An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960) in '50s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)

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Alias the Scarecrow	An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	Lead	[-]
Sep 11 07 7:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just got thru watching this on the new Universal Sci-Fi set and even though I have seen it plenty of times, I seemed to notice that the film seemed almost like a throwback to the Universal B-films of the 1940's. In fact, it almost played out like an Inner Sanctum film. Just substitute Lon Chaney for Grant Williams and put Gale Sondergaard or Elizabeth Russell in Colleen Gray's role..or even Anne Gwynne or Evelyn Ankers in the Gloria Talbott role and you would have pretty much the same film. Does anyone else see this in viewing the film? Dont get me wrong, I do enjoy the film, it's just a familiar feel to it.
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TomWeaver999	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#1	[-]
Sep 11 07 7:24 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've noticed that about the movie too. Notice that it's based on a story co-written by Ben Pivar, the producer of many of Universal's 1940s horrors; I bet he wrote whatever-it-was-he-wrote way-back-when.
Ted Newsom	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#2	[-]
Sep 11 07 9:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Huh. I wonder. When was that, '58? And wasn't there a major league WGA strike that year that screwed up all the TV shows? (Like Warners shooting the same script for 3 or 4 different detective shows.)
skelton knaggs	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#3	[-]
Sep 11 07 9:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Huh. I wonder. When was that, '58? And wasn't there a major league WGA strike that year that screwed up all the TV shows? (Like Warners shooting the same script for 3 or 4 different detective shows.) Ohh sooo........There's that ol' subtext rearing her ugly head. The Hollywood leeches just sucking all the blood outa that script. Like what they'd been doing to those WGA members all along. THE LEECH WOMAN(1960) A UNIVERSAL RE-LEECH
Ted Newsom	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#4	[-]
Sep 12 07 6:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	(ahem) Looks to me from IMDB that Pivar basically got out of Da Biz in the late 40s, with one minor exception, overseeing dubbing of a Japanese cartoon feature in 1959. His credits (there, anyway) seem to be negligable after 1949, so I bet this was laying around all that time, particularly if he only gets co-credit or Story By credit. Betcha Jack Pierce would've done a better Leech WOman make-up. And maybe Aquanetta as the old high priestess turned young?
HalLane	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#5	[-]
Sep 12 07 6:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I seemed to notice that the film seemed almost like a throwback to the Universal B-films of the 1940's As I watched THE LEECH WOMAN yesterday, it occurred to me that with this, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE MUMMY'S CURSE and THE INVISIBLE RAY, Universal seems to have created a whole sub-genre of movie about Monsters In Tents.
Ted Newsom	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#6	[-]
Sep 12 07 7:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Monsters Intense. I like it, Hal. Sounds like a good McFarland & Co. book. Go to it!
BijouBob8mm	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#7	[-]
Sep 12 07 1:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Betcha Jack Pierce would've done a better Leech WOman make-up. Yeah, but we got Gloria Talbott. (Sometimes, ya gotta make sacrifices.)
Bobtheman	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#8	[-]
Sep 12 07 2:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	We got young Mala. Yowsa, Yowsa, Yowsa.
TomWeaver999	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#9	[-]
Sep 12 07 3:12 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	"Young Malla" (later in real life, Mrs. Werner Klemperer) claims to have been about 14 years old at the time. We report -- you decide!
skelton knaggs	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#10	[-]
Sep 12 07 3:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* "Young Malla" (later in real life, Mrs. Werner Klemperer) I'll bet she got the pictures of Werner singing in the bathtub.
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Zombie Dad	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#11	[-]
Sep 12 07 4:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Coleen Gray could never woo me away from Gloria Talbott (despite Gloria's unbecoming hairdo in this movie). ZD
Monsterpal	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#12	[-]
Sep 12 07 8:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* When was that, '58? I don't know when it was shot, Ted, but it came out in 1960. I saw it on a double bill with BRIDES OF DRACULA, which I think was the standard program stateside.
JohnRozum	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#13	[-]
Sep 13 07 1:08 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm a big fan of Gloria Talbott, but I always thought this was her most preposterous role. She did a good job as the woman feeling threatened by the notion she might lose her man to this other woman, but the scene where she inexplicably pulls a gun not only ruined her character's credibility, but made her look pretty silly as well.
TomWeaver999	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#14	[-]
Sep 13 07 8:07 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Talbott expecting to be able to take Gray to an airport at gunpoint and make her get ON a commercial passenger plane at gunpoint .... might be one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in a movie of that era.
Ted Newsom	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#15	[-]
Sep 13 07 9:34 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Things are starting to fall into place regarding the strike. I looked it up; it was 1960. I remember being addicted to ALL the Warners TV detective shows, and seeing precisely the same story again and again on every show: 77 SUNSET STRIP, HAWAIIAN EYE, BOURBON STREET BEAT. Same twists, same lines, different actors. That was WB's way of getting around the dearth of scripttts & writers. In the case of LEECH WOMAN, this may well have been something semi-workable by Pivar laying around at Universal since the mid-40s, quickly cobbled together. Whether this happened during the strike, or earlier in anticipation of a work stoppage (which is something that's happening now), it would mean grinding out a screenplay REALLY fast. This would account for logic lapses like the airplane business, above. Still.. it ain't absolutely awful.
M F Berry	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#16	[-]
Sep 13 07 11:14 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ah yes, the 1960 strike ... David Hedison once mentioned to me that the filming of Irwin Allen's The Lost World was impacted by this strike, as well.
BijouBob8mm	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#17	[-]
Sep 13 07 11:17 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I remember being addicted to ALL the Warners TV detective shows, and seeing precisely the same story again and again on every show: 77 SUNSET STRIP, HAWAIIAN EYE, BOURBON STREET BEAT. Same twists, same lines, different actors. Well, not always different actors. (Think of how many characters crossed over from some of those series. ;) Odd that you make mention of those shows, as I had started a thread on them earlier this year in the Off Topic folder: p075.ezboard.com/fmonsterkidclassichorrorforumfrm53.showMessageRange?topicID=1860.topic *Quote:* David Hedison once mentioned to me that the filming of Irwin Allen's The Lost World was impacted by this strike And when you think of all the flack Irwin got over this film...all along it was external influences impairing his original vision!
Ted Newsom	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN	#18	[-]
Sep 13 07 11:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Odd that the strike, pending or otherwise, would affect it, except in minor on-set ways. The project dated back several years to 1957 or '58 (with Allied Artists rather than Fox). Given Charles Bennett's involvement in STORY OF MANKIND (he did write this blessed thing, didn't he?) and/or FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, I would've expected a proper scripttt would've been in-hand long before they shot the poodle & the lizards.
Rapfred	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)	#19	[-]
Sep 13 07 12:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Some shows got around the 1960 strike by revamping studio-owned film scripts. One episode of Fox's "Hong Kong" starring Rod Taylor was a virtual remake of THE DARK CORNER, dialog passages and all. On the other hand, Warner Brothers didn't need no stinkin' writers' walkout to recycle feature screenplays for its TV mill. Season One of "Cheyenne" boasts a fifty-minute redo of THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, with Clint Walker as a kinda/sorta Howard, Rod Taylor as a bizarro Curtin, and Edward Andrews as a most unlikely Fred C. Dobbs.
skelton knaggs	Re: An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN	#20	[-]
Sep 13 07 12:08 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh, forget all this script logic stuff. The real question here....What the hell happened to the cool comfy chair ?
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An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)

An observation on THE LEECH WOMAN(1960)