Enormously enjoyable documentary about the
life and films of one of America’s most fondly remembered producer-directors –
to a section of the public anyway. You can tell which section when you see the
several directors who talk with glowing affection about Castle – Joe Dante,
John Landis, John Waters. All with a common thread: males who were about ten
when Castle was in his heyday. Because that was the target market for Castle’s
films: baby boomers, male, who loved the gimmicks. As Waters (who has written
about Castle often and well, and was inspired to use gimmicks in his own
career) points out, after seeing 13 Ghosts all people talked about at school
the next day was seeing the skeleton – no one talked if the film was any good.
William Castle’s story is a prime example of
the maxim that everyone has their moment. He lost his parents at an early age,
and became obsessed with theatre after seeing Bela Lugosi on stage as Dracula.
He went to work in the theatre as a stage manager and actor, and eventually
went out to Hollywood and got a job at Columbia. He became a journeyman
director, doing all sorts of films (one quite highly regarded - When Strangers
Marry – even if it surprisingly isn’t discussed much here.) He got the rights
to a book he really liked only to see Orson Welles pinch it and turn it into
Lady from Shanghai - although Castle got to work on it.
Castle's moment came in the late 50s when
he mortgaged his house to fund his own production, Macabre. From all accounts
an unremarkable film, Castle's fear that it would flop motivated him to
ballyhoo the crap out of it and it was a big hit. It unleashed a popular series
of horror films, all better remembered for their gimmicks rather than their
quality.
Castle promoted himself as much as his
movies, even appearing in them at the beginning in introductions. Few directors
were as well known to the public (one that was, Hitchcock, was inspired by
Castle to use a gimmick to promote Psycho). Still, a great showman, nice guy,
shrewd businessman, talented producer, workmanlike director - and he left a
real legacy. The sort of theatricality and showmanship in something like The
Tingler (which puts the audience in the film) is missed today.
Eventually the tide ran out around the mid
60s and Castle's films lost their lustre at the box office. He had a massive
late career windfall when he bought the rights to Rosemary's Baby in galleys
but Paramount wanted Roman Polanski to direct, so he was forced to produce. (A
good move - Castle was never much of a director, strictly functional in his
control of the medium - the two most famous films he was associated with, Rosemary
and Shanghai, were from other directors).
I have a theory he went to his grave
thinking "if only I'd directed Rosemary's Baby people would have taken me
seriously" but he wouldn't have done ten percent good a job; he was too
interested in pennies.) He fell seriously ill during the late 60s and so
couldn't cash in on the success of Rosemary's Baby. None of his follow ups did
as well (he even directed a film starring Marcel Marceau which flopped badly)
but he lived long enough to see his legend grow. He probably smoked too many
cigars for his own good - he was only 63 when he died but looked twenty years
older.
This is everything a documentary on Castle
should be - warm, funny, with great photographs and talking heads (Castle's
daughter is very likeable - she has his nose - and Roger Corman even pops up).
John Waters is the best value - part of me wished he'd narrated the whole
thing. In film extracts, Castle is a little stiff in his introductions for
someone so publicised - I think Hitchcock had more natural charisma, as well as
being the better director.
