For my money the best mystery/horror anthology series on television was Thriller, the 1960-62 program hosted by Boris Karloff. For 67 episodes Thriller brought together great stories and great acting to send a collective chill up America's back.
Cornell Woolrich, Robert Bloch, Margaret Millar, William O'Farrell, Evelyn Berkmann, Charlotte Armstrong, Dolores Hitchens, John D. MacDonald, Fredric Brown, Jack Vance, Alan Caillou, Lionel White, Philip MacDonald, Wilkie Collins, Nelson S. Bond, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Harold Lawlor, Robert Arthur, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Allan Poe, Cynthia Asquith, Henry Kuttner, Margaret St. Clair, Hugh Walpole, John Creasey, Joseph Payne Brennan, and August Derleth...all provided source material for Thriller. All writers whose work I have enjoyed. It's as if the show was singing directly to me. And the scripts by Bloch, Arthur, Charles Beaumont, Philip MacDonald, John Tomelin, and so many other others were just great.
Could anyone who has seen the Pigeons from Hell episode forget it? Or The Hungry Glass? Or Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper?
Only one episode from the series seems to be in the public domain, The Return of Andrew Bentley from December 11, 1961, adapted by Richard Matheson from the story by August Derleth and Mark Schorer, and directed by and starring John Newland, who is best known as the host of television's One Step Beyond. Starring with Newland are Antoinette Bower, Philip Bourneuf, Oscar Beregi, Ken Renard, Terence de Marney, Reggie Nalder, and Tom Hennesy.
Enjoy. And shiver.
http://archive.org/details/KarloffThriller
For more of today's Overlooked Films/Television/Whatnot, drop by Sweet Freedom where Todd Mason will have all the links.
Have only the vaguest memory of this one. I was not a big fan of scary, so that may be why.
ReplyDeleteHaving bought the boxed set of THRILLER when it was new, I was a little disappointed (only a little) at how a few of my favorite episodes had lost a little luster...the bad makeup effects on "The Weird Tailor," perhaps less notable on a fuzzy second-gen duped tape on Channel 8 in Hartford on a Sunday afternoon syndicated repeat in 1974, helped distract from the fine script and performances (Robert Bloch adapting his own story from I wonder which magazine given the title)...and some of the early suspense stories were a bit pedestrian, before they hit their stride. But still my nominee for the best horror/suspense anthology series, as well. The same production folks did THE 57TH PRECINCT series, as well, as you probably know.
ReplyDeleteHah, it must be early. 87th PRECINCT, of course.
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