SCFZ poll: William Castle

[flip]

Polling the films of director William Castle

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Castle films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: brian d, greennui, ofrene, kanafani, bure, greg x, oscarwerner, silga, dt, umbugbene, roscoe, rischka, wba, thoxans, mesnalty, caracortada, joks, zulawski, nrh, evelyn, st gloede, mauries, mysterious dude, john ryan, grabmymask

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[wba]

01. Homicidal (1961)
02. Strait-Jacket (1963)
03. The Night Walker (1964)
04. Conquest of Cochise (1953)
05. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)

Castle seen: 10

[grabmymask]

1. 13 Ghosts
2. House on Haunted Hill
3. The Tingler
4. The Night Walker
5. Mr. Sardonicus

[...]

I Saw What You Did and I know Who You Are!
The Tingler
13 Frightened Girls!
House on Haunted Hill
Mysterious Intruder

Gonna try to catch a couple more Castles before the poll ends, so I might change things.

[liquidnature]

peeps should watch When Strangers Marry, it's good, and on JR's list. If you need it, it's on the 'hawk'. Only Castle I've seen so far, may check out another for the poll.

[rischka]

it is good, watched it last week. put me at 5

https://twitter.com/rbgscfz/status/1137891900030013440

strait-jacket
when strangers marry

[Caracortada]

Seen 2.

1. House on Haunted Hill

[Curtis, baby]

seen 8

Undertow
Zotz!
The Mark of the Whistler
Strait-Jacket

[St. Gloede]

Only seen 6, and none of them stood out, The Tingler may be his best.

[flip]

no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot yet, so i'll nominate this time and we'll start from a clean slate.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 10, and happily I love 5 of them. I love them all about the same, so the ordering is pretty arbitrary.

1. The Whistler (1944)
2. The Tingler (1959)
3. Strait-Jacket (1964)
4. I Saw What You Did (1965)
5. House on Haunted Hill (1959)

What to say about William Castle? Such a memorable personality, and for me very endearing. His gimmicks transcend the word gimmickry to produce a pretty fascinating expanded cinema, adding theatrical or meta elements to cinema at a time when the movies were looking for ways of getting folks out of their TV chair and into the movie palace. An extremely talented promoter and genre filmmaker, whose middle name was Fun and who consistently delivered the silly over-the-top goods. For me, one of the most underrated filmmakers in classic Hollywood annals.

[wba]

For me, one of the most underrated filmmakers in classic Hollywood annals.

Yeah, I'm also under the impression that he's way too underrated.
I believe that his three early 60s psychological thrillers Homicidal (1961), Strait-Jacket (1963) and The Night Walker (1964) are as good as any picture Hitchcock, Lang or any other old Hollywood filmmaker ever directed in the way of suspense/horror.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

as good as any picture Hitchcock, Lang or any other old Hollywood filmmaker ever directed in the way of suspense/horror.

I'd definitely agree, at least in terms of suspense/horror specifically. I do think that Hitchcock and Lang were capable of thematic oomph in a class above Castle and were also capable of excellence in a wider variety of genres/modes, but when it comes to suspense/horror fun, Castle's gimmick period can go toe-to-toe with the best. Saw Strait-Jacket with a theatre, and everyone was so engaged, cheering and laughing and having a ball.

[wba]

Yeah, I also watched those three (and some others) at a cinematheque in Germany. and it was a mindblowing experience. Had never seen a Castle before, and not only were the prints excellent (especially the one for Mr. Sardonicus), but they also tried to recreate most of the gimmicks (filling out a life insurance, having the skeleton fly over people's heads, having the "Cowards Corner" illuminated during the specific scene in the film, etc.). As fun as they were, I also think the gimmicks tend to project a false image on the more serious films (e.g. the three I mentioned above), which I'd place on par thematically with stuff like Psycho, The Birds and Marnie, especially Homicidal and Strait-Jacket as to their psychosexual terror and identity politics, and I think they're more suited to the comedy stuff like Tingler and House on Haunted Hill (of which I must admit I am not a fan).

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

I also think the gimmicks tend to project a false image on the more serious films (e.g. the three I mentioned above), which I'd place on par thematically with stuff like Psycho, The Birds and Marnie, especially Homicidal and Strait-Jacket as to their psychosexual terror and identity politics

I wouldn't say he had anything as rich as Vertigo in him, but I can definitely see the identity/mental health theme in several of Castle's films, now that you mention it. Strait-Jacket, for sure: an interesting, sympathetic representation of mental health stigma and of a woman surviving gaslighting. I'm interested to see how I'll feel about Homicidal. I haven't mustered up the mettle to watch it yet. I worry I won't like Homicidal because it's after the Psycho mold, and Psycho of course is the original sin for inaugurating psychosexual cinema, which sadly so often translates as 'trans women are psycho, sexual men compelled to murder cis women', (see the worst of giallo, De Palma, Silence of Lambs, etc.) All that said, I actually have some hope that Homicidal's representation of being forced to hide your true gender identity could make affirming, progressive viewing, and Castle's gimmick for it, Coward's Corner, is hilarious !

[ofrene]

seen 2

When Strangers Marry

[wba]

I also think the gimmicks tend to project a false image on the more serious films (e.g. the three I mentioned above), which I'd place on par thematically with stuff like Psycho, The Birds and Marnie, especially Homicidal and Strait-Jacket as to their psychosexual terror and identity politics

I wouldn't say he had anything as rich as Vertigo in him, but I can definitely see the identity/mental health theme in several of Castle's films, now that you mention it. Strait-Jacket, for sure: an interesting, sympathetic representation of mental health stigma and of a woman surviving gaslighting. I'm interested to see how I'll feel about Homicidal. I haven't mustered up the mettle to watch it yet. I worry I won't like Homicidal because it's after the Psycho mold, and Psycho of course is the original sin for inaugurating psychosexual cinema, which sadly so often translates as 'trans women are psycho, sexual men compelled to murder cis women', (see the worst of giallo, De Palma, Silence of Lambs, etc.) All that said, I actually have some hope that Homicidal's representation of being forced to hide your true gender identity could make affirming, progressive viewing, and Castle's gimmick for it, Coward's Corner, is hilarious !

Yeah, I think Castle is very perceptive about the protagonist in Strait-Jacket and in a similar way also in The Night Walker. I also love Homicidal and the portrayal of the female protagonist, but I'm not sure, if I can dispel your worries about it (I also happen to love the worst of Giallo, De Palma, and Silence of the Lambs, which is one of my favorite character studies in a movie [with Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill being for me the dark(er) twins/sides of Clarice Sterling]). All that said, though Homicidal is clearly a total a rip-off of Psycho, I love it even more than Psycho - maybe cause I could never identify with Norman Bates and his mother obsession or care much about him on a personal level (I never understood that Freudian stuff about the oedipus complex and such), but all the actions of the character in Homicidal made sense to me and struck a chord.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Looking forward to seeing Night Walker soon. Appreciate your thoughts on Homicidal, thanks ! May try Homicidal soon enough, too; hopefully it'll be akin to the best of giallo. One of the interesting aspects, too, about the Psycho and Castle connection, is that it goes both ways. Psycho was inspired by the success of black-and-white B horror films by Corman and Castle, and then Psycho goes on to re-influence Castle in turn. Worth recalling as further evidence that Castle is underrated, he wasn't solely derivative of Hitchcock but something of an influence on Hitchcock himself.

[wba]

Yes, hope you'll find something to enjoy. It's certainly an entertaining film, at least. I think Hitchcock was also - if not more so - inspired by his TV show Alfred Hitchcock presents, and was trying to recreate some of that (my theory is that he also tried something similar with The Wrong Man three years earlier). Anyways, who cares who rips-off whom, as long as it's great art. I'm not into that innovation vs. tradition thing, and just because something is innovative it doesn't make it good. But I'm also a huge Godfrey Ho fan, so the idea of stealing something and remixing it is close to my heart.

Like with Tarantino, I applaud him for stealing so much stuff, but I'm usually not a fan of his work, cause mostly the films and scenes he steals from are genius, whereas his work is mostly mediocre.

[flip]

will still take ballots posted today .i might even post a one-film ballot today if i find time to watch something - the discussion has made me interested in seeing some more castle films, but haven't had time yet:

results

1. The Tingler (1959) -- 12 pts
2. Strait-Jacket (1964) -- 10 pts
3. I Saw What You Did (1965) -- 7 pts
4. House on Haunted Hill (1959) -- 6 pts
5. The Night Walker (1964) -- 5 pts
5. The Whistler (1944) -- 5 pts
5. 13 Ghosts (1960) -- 5 pts
5. Homicidal (1961) -- 5 pts
9. Undertow (1949) -- 4 pts
10. Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven (1948) -- 3 pts
10. Zotz! (1962) -- 3 pts
12. When Strangers Marry (1944) -- 2 pts
12. Mr Sardonicus (1961) -- 2 pts
12. 13 Frightened Girls (1963) -- 2 pts
12. The Mark of the Whistler (1944) -- 2 pts
12. Conquest of Cochise (1953) -- 2 pts
17. Mysterious Intruder (1946) -- 1 pt

[...]

Hey, Flip any chance of a late change to a ballot? I just finished Texas, Brooklyn, and Heaven and it's pretty great. Really needs a rec if it could be added. I'd even make it one of my favorites from Castle. I'd swap it for House on Haunted Hill or even just Mysterious Intruder if that's easier.

No worries if it's too late. Just wanted to give it some notice since it's on youtube and anyone interested in Castle might want to check it out.

[flip]

I Saw What You Did and I know Who You Are!
The Tingler
13 Frightened Girls!
House on Haunted Hill
Mysterious Intruder

Hey, Flip any chance of a late change to a ballot? I just finished Texas, Brooklyn, and Heaven and it's pretty great. Really needs a rec if it could be added. I'd even make it one of my favorites from Castle. I'd swap it for House on Haunted Hill or even just Mysterious Intruder if that's easier.

haven't posted the list to letterboxd yet, so i don't mind changing it - i just can't make decisions for another voter, so if you can post a new ballot, ranked as you want it, in this thread, i'll adjust the tally. i've quoted your last ballot so i'll know how to change things!

[...]

I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are!
The Tingler
Texas, Brooklyn, and Heaven
13 Frightened Girls
Mysterious Intruder

That would be the order I'd have gone with if I'd caught TB&H earlier. As a guess, I think TB&H might be right up your alley Flip. It reminds me a lot of some of the other comedies you've liked from that era, but with it's own bit of oddness to it as well.

[flip]

up at letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-142/