I Was a Monster Movie Maker: Conversations with 22 SF and Horror Filmmakers

by Tom Weaver (Editor)

Phil Brown, who played Luke Skywalkers uncle in Star Wars, said, "In my long life in films, there are ones Im proud of and those Im not proud of. The Jungle Captive and Weird Woman fall into the latter category." House of Wax co-star Paul Picerni was fired by the films director when he refused to put his head in a working guillotine during a climactic fight scene. Packed with wonderful tidbits, this volume collects 22 interviews with the moviemakers responsible for bringing such films as This Island Earth, The Haunting, Carnival of Souls, Pit and the Pendulum, House of Wax, Tarzan the Ape Man, The Black Cat, Them! and Invasion of the Body Snatchers to the movie screen. Faith Domergue, Michael Forest, Anne Helm, Candace Hilligoss, Suzanna Leigh, Norman Lloyd, Maureen OSullivan, Shirley Ulmer, Dana Wynter and many more are interviewed.

Genres: Film, Media Tie In

314 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jim Dooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I am a fan of the interview books by Tom Weaver. He not only makes connections with people who had seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth, but he is very good in following up on intriguing points raised by his subjects ... although he does skip over a potentially interesting lead once in this collection.

His selection of subjects for I WAS A MONSTER MOVIE MAKER is very hit-and-miss. Some have very little to say that is of interest, such as Candace Hilligoss who spends the bulk of her interview criticizing the CARNIVAL OF SOULS remake. Some have little to do with the subject of the book, such as Norman Lloyd ... but, who also provides no end of intriguing information about famous people and shows. There is even the peculiar instance of interviewing Maureen O’Sullivan (who also provides excellent information), but then covers her famous “Tarzan” movies (hardly monster movies!) while ignoring her work in THE DEVIL-DOLL.

Of the 22 folks interviewed, I enjoyed:

* Booth Colman (providing a great Boris Karloff story)
* Faith Domergue (revisiting THIS ISLAND EARTH)
* Nelson Gidding (screenwriter for THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE)
* Michael A. Hoey (describing the “drama” associated with THE NAVY VS. THE NIGHT MONSTERS)
* John Kerr (working with Vincent Price in THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM)
* Phyllis Kirk (working on HOUSE OF WAX)
* Norman Lloyd (no monster movies, but plenty of classic Hollywood and British tidbits)
* Maureen O’Sullivan (yes, she’s talking about the “Tarzan” films, but she’s revealing)
* Paul Picerni (almost being beheaded in HOUSE OF WAX)
* Anthony M. Taylor (filming INCUBUS, the only movie filmed in Esperanto)
* Shirley Ulmer (fascinating stories about Edgar Ulmer ... and her own “racy” personality!)
* Ray Walston (performing “Dracula” onstage with Bela Lugosi)
* Joan Weldon (sharing the spotlight with the giant ants of THEM!)

That’s 59% of the interviews being worthwhile. Some were extremely disappointing, such as Suzanna Leigh, June Wilkinson and Dana Wynter. Perhaps I was expecting too much. The remainder had occasional pleasing nuggets.

For the film fan with a voracious appetite regarding classic and low-budget monster and science fiction movies from the 1930’s to the 1960’s, this is certainly a book to explore. Others may find it filled with too many obscure references.

[Nicholas Fury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read with some unbelievable stories about old Hollywood (the guillotine story of the romantic lead from Mystery of the Wax Museum stands out in my mind). I particularly enjoyed reading the the interviews with Norman Llyod with stories about Hitchcock and Ray Walton remembering Bela Lugousi . This book did a very good job of collecting interviews that were always interesting regardless if you had seen the movie or not.

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a superlative collection of interviews with lots of Hollywood actors—some stars, some character workers—in horror and science fiction film. Interviewer Tom Weaver knows the subject about as well as anyone could, and is able to coax fond memories from even the most reluctant subjects. Sometimes, of course, the subjects are old and thus literally can’t remember the details of the movies in their early careers. More often, though, they still bear a bit of residual shame or at least embarrassment, over being players in b-movies. It takes a fan like Weaver to remind such types that their movies brought joy to millions, and thus are no cause for embarrassment.
As a hardcore “Carnival of Souls” fan I’m always happy for another interview with starlet Candace Hilligoss (still kicking and something like 90 years old.) Also fun and a little revelatory was the interview with Maureen O’Sullivan, the beauty who swung from vine to vine with Johnny Weissmuller through a million “Tarzan” flicks.
The crown gem of the collection, though, is the interview with “Shirley Ulmer,” former script supervisor and wife of legendary b-movie maker Edgar G. Ulmer. The tale of the Ulmers has achieved something like the status of a legend in Hollywood. Eddie started out making “A” pictures with Warner Brothers, but then fell in love with Shirley, who just happened to be the girlfriend of Jack Warner’s son-in-law.
Both Shirley and Edward were given the boot by Hollywood at that point, and were forced to eke out a living on Poverty Row. Somehow, the duo managed to not just survive at the margins, but to thrive there. In fact, Ulmer’s “Detour,” made in something like three days, is regarded as perhaps the best noir film ever made.
Naturally since most of the subjects worked around the middle of the century and many were immigrants, they have memories of tumultuous times. A few (like Ulmer) barely escaped being liquidated in deathcamps.
Ultimately, the book is a last and definitive look back into a Hollywood that is slipping ever further into the recesses of our collective memory. There’s some consolation, at least, that a lot of these movies are still floating around, many of them available for free on YouTube. And for those who want to know more about the people who made the movies—both in front of and behind the camera—there’s this book. Highest recommendation. With photos.