EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ (1950) on TCM Jan 21

[Dewey1960]

For those who simply can’t quite get enough of those down and dirty Poverty Row B noirs, mark your calendars now for late Thursday night, January 21 (or early Friday morning, January 22 if you’re on the East Coast) as TCM airs the thoroughly bizarre 1950 quickie EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ, another of a very long line of ultra-cheap curios from the prodigiously prolific Edward L. Cahn, one of the undisputed “Kings of the Bs.” Produced independently and picked up for theatrical distribution by RKO before eventually evaporating into the ethers of obscurity, this murky little gem ranks as one of Cahn’s more interesting films.

Dr. Ross Williams (John Howard) and his crack team of army physicians are certain that by blasting “radioactive isotopes” into human guinea pigs, medical science will find a cure for a rare blood disease. A group of five Alcatraz lifers are given the opportunity to gain their freedom if they’re willing to subject themselves to this hazardous and radical medical experiment. The hardened cons, led by the grizzled Barry Morgan (Robert Shayne, perennial good guy Inspector Henderson on TV’s Superman) are quick to play ball without any illusions of altruism; their only interest is getting out of the can and this is clearly the only shot they’re ever likely to get. But something goes horribly, weirdly wrong and Morgan winds up murdering one of the other cons in the aftermath of the experiment, throwing Dr. Williams’ theory and, for that matter, entire medical career into jeopardy. The resulting mystery surrounding the peculiar events taking place at Alcatraz forms the basis for the remainder of this quirky drama.

While perhaps not as sharply drawn as other notable low budget noirs from the late 40s and early 50s, EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ nevertheless earns its stripes through the sheer weirdness of its far-fetched story and the unexpected detours it takes along the way. At fifty-seven minutes, it can hardly be faulted for overstaying its welcome.

Edward L. Cahn had an incredible career in Hollywood, directing countless low budget features over a thirty-year period, including such classics as MAIN STREET AFTER DARK (1945), THE GAS HOUSE KIDS IN HOLLYWOOD (1947), DESTINATION MURDER (1950), CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955), GIRLS IN PRISON (1956), SHAKE RATTLE & ROCK (1956), VOODOO WOMAN (1957), MOTORCYCLE GANG (1957), INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957), IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958), RIOT IN JUVENILE PRISON (1959), GUNS, GIRLS & GANGSTERS (1959) and CAGE OF EVIL (1960).

[Mr. Arkadin]

You've got me sold. Should I bring the syringes or alcohol swabs?

[knitwit45]

Should I bring the syringes or alcohol swabs?

I think the "Unholy 3" might be coming back into play......

[moira finnie]

Hi Dew,
I really found this movie pretty fascinating when I saw it some time ago and your vivid description of the movie sure brought its weirdness back to life for me. This one should be on a double bill with Yellow Jack (1938-George Seitz) and Before I Hang ((1940-Nick Grinde) since these are all movies about medical experiments on poor saps stuck in all male institutions! Maybe boys shouldn't be left to their own devices, after all.

I would recommend Seven Miles From Alcatraz (1942-Edward Dmytryk) as another Alcatraz-themed movie that has some quirky appeal. It is scheduled for just before Experiment Alcatraz. It's one of the few films when handsome James Craig got to play a quasi-gritty guy who might have dirt under his fingernails and the sight of Frank Jenks (in one of his credited roles) leering at a bodacious and feisty Bonita Granville is definitely worth a look. Dmytryk's movies of this period always had a quirky narrative drive and a surprisingly impudent edge, despite the often low budget and sketchy scripts.

[ChiO]

You have written nothing that would entice me.

I, instead, shall watch the highlights of my Ford and Cukor collection.

[Mr. Arkadin]

You have written nothing that would entice me.

I, instead, shall watch the highlights of my Ford and Cukor collection.

Geez, I just spit hot tea all over my keyboard!!

P.S. It doesn't taste as good coming up.

[Dewey1960]

Hey Moira - BEFORE I HANG would be a terrific co-feature as might be THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (41) and THE LADY AND THE MONSTERS (45), both being highly atmospheric noir / weird science hybrids. And to that I would even add DECOY (46) given its reckless foray into mad scientific pulp fiction and KISS ME DEADLY (55) for much the same reason.

Despite its obvious low budget Cahn's EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ has many visually odd images that anchor it firmly in the Cold War zone, especially during the scene with the isotopes; those cons looked amazingly and eerily alien in a wholly subversive way. Much like the director's other sci-fi / noir masterpiece THE CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (55) which features an army of scientifically resurrected ghouls doing the murderous bidding of a former Nazi mad doctor. Cahn also wrote a lot of his screenplays, so what we're seeing up there on the screen is pretty much what he wants us to see. In many ways he reminds me of Edgar G. Ulmer.

I hope it's enjoyed by those who catch it (again).

[Ollie]

Dew, I wonder if the famous/infamous "Quota Quickies" in Britain were having an effect on American film-makers - sort of "If they can do it, I can, too" sort of mentality. I wonder if this was part of the momentum for Cahn (and Corman and others) to supply a load of these not-quite-full-feature quickies that could be double-billed.

I have so many of Cahn's films without ever connecting them. Creature With The Atom Brain is a relatively new favorite of mine, only seeing it for the first time a few years ago when it arrived on DVD. I give it credit for being the first 'politically correct' film because the name of the once-deported Italian mobster is now "Buchanan" - not exactly standard fair for the Kefauver Commission to examine. I keep wondering - where was that guy deported to after WWII - Petticoat Junction?!!

It's still a terrifically fun film, full of wonderfully dumb stagings (I love the climatic battle in someone's frontyard between a truckload of Army doggies and the radioactive zombies). Arkadin always leaves me laughing with his "anyone notice the wires from their skull?" jokes, too.

I also wonder if the 'end of serials' was another source of momentum for these 'quickies' since some of the most famous '30s serials (was it Flash Gordon?) were re-edited into 90-minute films - and only about 20 minutes of useful footage would have kept a kid's attention! I know - that's about as long as mine sit still. More Emperor Ming! I do think the serials set the stage for TV's successful format.

I just don't know what set THEIR stage for success. Did we have 19th Century stage-plays with 'shorts'? I'm sure we had skits and vaudeville-burlesque 'short' stagings, but were these the impetus for film's serials?

[Dewey1960]

Ollie, I think Cahn and definitely Corman were, as often as not, a step or two ahead of the mainstream Hollywood pack. They had an innately uncanny ability to tap into the current zeitgeist (nuclear paranoia, juvenile delinquents, rock and roll, monsters, etc) before its expiration date came up, or more cynically put--to cash in on it before it became boring. (Cahn might have reached the zenith of this conceit with his 1957 teenagers vs. monsters hybrid INVASION OF THE SAUCERMEN). These guys were the last (and best) of the ulra-cheap old skool exploitation crowd; their style would soon become the hour-long TV series (from 77 Sunset Strip to Mannix and beyond) and finally the TV Movie of the Week. Cahn especially, who'd been making studio and independent features (in the 55 to 70 minute realm) since the early 30s. His resume really becomes interesting when viewed as an ever-evolving landscape of images and themes. Incidentally, one of his best 50s science fiction films, IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (58) (with a screenplay credited to noted sci-fi scribe Jerome Bixby) has been officially acknowledged in most quarters as the basis for Ridley Scott's ALIEN (79).
Theatrical trailer for INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN
[youtube][/youtube]
And now, the trailer for IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE
[youtube][/youtube]

[Ollie]

I don't watch INVASION OF SAUCER-MEN too often because I've got a good VHS tape (and don't want to risk the inevitable machine-eating-tape monster), and the PD versions are usually DivX'd nearly to death. But it's a strong film that needs to get onto a commercial DVD release. IT's made it out there, along with quite a few others from Cahn's catalog.

I'm not sure what Cahn's "worst films" are.

I've got plenty of examples for Corman's "worst list" - I use these to remind myself why he never enjoyed big-time success. Yet there are just as many for his small-time glory. I'm pleased that he was able to rise above Oscar temptations and do what he does (did) best. Like Harry Callahan once said, "A man's GOT to know his limitations." In a great way, he's been a role-model for filmmakers to accept what they can do, and leave pretentioness on celluloid rather than in between their ears. Too bad he doesn't have more good students!

When you opened this thread with a comment (threat? promise?!! yeegawds!!) like "thoroughly bizarre" and "Edward Cahn", I knew I HAD to see EXPERIMENT A. Thanks.

[ChiO]

I watched it yesterday. If only it had some voice-over narration, it would be as close to perfect as a movie gets.

One of the joys of B-noir is the no nonsense way the narrative is advanced. Where are they going? Shot of a door: "WARDEN". Where to now? Shot of a building: "HOSPITAL OFFICE". Nothing fancy here.

It was nice to see Lt. Henderson as a bad guy, and Mr. Drucker providing the key clue to the mystery. But, Dewey, you didn't mention that greatest of all Hoosier actors -- no, not Robert Emhardt or Karl Malden or even Steve McQueen or James Dean -- Kenneth MacDonald, a presence many of us grew up with from The Three Stooges shorts. Whatta voice!

[Dewey1960]

Wasn't aware of old MacDonald's Hoosier roots. Even if I had been, you didn't seem to need any extra encouragement. I also like the guy who played Shayne's buddy, the one who gets the scissors treatment. He's billed as Sam Scar but I don't recall him in anything else. I watched it again, too. It's really a keeper down the stretch, offering many unsavory rewards upon added scrutiny!

[ChiO]

Sam Scar -- does that sound made-up to you?

IMDb has no bio data for him, but quite a resume, including: SIROCCO (uncredited), KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (uncredited), SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (uncredited), AL CAPONE (uncredited) and single TV episodes of Ramar of the Jungle, Dragnet, Sky King, Peter Gunn, and Baretta.

And if that isn't enough to make him a new cult figure, imagine having EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ as your second movie and BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE DEVILS, a Ted V. Mikels special, as your last. Now that's a career trajectory!

[Ollie]

Sam Scar, it is! I'll definitely try to collect his stuff!

I really did like EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ, and all of the others. I did get good copies, in case someone needs a fill-in. I'd hate to think that, as we're being sent to Alcatraz ourselves, that we'd have not received the proper Hollywood indoctrination!

I have a feeling that Alcatraz is the most famous film-prison, yes? Sing Sing's been in at least one (I can't remember where BRUTE FORCE is supposedly staged). And we've had a couple of San Quentin turns, too. Raiford in Florida? I can't remember if a film's been made IN that place or about it - I know it gets occasional mentions in TV shows.

So, is it the "Alcatraz" name that makes it so popular or riveting? I mean, that's a great name. I know the location seems riveting and most memorable - the whole Devil's Island concept, without the tropical diseases.

Oh oh - Leavenworth Prison - that's another popular one in film history.

[ChiO]

Ollie,

Let us apply the Crane Wilbur test: those prison movies that he either wrote or directed, or both.

THE PEOPLE'S ENEMY (1935) - director - fictional (?) prison
ALCATRAZ ISLAND (1937) - writer - Alcatraz
OVER THE WALL (1938) - original screenplay - Sing Sing
CRIME SCHOOL (1938) - story & screenplay - fictional (?) reform school
BLACKWELL'S ISLAND (1939) - story & screenplay - Blackwell's Island
HELL'S KITCHEN (1939) - story & screenplay - fictional (?) reform school
ROGER TOUHY, GANGSTER (1944) - screenplay - Stateville
CANON CITY (1948) - writer & director - Colorado State
THE STORY OF MOLLY X (1949) - writer & director - fictional (?) prison
OUTSIDE THE WALL (1950) - screenwriter & director - Cherry Hill
INSIDE THE WALLS OF FOLSOM PRISON (1951) - original screenplay & director - Duuuh!
WOMEN'S PRISON (1955) - writer - fictional (?) prison
HOUSE OF WOMEN (1962) - writer - fictional (?) prison

So, based on this highly scientific study of someone who seemed obsessed with crime and prison (he also wrote the screenplay for CRIME WAVE and other crime movies that didn't directly focus on prisons), we find the wealth pretty well spread, though California prisons appear to win if one makes the reasonable assumption that the prison in THE STORY OF MOLLY X was located in California.