Movie theater chain owner John Parker's nightmarish Dementia (1953) was notable for lacking a single word of dialog during its 61 minutes. That didn't stop the New York State Film Board from banning it as "the quintessence of gruesomeness," objecting to nearly the entire film. The troubled production starred non-actor Adrienne Barrett, who was Parker's secretary, and was inspired by a nightmare she'd recounted to her boss. It also featured AIP character actor Bruno VeSota (Attack of the Giant Leeches), who always insisted that he helped neophyte Parker with direction, VeSoto's then-wife Jebbie in her only film role, Richard Barron from the 1951 crime film The Hoodlum, Ben Night Tide Roseman, and diminutive newsstand owner Angelo Rossito (Confessions of an Opium Eater). Jazz great Shorty Rogers and his band The Giants appear in a basement nightclub scene, and the soundtrack was composed by George Antheil of Ballet Mécanique fame. In 1957 distributor Jack H. Harris circulated a censored print with added narration by Johnny Carson's chuckling aide-de-camp's Ed McMahon (Slaughter's Big Rip-Off), and famously flaunted an excerpt in his own sci-fi feature The Blob (1958).
RSS Feed