William Lauder - The Uncanny

[dem]

'William Lauder' (Allen Harbinson) - The Uncanny (Arrow, 1977)

Wilbur Gray visits publisher Frank Richards to discuss his latest zoological treatise, a study of cats. Richards recognises a money-spinning masterpiece when he sees one and the haggling commences.

"You really believe", the publisher said, "that it's the cats that are in charge, not the humans? And they only keep us around to suit themselves?"

Gray believes, alright and he's unnerved to learn that, since their previous meeting, Richards has acquired one of the conniving bastards as a pet!
To prove his theory, Gray produces an envelope stuffed with the usual irrefutable evidence, and first we learn of the "Malkin case" of 1908 ...

Embittered old Miss Malkin cuts profligate nephew Michael from her will and opts to leave her fortune to a trust fund for the purpose of building a home for stray cats. Her housemaid, Janet, is pregnant with Michaels child, and she agrees to steal the will from the safe in her employers bedroom on condition that he marries her. Needless to say, he has no intention of marrying "a common housemaid from a Whitechapel slum", but he's prepared to make a pretence at complying if it means getting his hands on that sexy cash!

Come the night Janet is attempting her robbery in Berkley Square, Michael is out gallivanting with a prostitute in the East End. What a bounder! Worse, the old girl has woken to discover Janet busy safecracking and threatened her with prison. Panicked, the girl smothers the hateful old bat with a pillow, right under the watching eyes of her loyal felines. Oh dear ...

Los Angeles, 1976: When her parents are killed in a plane crash, nine year old Lucy goes to live with her Aunt's family, where she is tormented by her surrogate sister, Angela. The elder girl takes great delight in torturing Lucy's cat, Wellington, until, her patience exhausted, Lucy takes a crash-course in black magic to cut Angela down to size.

Hollywood, 1949: Tragedy on the set of Dungeon Of Horror, when some fool switches the rubber blade on the pendulum for a steel one and Madeleine Carrerras, wife of horror legend Valentine De'ath is cut in half. We soon learn the culprit's identity, but who is behind the attempts on De'ath and new partner Edina which follow?
This time, the dialogue is liberally festooned with expletives and there are nods to both Stoker's The Squaw and Roger Corman's ace movie version of The Pit And The Pendulum.

Finally, the framing story ends exactly as you think it will.

A very short (140 page) read and even then there is conspicuous padding, especially in the final story, but I have to admit I enjoyed this ridiculous book immensely.

Thanks Michel!

[ghannah01]

I read this book many many years ago as a teen and enjoyed it too.

I saw the film again recently and it suffers badly from its low budget. Some of the cats which are supposed to look menacing just look bored (or annoyed that someone had woken them up.)
In some of the scenes it really does look like someone is tossing the cats at people to make them look like they are attacking. It's very sloppy and laughable.

Pity, because the initial concept is actually quite good and it's one of those films that you're sorry didn't have a decent budget.
Thanks for the review.

Glen

[dem]

This book will always be special to me because Michel Parry kindly gave me a copy! At the time I was trying to establish who exactly 'William Lauder' was and as Michel wrote the screenplay for The Uncanny (inspired by the stories in his first anthology, Beware Of The Cat) he seemed the most likely suspect, especially as he has plenty of previous when it comes to pseudonyms.

Well, Michel assures me it wasn't him (I don't think he has a high opinion of the book) but another author, quite well known, whose identity he's forgotten. I still live in hope that someone can shed some light on just who this deceptive Mr. Lauder actually is/ was.

[carolinec]

ghannah01 said:

I
I saw the film again recently and it suffers badly from its low budget. Some of the cats which are supposed to look menacing just look bored (or annoyed that someone had woken them up.)
In some of the scenes it really does look like someone is tossing the cats at people to make them look like they are attacking. It's very sloppy and laughable.

Cats are notoriously difficult to get to act, so I've never seen a film with cats which does it convincingly.

The Uncanny is a film I haven't seen in ages, but I do recall thinking it was an OK one (certainly not one of the best, but OK) - if you can just ignore the low budget problem!

[franklinmarsh]

From the old board

Saw The Uncanny on the big screen on first release, and haven't seen it since - well, until last night. Milton Subotsky's name (never could spell it) and the short stories within a framework scream 'Amicus!' as does the presence of blonde brat Chloe Franks (taller and longer haired than The House That Dripped Blood and Tales From The Crypt but just as offensive - anyone got the Amicus boxed set with the documentaries ?- Chloe grew up to be a cheeky, cheery fortysomething who looked back on her child acting career with a sense of humour). However, this is a strange British/Canadian production which, although a good stab, doesn't quite scale the heights of previous anthos. (Screenplay by one Michel Parry) The framing story is good - harrassed loon Peter Cushing visits patronising publisher Ray Milland with documents to back his new 'Cats rule the world' book. I think Ray had taken a chance on Pete's previous less than best seller about UFOs. PC is already in a state (he doesn't like to be out at night because of large gatherings of feline delinquents gathering on street corners and is shocked to see Ray's pussy Sugar nip out to get the boys together). Story one is as per Dem's outline, although I don't think there's as much detail in the film - it's certainly the most gory tale herein. The second one is relocated to Quebec (or Montreal) circa 1975 and features a number of Canadians (including a Mrs Maitland - huzzah!) Chloe Franks (who's either dubbed or has a mean line Canadian accents) and superb thespian Wellington (my family used to have a cat of this name). This was the story I was least looking forward to but turned out possibly the best - although the ending unfortunately makes a mockery of the other two stories and..er..the whole film. Hollywood 1936 for the last, with Samantha Eggar and Donald Pleasance chewing the scenery in fine style. Not quite as funny as it thinks it is, though good stuff therein, DP doing a nice line in Lionel Attwill/Vincent Price as Valentine De'Ath (VD to his friends - and pyjamas.) Thought The Squaw was in there somewhere. Oh. and the film in production is Dungeon Of Horror. That just leaves the finale - which has Peter Cushing legging it through the darkened streets in fear of his life, whilst Sugar attempts to hypnotise Ray Milland. Signifcant glances at the manuscript and the fire....
A failure - but full marks to Milton (and Michel) for trying.

[redbrain]

carolinec said:

ghannah01 said:

I
I saw the film again recently and it suffers badly from its low budget. Some of the cats which are supposed to look menacing just look bored (or annoyed that someone had woken them up.)
In some of the scenes it really does look like someone is tossing the cats at people to make them look like they are attacking. It's very sloppy and laughable.

Cats are notoriously difficult to get to act, so I've never seen a film with cats which does it convincingly.

Cats, in my expeience, do exactly what they want to do. I can sympathise with their point of view. ;D

[Johnlprobert]

I have very fond memories of this book as it was amongst the first of my film tie-in collection. I found it in a dusty old secondhand bookshop in Hereford. Like Dem says, it's a ridiculous book but loads of fun. I wonder if anyone ever set a record for the quickest-written novelisation? Mr Lauder (or whoever he is) must have really caned it with this one - even the dates and locations don't match those of the film, although the script could have been changed.

My favourite is the first episode - both on film and in the book. The bit where pretty Susan Penhaligon gose into the bedroom to see the cats eating Joan Greenwood is an utter classic.

In fact I now remember that on one occasion our homework for Divinity class when I was 13 was to write a review about something that had moved us so I wrote about this

The rest is totally silly, so much so that when Wilfred Josephs' music comes up at the end it's so serious it makes you laugh all the more.

[dem]

From what little I've seen of her work, Susan Penhaligon livened up just about everything she appeared in, notably Count Dracula and the mighty No Sex Please, We're British. She was also something of a muse for Peter Hammill, referenced in several of his early songs, 'Susie' in Refugees and Easy To Slip Away, 'Jenny' in Slender Threads, maybe even the unnamed target of the vitriolic Nobody's Business though the latter is pure speculation on my part. He even drew a sketch of her in his lyric book Killers, Angels Refugees which some total utter bastard 'borrowed' off me never to return.


The '77 Count Dracula was one of the first things I ever attempted a *cough* review of online and, depressingly, nobody can accuse me of improving with age.

115 minutes of fairly faithful adaptation of Stoker's master-work, first shown on BBC2, December 22 1977. Count Dracula, based on an idea by Bram Stoker, featured Louis Jourdan, Susan Penhaligon, and some groovy Top of the Pops-style special effects involving a rubber bat. Effortlessly upstaging even these troopers, the Western grounds of Highgate Cemetery, which were given at least as big a slice of the action as they had in Taste The Blood of Dracula. If memory serves, the entrance even doubled as Dr. Seward's Asylum.

There's a tie-in novel to this one, by its scriptwriter Gerald Savory: Count Dracula (Corgi, 1977)

And here's Susan as Pru on the cover of our sometimes horror authoress friend Andrea Newman's Bouquet Of Barbed Wire (Penguin, 1976: originally 1969)

[Johnlprobert]

And of course she was in Aussie Carrie rip-off PATRICK & good old Pete Walker's HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN.

Gerald Savory / Philip Savile's Count Dracula is a classic, and miles better that the Coppola version

[dem]

Apr 5, 2008 0:34:38 GMT Johnlprobert said:

Gerald Savory / Philip Savile's Count Dracula is a classic, and miles better that the Coppola version

Gerald Savory - Count Dracula (Corgi, 1977)

BBC Copyright photograph by Douglas Playle

Blurb:

The dark deeds of the Transylvanian Count Dracula have thrilled generations.

In this dramatic re-telling of Bram Stoker's immortal classic, Gerald Savory chronicles the momentous conflict between the forces of good and evil as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Dr Seward, Jonathan Harker and Quincey Holmwood confront the menacing vampire, Count Dracula, and his undead disciples.
The cover photograph shows Louis Jourdan in the title role in the BBC-tv production 'COUNT DRACULA' directed by Philip Savile and produced by Morris Barr.

So true! Maybe I was expecting too much from Coppola, but I feared the worst when he started coming on all Moses back from the mountain with the tablets about Stoker's novel, how his was gonna be the true story or some such tosh. It didn't get any better when I finally summoned sufficient fortitude to sit through BSD. Over-hyped, overblown, FX-laden, humourless ..... Count Dracula, on the other hand, is the best Hammer Horror film that Hammer never made!

[Johnlprobert]

Perhaps needless to say, Kev, those lovely people at The Dracula Society debate such matters constantly. There's quite a bit of support for Coppola's version but I think the BBC's the best.

Anyway - it's a shame Ms Penhaligon wasn't used in more 70s horror extravaganzas

[Johnlprobert]

And seeing as Dem has just posted a link to this thread I cannot help but mention that Susan Penhaligon is in Panto in Bristol this Xmas!

Wonder if she'll sign my House of Mortal Sin pressbook.....

[carolinec]

Dec 1, 2008 11:45:43 GMT Johnlprobert said:

And seeing as Dem has just posted a link to this thread I cannot help but mention that Susan Penhaligon is in Panto in Bristol this Xmas!

Wonder if she'll sign my House of Mortal Sin pressbook.....

She's quite a difficult autograph to get through the post anyway, John, but she might well sign a panto programme for you in person! As for the House of Mortal Sin .. well, it'd be worth a try! Go on - I dare you ...

[Johnlprobert]

I don't know Caroline - it would mean breaking the habit of a lifetime and actually going to a pantomime.

[dem]

Dec 1, 2008 21:14:00 GMT Johnlprobert said:

I don't know Caroline - it would mean breaking the habit of a lifetime and actually going to a pantomime.

Oh, stop making such a fuss! It's only Jack And The Beanstalk after all, not something dead embarrassing. You could tell the box office you're a press reporter and you'd like to interview Ms. Penhaligon on behalf of a loved-by-everyone popular culture forum with millions of readers! They'll probably give you free tickets! For Vault and England, sir!