not very selective - a great deal of clutter.... but mine is ALIVE."

Though no one would accuse the Characters of being drawn with any psychological depth, they were drawn with affection. Joan Berkley plays June Cunningham, Edmund’s crass and bimbo-ish girlfriend, she was included only to increase the film’s body-count (the first Officer on the scene tells the Investigator, "That's the most gruesome sight I've ever seen! We can't find her head, either."), but more substantive a part is than most other examples of this clichéd-type. 

Howard Greene plays Character Tom Rivers, a Fabulist who falsely confesses to the Crimes and serves no plot purpose at all, but his rantings do provide a Parody of Character Edmund, "It was like a ringing in my head - kill! Kill! … You know what I'll use next? A death ray!"

Edmund is, in fact, secretly working on a Death Ray. He’s also full-aware that he’s insane and loving it. The Character is clearly modeled on the on the Poverty-Row Mad Scientists of the Crime/Horror films from the ‘30s and ‘40s, so the film was playing to nostalgia in its day making it even more a nostalgia piece now. As Critic Chis Wood quipped, “Ah, the 1950s - pastel colours, a decent postal service and one nutter for every busty, jumper wearing bobby-soxer.”

 

The first on-screen murder, Character Gail Dunlap, played by Actress Dorinda Stevens, is especially memorable. It made an exceptionally strong impression of legendary Photographer Diane Arbus, who snuck a camera into a latter showing and captured it in a still, “Screaming Woman with Blood on her Hands,” which is now part of her Permanent Collection. Novelist Stephen King and Director Martin Scorsese are also among this film’s fans.

 

During the film Character Edmund visits his friend, Doctor Ballan, played by Actor Gerald Andersen. This is before the full revelation of Edmund's guilt, but the scene does underline its obviousness. Ballan says he’s witnessed Edmund go into a state of “unnatural excitement” after each Murder, “You eat, sleep, and drink crime... vicariously of course.” He recommends Edmund arrange for his own Psychiatric Hospitalization. Ballan is so close to getting the right diagnosis but hasn’t realized how irredeemably Evil his friend is, later the good Doctor will pay a high price for that ignorance later.

 

Then we’re introduced to Edmund’s Assistant Rick, played by Graham Curnow, and utter sycophant and whose relationship with Edmund proves even weirder than it first seems. Edmund tells Rick, "Someday, you will go deep into the black soul of man, deeper than anyone on earth!"

 

Rick is an utter weakling, the only part of his personality that seems to really belong to himself is his love for his secret fiancée, Character Angela Banks, played by Shirley Ann Field (who also appeared in “Peeping Tom”) but Rick's not really his own man with her either, he's almost as weak-willed with her as he is with Edmund.

 

Angela is self-assertive (note that the script gives her both a first and last name while Rick has only a bland half-indemnity). When Edmund’s first encounters her, she's necking with Rick in the supposed-to-be-secret rooms of the Black Museum.  Angela is sweetly oblivious to Edmund's snake-like menace, but the audience gets it in spades:

 

Angela: "A woman can't begin training her husband too soon … He tells me everything!"

Edmund: "Everything?" (He raises an eyebrow.)

 

She leaves, fooled into thinking Edmund as only the best intentions for her. Then Edmund explodes at Rick, "This goes deeper than anger, Rick! No woman can hold her tongue - they're a vicious, unreliable breed!"

 

USA Producer Cohen was fond of the themes of repressed Homosexuality-That-Dare-Not-Speak-It’s-Name leading to violence, this is at least his third film with that theme (after “I Was a teenage Werewolf” and “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein” (both 1957)). All these films concern a young man transformed into a Monster by a dominating older gentleman who seeks to live out his darker urges and fantasies. 

 

In the Real-World, there’s a rather sweet homosexual Love Story attached to this film. Actor Curnow’s partner was the more famous Actor Victor Spinetti. With the money Curnow earned from this film, he bought a home for himself and Spinetti when co-habituating was a risky move as Homosexuality could still be Criminally Prosecuted in England all the way up to 1967. Still, the two seemed to live happily ever after, or at least until Curnow’s death in 1997.

 

As for Actor Gough, playing the more obviously Gay Character Edmund, was, in fact, a straight guy, in fact seemed a Ladies Man behind-the-camera.

 

 

I’ve seen some of Director Arthur Crabtree’s TV work, it’s impressive. He was also a Cinematographer on other projects though not this one, here the Cinematographer was Desmond Dickson. I’ll admit most of the location work is finely crafted, but other than the Tunnel-of-Love sequence, Crabtree seems to be having no fun at all with this film’s cheeky luridness. He relies mostly dull medium shots that do nothing by display how shabby C. Winfred Arnold Art Direction was. Crabtree’s immediately previous theatrical film, “Fiend Without a Face” (1958), was superior but also slow-moving except for its spectacularly FX-laden climax. Producer Cohen stated he hired Crabtree because, “The price was right, and the old guy needed a job and I hired him … And he was exactly what I wanted and needed as a good craftsman." 

I disagree with that assessment but, in fairness to Crabtree, this is film with a large host of settings was given only a six-day shooting schedule, When Crabtree was working on a TV show, he likely got eight-days per episode and fewer settings and therefore more time for set-ups.

 

 

The USA release is different than the UK one, AIP added a 13-minute prologue, allegedly shot in the brand-new process of HYPNO-VISTA. It features a Real-Life Psychologist and Hypnotist, Emile Franchele, who also a TV show Host. It’s a droning but entertaining lecture about the powers of suggestion and optical illusion reminiscent of a Documentary shown to students in a Middle School Science Class when the Teacher wanted to take a nap. This was the era of Producer/Director Willam Castle’s Gimmick-Marketing, and in this case, despite having virtually no connection to the film, the gimmick proves a quite clever. Critic Richar W. Nason said the film, "has more significance as a promotional stunt than as a motion picture,” and seemed shocked that it was such a big release “it opened at no fewer than 101 theatres here yesterday, usurping screens in many of the most opulent movie palaces in the area.” HYPO-VISTA is both remembered fondly and much mocked, earning an entry in Micheal and Harry Medvid’s book “The Golden Turkey Awards” (1980).

 

If you grew up watching this film on USA TV as I did, you didn’t get to see this sequence because, Cohen explained, "it does hypnotize some people.” The eventual VHS version restored the HYPNO-VISTA.

 

Trailer:

Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959) original theatrical trailer in Hypno Vista [FTD-0204] - YouTube