Now available from Oldies.com is a full-length feature on DVD about one of the most versatile and imaginative writers from the classic TWILIGHT ZONE period. They also offer a few of the movies that he wrote screenplays for.
As I have mentioned OLDIES.COM is an excellent source for finding all sorts of monster movies, books, and periodicals -- all in one place. They also send out HUGE catalogs. Oldies is Monster Friendly -- give 'em a try!
CHARLES BEAUMONT: THE SHORT LIFE OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE'S MAGIC MAN
DVD Details
- Run Time: 2 hours, 13 minutes
- Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
- Originally Released: 2010
- Label: JaSunni Productions LLC
Performers, Cast and Crew:
| Directed by Jason V. Brock |
| Subject: Charles Beaumont |
Description:
Writer. Adventurer. Provocateur. All of
these words apply to one man: Charles Beaumont.
As one of the principal writers for the original Twilight Zone series, Beaumont became a mainstay of 1960s television. Later, working with filmmaker Roger Corman, he embarked on a promising career in movies (7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Intruder). By this time, Beaumont was also a primary contributor to Playboy, Esquire, and several other major magazines of the day.
Beaumont overcame humble roots, bouncing between Chicago and Washington state. As the only child of an obsessed mother with an explosive temper, he endured many hardships, such as seeing his pets tortured and being dressed as a girl. Plagued with health problems and very fragile, Beaumont was a prodigious young talent whose artistic and writing abilities surpassed his peers.
Following his dreams to Los Angeles, the driven, intellectual Beaumont became the charismatic nucleus of a group of Southern California writers, whose ranks include Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson, Harlan Ellison, and Ray Bradbury among others. Charles Beaumont's intensity and unabashed heed to confront controversy influenced early television and science fiction; he understood the human condition, and lived at the edge in everything he did and created.
At the height of his career, Beaumont began exhibiting strange and frightening symptoms: slurring words, balance problems, memory lapses. Was it alcohol abuse? Was it leftover from his childhood bout of meningitis? Perhaps it was stress...
He began to age - looking more like a man of 70 than a young man in his thirties. Charles Beaumont seemed to be trapped in one of his own Twilight Zone stories. Whatever the cause, he would not live to see his 39th birthday.
Documentary includes interviews with Ray Bradbury, William Shatner, William F. Nolan, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, John & Wilma Tomerlin and others.
As one of the principal writers for the original Twilight Zone series, Beaumont became a mainstay of 1960s television. Later, working with filmmaker Roger Corman, he embarked on a promising career in movies (7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Intruder). By this time, Beaumont was also a primary contributor to Playboy, Esquire, and several other major magazines of the day.
Beaumont overcame humble roots, bouncing between Chicago and Washington state. As the only child of an obsessed mother with an explosive temper, he endured many hardships, such as seeing his pets tortured and being dressed as a girl. Plagued with health problems and very fragile, Beaumont was a prodigious young talent whose artistic and writing abilities surpassed his peers.
Following his dreams to Los Angeles, the driven, intellectual Beaumont became the charismatic nucleus of a group of Southern California writers, whose ranks include Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson, Harlan Ellison, and Ray Bradbury among others. Charles Beaumont's intensity and unabashed heed to confront controversy influenced early television and science fiction; he understood the human condition, and lived at the edge in everything he did and created.
At the height of his career, Beaumont began exhibiting strange and frightening symptoms: slurring words, balance problems, memory lapses. Was it alcohol abuse? Was it leftover from his childhood bout of meningitis? Perhaps it was stress...
He began to age - looking more like a man of 70 than a young man in his thirties. Charles Beaumont seemed to be trapped in one of his own Twilight Zone stories. Whatever the cause, he would not live to see his 39th birthday.
Documentary includes interviews with Ray Bradbury, William Shatner, William F. Nolan, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, John & Wilma Tomerlin and others.
7 FACES OF DR. LAO
DVD Features:
- Rated: Not Rated
- Run Time: 1 hours, 40 minutes
- Video: Color
- Released: September 27, 2011
- Originally Released: 1963
- Label: Warner Archives Collection
- Encoding: Region 0 (Worldwide)
Performers, Cast and Crew:
| Starring | Tony Randall & Barbara Eden |
| Performer: | John Ericson, Arthur O'Connell, Royal Dano, Lee Patrick, Noah Beery Jr., Minerva Urecal & Frank Kreig |
| Directed by | George Pal |
| Edited by | George Tomasini & George Tomasini |
| Screenwriting by | Charles Beaumont & Ben Hecht |
| Screenplay by | Charles Beaumont |
| Composition by | Leigh Harline |
| Art Direction by | George W. Davis |
| Produced by | George Pal |
| Director of Photography: | Robert Bronner |
Major Awards:
Academy Awards 1963 - Honorary Awards
Description:
An elderly Chinese man routs evil in a Western frontier town by setting up his circus for the townspeople. The various performers affect each of the circus' visitors in a different way, and in the end the unscrupulous citizen who dominates the town repents.
Tony Randall plays eight different characters in the movie, with the help of Academy Award-winning special visual effects and make-up that earned make-up artist William Tuttle a special Honorary Academy Award for his outstanding achievement.
In one of the finest performances of his career, Tony Randall plays the part of a mysterious Chinese doctor named Lao who rides into a small western town with his circus and changes the lives of all who come to see it. Lao assumes many disguises, some so extraordinary that Mr. Randall is completely unrecognizable.
Plot Synopsis:Tony Randall plays eight different characters in the movie, with the help of Academy Award-winning special visual effects and make-up that earned make-up artist William Tuttle a special Honorary Academy Award for his outstanding achievement.
In one of the finest performances of his career, Tony Randall plays the part of a mysterious Chinese doctor named Lao who rides into a small western town with his circus and changes the lives of all who come to see it. Lao assumes many disguises, some so extraordinary that Mr. Randall is completely unrecognizable.
A mysterious traveling circus, led by the odd Dr. Lao, arrives in a small dusty town. Dr. Lao is endowed with magical powers, and his troupe is populated with such mythical characters as Merlin, Pan, Medusa and even the Abominable Snowman. Together, Lao and his performers use their unique abilities to help the townspeople gain clearer outlooks on who they are -- and in the process change their lives forever.
Production Notes:- Color by Metrocolor.
- Additional cast: Kevin Tate (Mike Benedict); Eddie Little Sky (George E. George); Frank Kreig (Mr. Peter Ramsey); Dale McKennon (Lean Cowboy).
- Additional credits: Al Shenberg (assistant director).
QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE
DVD Features:
- Run Time: 1 hours, 20 minutes
- Video: Color
- Released: September 20, 2011
- Originally Released: 1958
- Label: Warner Archives Collection
- Encoding: Region 0 (Worldwide)
- Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
- Audio:
- PCM Mono - English
Performers, Cast and Crew:
| Starring | Zsa Zsa Gabor, Laurie Mitchell & Eric Fleming | |
| Performer: | Mary Ford, Lisa Davis, Paul Birch, Dave Willock & Barbara Darrow | |
| Directed by | Edward Bernds | |
| Edited by | William Austin | |
| Screenwriting by | Charles Beaumont | |
| Screenplay by | Charles Beaumont | |
| Composition by | Marlin Skiles | |
| Cinematography by | William Whitley | |
| Story by | Ben Hecht | |
| Produced by | Ben Schwalb |
Description:
Breaking news from space! The bad: an intrepid captain and his men have landed on a planet where males are outlawed. The good: some women there are eager to break the law!
Queen of Outer Space is a milestone of movie camp. Eric Fleming plays the granite-jawed leader who shares with his crew the crime of maleness. That?s just the start of their troubles. The man-hating Venusian Queen (Laurie Mitchell) aims to destroy Earth once a Beta Disintegrator is operational. But a gossamer-gowned scientist (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her curvy cohorts eye the men, and they like what they see. This Bijou bauble has sets, costumes and effects from Flight to Mars, Forbidden Planet and World Without End. Have fun spotting them! Botchino!
Queen of Outer Space is a milestone of movie camp. Eric Fleming plays the granite-jawed leader who shares with his crew the crime of maleness. That?s just the start of their troubles. The man-hating Venusian Queen (Laurie Mitchell) aims to destroy Earth once a Beta Disintegrator is operational. But a gossamer-gowned scientist (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her curvy cohorts eye the men, and they like what they see. This Bijou bauble has sets, costumes and effects from Flight to Mars, Forbidden Planet and World Without End. Have fun spotting them! Botchino!
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