Tuesday's Overlooked Films and/or Other A/V: some Wednesday links

As always, thanks to the contributors and to you readers of these reviews and citations at the links below, and I suspect that there will be the usual several additions over the course of the day. And please do let me know in comments if I've overlooked your post, or someone else's. Thanks again.

Bill Crider: Next of Kin (1989)  [trailer]

Brian Arnold: Return of the Children's Television Workshop--of Horror!;  The Video Dead

Don Herron: The Fritz Leiber Tour of San Francisco

Elizabeth Foxwell: Eyes in the Night

Evan Lewis: Blazing Across the Pecos

George Kelley: Bouchercon 2012

Iba Dawson: The 'Burbs

Ivan G. Shreve, Jr.: The Return of the Whistler

Jack Seabrook: Ray Bradbury on TV: "The Faith of Aaron Menefee" (Alfred Hitchcock Presents:)

Jackie Kashian: Jerry Beck: The October 21 TCM Animation Marathon, Cartoon Dump and more

James Reasoner: The Mighty Hercules (1963-66)

Jeff Flugel: Soldier of Fortune (tv 1955-1957)




Jerry House: The Rootie Kazootie Club (and Johnny Jupiter)

John Charles: Legend of Horror

Juri Nummelin: Best Seller

Laura: The Man I Married

Michael Shonk: Paris Precinct: "A Woman Scorned"

Patti Abbott: Seconds

Pearce Duncan: Aliens in the Mind (please see below)

Prashant Trikannad: Notting Hill; Maid in Manhattan

Randy Johnson: Flesh and the Devil (1925)

Richard Pangburn: Arsenic and Old Lace

Rick: Film Noir A to Z

Rod Lott: The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow

Ron Scheer: Buffalo Soldiers

Scott Cupp: The Zombies of Mora-Tau

Sergio Angelini: The Last of Sheila

Stacia Jones: Blogathons and more blogathons (and do see her galleries)

Todd Mason: tv notes: the new season, overlooked and otherwise...

Walter Albert: What Price Glory? (1926)

Yvette Banek: My Week with Marilyn 

Pearce Duncan on Aliens in the Mind:
 
Here's something of interest to fans of classic Dr. Who, Vincent Price, and/or Peter Cushing. 

In the late 1960s, Robert Holmes submitted a story outline for Doctor Who called  "Aliens in the Blood."  Holmes is generally regarded as classic Who's greatest writer; as well as writing many great serials himself, he was the story editor during the classic Philip Hinchcliffe era, which ran for Tom Baker's first few seasons as the Doctor, from the Alien precursor "The Ark In Space" through to Holmes's spectacular finale, "The Talons of Weng Chiang". This entire run of Dr. Who is of interest to horror fans, as many of the stories are rooted in gothic horror (though always with a cod-scientific explanation). 

Anyway,"Aliens in the Blood" was never produced, but several years later it was reworked and written up as a six-part radio series called Aliens in the Mind. I have been unable to find out who the scriptwriter was; the credited "Rene Bijenico" appears to be a pseudonym. The roles of the Doctor and his companions were changed to two scientists, played in the series by horror veterans Vincent Price and Peter Cushing. Cushing, of course, played Doctor Who in the two theatrical films of the 1960s, and Price had been tapped by Tom Baker to play the villain in a never-produced Who movie in the '70s. The story involves the two scientists investigating the death of their friend in a small village on a tiny island off the coast of Britain. What seems to be a nasty accident turns out to be foul play, as they discover the existence of mutant telepaths, mind control, and a sinister conspiracy. And that's just the beginning. 

The story is far too long at three hours, and relies heavily on the charisma of the two leads to maintain interest. Fortunately, Price and Cushing are both in great form and clearly enjoy each other's company. (Price spoke in interviews how he, Cushing and Christopher Lee used to regularly speak on the phone and delighted in cracking each other up, though his desciption of Lee as "giggling like a schoolgirl" is hard for me to imagine.) If you're as big a fan of these actors as I am, you'd probably be happy just listening to them speak, and they dominate the production utterly, though there are no shortage of supporting roles. 

I have no doubt that somebody here will be interested in checking out Aliens in the Mind, warts and all. You're in luck there, thanks to this excellent repository of Vincent Price-related audio: http://vincentprice.org/audio/audio.html You'll no doubt find that there is plenty of other great Price-related audio here to get you through the Hallowe'en season. Or maybe you just want to listen to his cooking classes. In any case, hope you enjoy it!