![]() McDowall would have appeared in all five films had not a job directing a film in Scotland kept him away from the production of Beneath the Planet of the Apes. He is as closely identified with POTA: The Original Series as William Shatner is with Star Trek: The Original Series (McDowall and Shatner made opposite migrations with their best-known properties: Shatner from the small screen to the big screen, and McDowall from the big screen to the small screen, but very briefly). Roddy McDowall’s best-remembered roles were as Cornelius and Caesar in four of the original five Planet of the Apes films. He would have been a superb radio drama actor during the Golden Age of Radio. And at least seventy percent of his performance came through his voice. In The Legend of Hell House, McDowall was called upon to present an extraordinary range of emotions, from meek, fearful passivity to scornful, mocking sarcasm from desperate cowardice to determined self-sacrifice and from near-helpless terror to a vengeful, furious, nearly megalomaniacal triumph. During much of his career, he, along with Montgomery Clift, exemplified the vulnerable, sensitive, often wounded male – Clift with his face, and McDowall with his voice. McDowall was gifted with an extraordinary vocal instrument. What really struck me about McDowall’s performance was the compelling power and finesse of his voice. Ben is determined to keep his head low through the week he is instructed to spend inside the Belasco House, cutting himself off psychically from the house’s poltergeists but he is forced into a more active role by the deaths of two of his compatriots and ultimately emerges triumphant over the malign spirit of Emeric Belasco, the perverted, evil former owner of the house. He barely escaped with his life fifteen years earlier and is only convinced to join the present expedition by a promised $100,000 payment from a dying millionaire who wants to obtain proof of life after death. Roddy McDowall is featured as Ben Fischer, a physical medium who, as a teenager, was the only survivor of a previous scientific expedition to the titular haunted house. This past weekend, I re-watched The Legend of Hell House, the 1973 horror film based on Richard Matheson’s novel, Hell House (Matheson wrote the script for the film). Roddy McDowall, the man with the voice of vulnerability The Bad Luck Spirits’ Social Aid and Pleasure Club.The Cozy Apocalypse: On the Beach by Nevil Shute.SF Goes to College: Drunkard’s Walk by Frederik Pohl and Kampus by James Gunn.The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.1950s Suburban Angst: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Confessions of a Crap Artist by Philip K.Ballard and Two Novels by Robert Silverberg Thrill of the New: the Disaster Novels of J.Two Bildungsromans: Gladiator by Philip Wylie and The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow.Who Killed Science Fiction? by Earl Kemp.Will the Rise of Self-Publishing Change the Portrayal of Commerce in Science Fiction?.Burn the Witch! Swarm Cyber-Shaming in Science Fiction.What Kind of Literary Ecosystem Do We Want to Build?.Science Fiction Movements and Manifestos.The Absence of 9-11 from Science Fiction.Crossing the River Styx: Memories of the Aftermath of Katrina.Lust for a Laptop, or the Madness of the Compulsive Collector, pt. ![]() ![]()
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