|
|
|
Door-to-Door Maniac/Right Hand of the Devil
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Film Masters Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (30th September 2024). |
|
The Film
 "From the early 60s, Film Masters brings you two independently produced films, both with their own cult following. Representative of the neo-noir crime films of that era, these regional films make for a perfect back-to-back viewing late at night!" Door-to-Door Maniac: After a heist gone wrong in the New Jersey waterfront, Johnny Cabot (North & South's Johnny Cash) is hiding out in a motel in the bedroom community of Camelia Gardens, sending his girlfriend Doris (The Cincinnati Kid's Midge Ware) out to work to support him while he sits around strumming his guitar. Bowling alley owner/small time operator Max (From Here to Eternity's Merle Travis) sets him up with ex-convict Fred Dorella (Bullitt's Vic Tayback) who is planning to rob the local savings and loan. Fred's plan is to walk into the bank alone and force vice president Kenneth Wilson (Dimension 5's Donald Woods) to withdraw money from the vault using his "Homemaker of the Month" wife Nancy (D.O.A.'s Cay Forester) as leverage. After Nancy bids sends her husband and son Bobby (The Shootist's Ron Howard) off to work and school, Johnny gains entry into the Wilson household under the guise of a door-to-door correspondence course guitar lesson salesman, holding her hostage and waiting for calls every five minutes from Fred with the instruction to kill Nancy if Fred misses a call. A terrified Nancy must use her wits to withstand Johnny's abuse and lull him into lowering his guard. Throwing a wrench into Fred's plans, however, is that things are not as rosy as they seem at home. Kenneth is seeing dress shop worker Ellen Harcourt (Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask's Pamela Mason) on the side and is considering running off with her to Vegas, so Fred and Johnny just may be doing him a favor. Better known than seen as a film vehicle for singer Cash, Door-to-Door Maniac has the makings of a tense, tight Poverty Row-type noir thriller but its execution is uneven with some wild tonal and genre shifts. Starting out with a film noir framing device featuring one of the surviving criminals, the film cuts from the pared-down, expressionistic waterfront sequence to a montage under Cash's song "I've Come to Kill" that suggests that Camelia Gardens is deep down South rather than outside of New Jersey. Once the film transitions to suburbia, however, it plays like a sixties sitcom; or, rather, it attempts to lift the veil on the illusion but the presence of Howard – who was already on The Andy Griffith Show – and Woods who had just played the patriarch of the relatively family-friendly 13 Ghosts makes it feel less like anything but satire. Once the plot gets in motion, the strengths of the script co-written by actress Forester, wife of producer Ludlow Flower, come to the fore with the actress making up for Cash's uneven performance. The cutaways to Dorella and Kenneth are considerably less interesting. The photographic style of Carl E. Guthrie (The House on Haunted Hill) is generally of the flat television style, only leaning towards the expressionistic as Nancy's world becomes unbalanced, with some deliberately unflattering close-ups emphasizing crows feet and laugh lines (when the lens can maintain focus that close), further distancing the viewer from much of the suspense intended in the film. The ending, however, is thankfully not content to wrap things up neatly.  Right Hand of the Devil: Man of mystery Pepe Lussara (The Female Animal's Aram Katcher) descends from the smoggy skies into Los Angeles by helicab and takes possession of a crumbling and condemned hilltop mansion. He puts criminal Williams (Brad Trumbull) on retainer for an unspecified project of which even he seems to have not yet decided upon. He makes a survey of various city government and businesses, even applying for a position seemingly below his means as a ticket seller at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. He begins a flirtation with payroll manager Elizabeth Sutherland (Lisa McDonald), a spinster who is at first cynical about his attentions but quickly warms to them (even picking up a copy of "The Modern Sex Manual" for light reading). Williams, meanwhile, enlists small-time crooks Sammy (The Laughing Policeman's James V. Christy), Spooky (Chris Randall), and Carter (Monte Lee) for Lussara's plans to rob the arena. The only thing that stands between Lussara and the keys to the kingdom is Elizabeth who may not be as naive as she appears. An ambitious vanity project by character Turkish/Egyptian immigrant actor Katcher – who was a Los Angeles fixture as the proprieter/chief stylist of his own hairdressing salon but whose career highlight was also his greatest letdown as he booked talk shows to promote his role in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz only for the director to recast and complete reshoot his role – Right Hand of the Devil is almost a one-man-show behind the scenes. Co-written, art directed, graphic designed, edited, and directed by Katcher – who also obviously supervised the hair and make-up – it is actually a pretty respectable Poverty Row-esque noir with enough quirky touches that almost take it into camp territory ("I like a piano that's been played," is how Lussara flirts with Elizabeth). The climax veers quite unpredictably into the wonderfully grotesque with an acid bath and a final surprise for our antihero ("You always liked my legs. Here: have one!"). The film also offers a wonderful ground-level time capsule portrait of 1960 Los Angeles including many unpermitted location work as well as the participation of Dino's Lounge just after it had been divested of all interest by its once-owner Dean Martin. 
Video
Door-to-Door Maniac was first released in 1961 by different regional distributors under the original title "Five Minutes to Live" and subsequently reissued by American International in 1966 and again in 1969 under the current title in a version that featured some rather tame additions to the bedroom scene featuring a double for Cash (which may have been when the post-production slow motion was added to the scene). Both cuts have been available on video with the reissue cut being most prevalent starting with a Video Dimensions early eighties tape release in the U.S. and a Canadian Admit One Video tape that also found its way onto U.S. video shelves. Both cuts have also made the rounds on the gray market and various budget tapes and DVDs so Film Masters' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC Blu-ray provides the first proper restoration of the film utilizing a 4K scan of "archival elements." The main menu choice of "theatrical" or "TV" versions refers to the aspect ratio and not the content as both are identical. Apart from the 1.85:1 framing on the former and 1.33:1 pillarboxed framing on the latter, both look identical since the cleanup work was likely done before the final framing choices. The materials are quite good-looking with only the most infrequent damage including a few scratches and rare jitter. The image looks appropriately noir-ish during the framing footage and the New Jersey waterfront scenes while the rest of the film's interior sets and exterior location work has the bright, flat look of a sixties black-and-white sitcom as mentioned above.  Right Hand of the Devil had a brief theatrical release in 1963 from Cinema-Video International before largely falling into obscurity apart from evidence of a single television broadcast. Katcher reportedly had the 35mm negatives destroyed so Film Masters had to use a 16mm print for their restoration which includes 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 "theatrical" and 1.33:1 "TV" encodes. Owing to the print source as well as liberal use of stock footage, the overall presentations look rougher than this release's co-feature although Said's noir-ish photography still stands out in crispness from the stock footage and the optical transitions with deep blacks and some underexposure and diffusion of light sources by real cigarette smoke in the Dino's Lounge scenes. We really have nothing to compare the transfers to so this is likely as best as it can look unless a 35mm print, IP, or IN turns up which seems unlikely. 
Audio
As per usual with Film Masters releases, both films sport both English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks. Door-to-Door Maniac sounds relatively clean, particularly during the Cash vocals and dialogue scenes in general while the few silences reveal a little background noise. Right Hand of the Devil's 16mm-sourced audio has probably undergone some digital cleaning. Dialogue is always clear but the music's high ends might be at the mercy of the original library recordings as they are not original score. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for both films.
Extras
Door-to-Door Maniac includes a recut 2024 trailer (1:33) but sadly not the trailer upon which it has been reconstructed for comparison, along with a new audio commentary by author/podcaster Daniel Budnik and film historian Rob Kelly who discuss the cast of character actors and television stars – along with the trend of casting singers in movie roles – the question of whether the film is an independent thriller or exploitation, as well as how the film was marketed differently in 1961 ("A woman's price drops fast as the time ticks away!") and the 1966 reissue ("It could be your street... your house... your life!").  Right Hand of the Devil is accompanied by an audio commentary by James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, Larry Strothe and Matt Weinhold of the Monstery Party Podcast who provide more information on Katcher's career as actor and hairdresser, Katcher's ambitions for the film and how his refusal to cut anything meant it did not get approval by the Production Code, and its small release. They also discuss the film's cast – Trumbull was later the spokesman for Midas Muffler and also a regular on The Carol Burnett Show – and its crew including cinematographer Fouad Said (Take the Money and Run) who innovated the way films and television shows were shot by developing the Cinemobile Systems production van, as well as writer Ralph Brooke who wrote, produced, and directed "The Most Dangerous Game" ripoff Bloodlust! the same year. "Player Piano: The Passion of Aram Katcher" (10:52) is a visual essay by Ryan Verrill and Will Dodson from Someone's Favorite Productions who shed more light on Katcher's career, including his later work after the disappointment of Topaz as well as parallels between his reputed ego and the criminal mastermind of the film. The disc also includes the theatrical trailer (1:36) and, given the feature film source, it is unlikely recreating it in HD would improve it. 
Packaging
The two discs come packaged with a liner notes booklet by Don Stradley on Door-to-Door Maniac and C. Courtney Joyner on Right Hand of the Devil.
Overall
Two very different indie crime pictures Door-to-Door Maniac and Right Hand of the Devil make an oddly fitting double bill.
|
|||||
|