Richard Gordon - The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon

Introduction by Robin Askwith
Richard Gordon - The Horror Hits of Richard Gordon
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item number:  BK 4045
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Paperback Book Details

  • 233 Pages
  • Paperback
  • Large Format
  • Illustrated in B&W
  • Released: May 2, 2011
  • Originally Released: 2011
  • Publisher: BearManor Media

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Description by OLDIES.com:

What does Producer: Richard Gordon mean to you? If you're a fan of classic horror films, you know he's the only living producer to have worked with the genre's most valuable players Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi--not to mention the Fiend Without a Face, the First Man into Space and other black-and-white beasties of the Fabulous Fifties. If you take your fright flicks on the ghastlier side, you remember his more gory goblins, from the Silicates on the Island of Terror to the mad slasher of the Tower of Evil, and the interstellar shocks delivered by Inseminoid. A master of both worlds, Richard Gordon has been a behind-the-scenes titan of terror for over a half-century, collaborating during his years of active production (1956-1981) with some of the field's most formidable names: Boris and Bela, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Terence Fisher and more. Go on a film-by-film excursion through his cinematic chamber of horrors in this definitive book-length interview.

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If you're a horror addict, this book is indispensable to your library Customer: from Hollywood, CA -- February, 24, 2012

During the 1950s, theaters were inundated with horror films routinely produced on a shoestring. British producer Richard Gordon, a self-professed film nostalgist, circumvented budget constrictions by occasionally casting genre icons (Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing) in his movies. He also courted controversy by appending graphic violence to FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, his 1958 cult classic. Unfortunately, Gordon's early films (CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, FIRST MAN INTO SPACE, DEVIL DOLL, THE HAUNTED STRANGLER) have been exiled to trivia competitions simply because they were shot in b&w (anathema to modern technology, they appear antiquated to today's core demographic). Happily, Tom Weaver has rescued Gordon's legacy by informally addressing the producer with poignant questions; though in his mid-80s when he convened with the author, Gordon's recollections are crystal-clear (he passed away in 2011, the same year that the book was published). Especially significant is Gordon's insight into marketing (see the book's illustrated content, i.e. the NY street ballyhoo negotiated to launch HAUNTED STRANGLER and FIEND WITHOUT A FACE. This sort of panache has been subsequently forfeited in corporate Hollywood; today's B-horrors are dropped into Redbox dispensers). Gordon's compromises with U.S. and British censors are also documented (nudity and violence--especially manifest in TOWER OF EVIL, INSEMINOID and HORROR HOSPITAL--were further intensified to compete with Hammer's bosoms/bogeymen commerce). The producer deports himself as an unpretentious, very affable raconteur (not a dull story in the book's 238-pages); the horror community should be indebted to Weaver for his preservation of Gordon's (historically cogent) memories. Very highly recommended.


Product Info

  • ISBN: 1593936419
  • EAN: 9781593936419
  • Shipping Weight: 12.5/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 2 items

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