One of myt favrite television anthology series from when I was a kid was Boris Karloff's Thriller. the show seemed to hit it out of the park every week, whereas shows such as The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, or the various Alfred Hitchcock incarnations always seemed to have a few clunkers. One of the reasons why I liked Thriller so much was writer Robert Bloch -- a full nine episodes were based on his short stories, six of them were also adapted by him; a tenth episode was scripted by Bloch based ona tale by Weird Tales regular Harold Lawlor.
Bloch adapted his 1950 Weird Tales story "The Weird Tailor" twice. First for this episode of Thriller, then as one of four episodes adapted for the 1972 film Asylum. The television version stars Henry Jones, George Macready, Abraham Sofaer, Stanl;ey Adams, Sondra Blake (as "Sondra Kerr"),Iphigenie Castiglioni, and Gary Clarke. Herschel Daugherty directed.
Macready plays a scholar who inadvertently kills his son during a mystic ritual. Desperate to bring his child back, he resorts to black magic, using a suit of unearthly materials. He hires a tailor (Jones) to make the suit, unaware that the tailor's abused wife has other ideas.
Enjoy this classic episode, which follows after a brief introduction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK3iP7wIUhw
That was perhaps my single favorite episode, as well...seeing it particularly in the low-def early '70s (in repeats) helped hide some of the flaws in the makeup. There were some duller episodes of THRILLER, mostly among the crime-drama selections in the first season, but none come to mind as as dumb or simpleminded as its contemporary "competitor" series could offer (Joan Harrison did a very impressive job overall at HITCHCOCK PRESENTS:, but there Really Were entirely too many episodes about henpecked husband worms turning)...and that could go double for the "true-story" nonsense ladled atop ONE STEP BEYOND's offerings.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of this series until now. I would have probably assumed it was too scary for me based on its host.
ReplyDeleteOriginal run from 1960-62 on NBC.
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