kevinolzak

1967's "Hostile Witness" was the last of five feature films to be directed by actor Ray Milland, who also starred in each one, dating back to his 1955 Western "A Man Alone" (his best known was AIP's "Panic in Year Zero!" in 1962). The experience of starring in Jack Roffey's successful Broadway play (which he also toured in the US and Australia) led Milland to helm this movie adaptation at London's Shepperton Studios, the stationary camera reminding us of its stage origins yet still engaging with a veteran cast of stalwarts like Felix Aylmer (as the presiding judge), Raymond Huntley (as the prosecutor), Richard Hurndall (as the investigator), and especially Sylvia Syms as Milland's promising young clerk, whose services are sorely missed once he begins to defend himself. His barrister Oliver Crawford is as arrogant as he is confident in his victorious ways, only to see his world come crashing down with the unexpected death of his only daughter, the victim of a hit-and-run right outside his home. After spending three months recovering from the tragedy, the barrister returns to work but is quickly sidetracked by the murder of a trusted friend who is presumed to have been guilty of the crime, circumstantial evidence pointing to Crawford as the guilty party. At this point we never leave the courtroom, and the viewer cannot be certain if a nervous breakdown could be responsible for turning Crawford into an undeniable killer. Milland acquits himself well though the story tends to bog down near the end of its 102 minutes, his screen career only picking up again three years later as Ryan O'Neal's stern father in the hugely successful "Love Story."

"Off Season" served as a fitting finale for Hitchcock's 10th season on the television airwaves, a reunion with actor John Gavin and the actual Bates Motel (still located on the Universal lot), shot at a different angle with much overgrowth but clearly the same structure. Gavin's Johnny Kendall receives an honorable discharge from the city police force for intentionally killing a wino whose only weapon was a bottle, relocating with fiancée Sandy (Indus Arthur) in a small town where Sheriff Dade (Tom Drake) takes him on as deputy, patrolling a peaceful area that requires no firearms. Sandy's new job as waitress at a local diner puts her in close contact with a persistent customer, Milt Woodman (Richard Jaeckel), who confesses to the new deputy that he was recently fired from the same position. The sheriff is initially tight lipped about his dismissal, but soon reveals that Woodman was a 'smooth operator' with the ladies who got caught fooling around on duty. When Kendall discovers his missing pistol in Sandy's motel room, plus her frequent absences at night, he soon puts two and two together and plots to catch the lovers in the act. The last of a string of seven excellent episodes scripted by "Psycho" author Robert Bloch, it was also the only one directed by William Friedkin, still relatively new behind the camera with his first feature arriving in two years, Sonny and Cher's "Good Times." The motel proprietor is played by William O'Connell, his office further down from the one used by Norman Bates.

"The Incredible Art of Animation: A Living Art Form" is a 19 minute promotional short for the 1970 feature film "Shinbone Alley," narrated by John Carradine, who starred in the role of Shakespearean alley cat Tyrone T. Tattersall. Behind the scenes footage is shown of directors John David Wilson and David Detiege, producer/presenter Preston M. Fleet, and writers Dick Kenney and Marty Murphy, based on the original Evening Sun drawings by Don Marquis and the Broadway adaptation of 1957 composed by none other than Mel Brooks. Carradine's fellow performers, namely Carol Channing, Eddie Bracken, and Alan Reed, are present acting out their animated counterparts in exaggerated fashion for the soundtrack recording (John cheekily refers to himself as "a rather handsome and debonair young actor, who I might add, shows a great deal of promise!"). George Kleinsinger conducts the musical score with Joe Darion's lyrics, plus brief appearances for background artists Rosemary O'Connor and Gary Lund, animator Bob Bransford, production coordinator Christine Decker, ink and paint artist Connie Crawley, and music editor Sam Horta. A fascinating artifact that has survived the many decades, though its source material remains sadly obscure.