Monster-of-the-Week: …this week’s honoree is the winged fire demon…
…conjured up periodically in Jacques Tourneur’s superb 1957 Night of the Demon, or, as it’s known in its abridged American form, Curse of the Demon, showing Friday evening at 9:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) on that all-time greatest TV channel, Turner Classic Movies...
It’s said that director Tourneur, screenwriter Charles Bennett and star Dana Andrews all thought the demon in this adaptation of the M.R. James short story “Casting the Runes” should be suggested rather than seen, but they were overruled by producer Hal Chester. Tourneur et al were probably aesthetically more tasteful, but the demon, with his loutish, jowly face, is cool enough that it’s hard to regret its inclusion.
You know, what surprised me most about that movie was the reveal. It came so early in the film. And since I find anything with Dana Andrews irresistible, I watched.
ReplyDeleteI can see how it would really have been a classier picture if they hadn't used the big closeups of the Demon's pretty pan, but I can't help it, there's that vulgar little-kid part of me that wants to get a good look at the monster. In he movies, that is, not in real life.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, what a shame they never did an Aurora model of it!