Introduction

History

Screenplay

Casting

Shooting

Post Production

Gallery

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Casting:
Chris: Armstrong wanted Ian Ogilvy. Hayward insisted the role be re-written as American and gave Armstrong the choice between two AIP contract players - Frankie Avalon or Fabian. Armstrong opted for Avalon.

Sheila: Armstrong wanted Jane Merrow. Hayward insisted the role be re-written as American for the AIP contract player Carol Linley. As Linley was unavailable, Hayward cast British born Jill Haworth.

Richard: Although Armstrong in 1960 had originally conceived the part for a young Peter McEnery, by the time the script was with Tigon, he had already re-written it for David Bowie. Hayward refused to allow the use of Bowie as he claimed his being a singer would clash with Frankie Avalon - not that Avalon was going to sing in the film, anyway. The loss of Bowie as Richard also meant Armstrong lost him as the film’s composer. Armstrong’s next choice was Noel Janus with whom he would later work in The Hunt. Janus was agreed upon but objections by Equity regarding his joining the Union only days before filming, resulted in Julian Barnes (who had originally been cast as Henry) being cast in the role by the casting director while Armstrong was in Southport overseeing the set construction.

Gary: Now too old for the part of Richard, Peter McEnery became Armstrong’s choice for the re-written Gary. When he proved to be unavailable, Armstrong entered into discussions with the singer/composer Scott Walker for the role but when Walker finally decided to turn it down, Mark Wynter was cast.

Henry: Originally to have been played by Julian Barnes. When Barnes was re-cast as Richard, Armstrong opted for his second choice for Henry, Robin Stewart.

Madge: Veronica Doran was Armstrong’s first and only choice, a close friend for whom he had re-written the role.

Richard: Richard O’Sullivan. Armstrong already knew O’Sullivan’s work and was his first and only choice to partner Doran.

Dorothy: Carol Dilworth was cast at Tony Tenser’s instigation. He was convinced that her celebrity status from TV’s game show, The Golden Shot would more than make up for her lack of acting experience when it came to box-office and marketing.

Sylvia: Tenser’s personal insistence was Gina Warwick for the role. Again, he believed her lack of acting experience was secondary to the fact that she was beautiful, sexy, the wife of the British head of top agency, William Morris, and was prepared to do nude sex scenes.

Chief Inspector: the role created for Boris Karloff by Hayward. When Karloff eventually proved too ill to play the part, the casting director quickly replaced him with Dennis Price. It was Price, therefore, who ended up filming the briefest of appearances in Armstrong’s version and the wheelchair-crazed lunatic who dominated Hayward’s version. He, later, featured in all Gerry Levy’s additional police footage.

Remaining characters: were all created for the additional scenes shot by Gerry Levy during the post-production battles and did not exist in any of Armstrong’s screenplay drafts or his unseen final edited version of the film.

Boris Karloff as Narrator: a final desperate attempt by Hayward to use up Karloff’s remaining contract with AIP was to have him propped up in an armchair making an introductory speech before the film began. Armstrong dutifully wrote one, but Karloff’s health deteriorated so much that it was never filmed.

The Hayward version: Armstrong refused to have anything to do with it. Tony Tenser, therefore, stood in for him on set as director while the absurd scenes were shot by a cast and crew barely able to deliver the risible dialogue without laughing. None of the resultant footage was ever used.

Additional and Replacement Scenes: When Tigon was forced to pay for an additional two weeks filming by AIP to make up for their having given Armstrong four weeks instead of a six week shooting schedule, he wrote material to partially replace character and story elements lost as a result of Hayward’s original pre-shoot mutilation of the screenplay. It also gave Armstrong an opportunity for certain close-ups, pick-ups and other footage he had been unable to film due to the shortness of time he had been given. These new written scenes were never seen by anyone except the film’s editor and the newly appointed “producer” of the film, Gerry Levy. At a crucial meeting between Tigon and AIP from which Hayward insisted Armstrong be excluded, Levy replaced Armstrong’s scenes with scenes of his own - which Hayward willingly agreed he should direct. It is Levy’s scenes (under the name of Peter Marcus), which depict Sylvia’s affair with the George Sewell character, the numerous police station episodes, the embarrassing singalong in the pub, and the ‘Swinging London’ depiction of Carnaby Street. Moments of Levy dialogue also pepper certain scenes of Armstrong’s segments in an effort to remove Armstrong’s more cynical approach to his characters. Similarly darker sexual and homosexual inferences were altered or removed by Levy as were the psychological reasons governing Richard’s psychosis - his end dialogue regarding his sexual confusions being replaced by talk of a lost brother called John.

History - Shooting

Copyright © 2004-2005 Michael Armstrong