Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Updating the IMDb...Again

In no particular order...

The deservedly obscure Anthony M. Lanza/Arch Hall Sr. talk show spoof THE IRV CARLSON SHOW resurfaced a decade ago courtesy of Something Weird Video, under the (sloppily spliced in) title THE WEIRD ONES. However, this so-called comedy was submitted to the MPAA in 1971 as TELL IT LIKE IT IS and then received its widest theatrical exposure under the title THE NOW PEOPLE. Neither of these titles are listed on the IMDb (Meanwhile, neither THE IRV CARLSON SHOW nor THE WEIRD ONES are on file with the MPAA).

Sean MacGregor directed four feature films that we know of: two that he was fired from (CRY BLOOD APACHE and DEVIL TIMES FIVE) and two that he may have finished himself (NOVEMBER CHILDREN and CAMPER JOHN). If there's anything to glean from his limited oeuvre, it's the strong suspicion that (1) he never learned how to work with sync sound, and (2) he had a serious case of Tom Laughlin envy. His second try, NOVEMBER CHILDREN, is better known today as NIGHTMARE COUNTY -- if it's known at all -- with a release date of 1977 according to the IMDb. This is a mistake on top of a mistake.

NOVEMBER CHILDREN was in theatrical release by August of 1972, and was retitled NIGHTMARE COUNTY and re-released by Intercontinental Releasing Corporation beginning in May 1976 (NIGHTMARE OF DEATH is another alternate title filed with the MPAA, who claim the movie was rated R in 1972, re-rated to a PG later that year, then re-rated R again in '73). IRC kept it in theatrical release into the 1980s in major markets like New York (where it played 42nd Street for one day) and Chicago (which explains its "Dog of the Week" appearance on Sneak Previews around this time), even though it was already on TV as early as March 1978.

Going by its original ad campaign, THE JESUS TRIP (1971) looks like a biker version of TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA...

...but this Eve Meyer presentation was re-released in 1972 as THE RAVAGED, with no sign of Sister Anna anywhere in its campaign. This alternate title is absent from the IMDb.

Robert J. Siegel's PARADES (1972), a military prison drama with music contributions from Barry Manilow and Alan Menken, is better known under its reissue title, THE LINE, but Cinerama Releasing also put it out as BREAK LOOSE, an alternate title that isn't in the IMDb.

Readers of our second blog, The Paperback Film Projector, know how much we love novelizations. In 1969/1970, adults-only publisher Greenleaf Classics released a series of rare photo illustrated novelizations of softcore movies, several of which were issued under alternate titles. One of these is The Incredible Peeping Tom by Tod Nylan, which is actually a novelization of the black-and-white invisible man nudie HENRY'S NIGHT IN (1969)...

...while Weekend Warrior by Emil Ludwig is a novelization of the Harry Novak release WEEKEND LOVERS (1969), directed by Dwayne Avery.

Speaking of Harry Novak and Dwayne Avery, another of their skinful collaborations, THE EXOTIC DREAMS OF CASANOVA, is on the IMDb as a 1974 release, but we've confirmed playdates for it going back to June 1971.

Here's one that our friend John Charles brought to our attention. Frederick Friedel's neat horror-crime hybrid AXE is listed as a July 1977 release on the IMDb, but it opened in Gastonia, North Carolina on August 23, 1974 as LISA, LISA.

The IMDb has LITTLE GIRL, BIG TEASE as a February 1977 release, but we've found theatrical bookings for it as early as July 1976. It was rated R by the MPAA in 1975, under the title SNATCHED, so it may have been in circulation even earlier, and under that title as well.

Troma released James Riffel's shoestring Jersey-shot horror flick DEAD DUDES IN THE HOUSE (a.k.a. THE HOUSE ON TOMBSTONE HILL) beginning in 1991...

...but Riffel himself released it as THE DEAD COME HOME in October 1989. It played midnight shows at different theaters in New Jersey after a one-week run at the legendary Fabian Theater in Paterson, NJ.

The IMDb claims a November 1979 release date for the inept, micro-budgeted Wildman Steve comedy THE SIX THOUSAND DOLLAR NIGGER, but the ad above is from its Atlanta opening on December 22, 1978. Also, SUPER SOUL BROTHER is credited as a "video title" when it's an alternate theatrical title as well.

THE CARHOPS is credited with a 1975 release date on the IMDb, which is incorrect. NMD Film Distributing put out the version known as THE CARHOPS in 1977. As for the 1975 release date...

...that applies to KITTY CAN'T HELP IT, the original cut of the movie without the carhop footage that was added for the '77 release. Given an R rating by the MPAA in 1974, KITTY CAN'T HELP IT was released by Mammoth Films in 1975 (The ad above is from a May '75 run in De Moines, IA).

All-Scope International released THE HOAX in Phoenix, Arizona on April 19, 1972...

...but American Films Ltd. re-released it as SWISS BANK ACCOUNT in 1974, which isn't noted on the IMDb.

When the South African actioner DEATH OF A SNOWMAN (1976) came out on DVD from Synapse Films in November 2010, there was quite a bit of confusion over its U.S. release history, which still hasn't been cleared up on the IMDb. In a nutshell, Cinematic Releasing Corporation released it in 1978 as BLACK TRASH...

...then re-released it as SOUL PATROL in 1981 with a completely different ad campaign (The film received video releases under both titles, too).

There's currently no U.S. theatrical release info for León Klimovsky's LA REBELION DE LAS MUERTAS on the IMDb, despite the fact that we did a One-Sheet of the Week post about it nearly two and a half years ago. The film was released stateside on the bottom half of a double bill with LA SAGA DE LOS DRACULA/THE SAGA OF DRACULA beginning in December 1973, from International Cine Film Corporation. The 1976 volume of John Willis' Screen World lists both films as February '75 releases through International Amusements Corporation, which is what the IMDb has as release info for THE SAGA OF DRACULA (The earlier date and distributor should be added to this entry).

But that's not the end of the story, because...

...LA REBELION DE LAS MUERTAS was re-released in 1981 as WALK OF THE DEAD by Independent Artists Corporation, another bit of info missing from the U-know-what.

By the way, our earliest sighting of LA REBELION DE LAS MUERTAS in the U.S. is a one-week run at the Cine 1 & 2, Times Square's premier Spanish-language theater, where it was co-billed with ESCALOFRIO DIABOLICO (1971) during the week of October 17-23, 1973.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Holy shit, you guys are good.

John Charles said...

Excellent detective work, sir!

Anonymous said...

I hope you're adding all this TO the IMDb

rivamarsh said...

Hello,

I submitted all of the corrections.

For THE NOW PEOPLE I added TELL IT LIKE IT IS as the main title and THE NOW PEOPLE as an alternative title (they didn’t have ‘wide release title’ in their list of attributes, but I was considering using ‘new title’ any suggestions?) I also kept THE IRV CARLSON SHOW as an alternative title (do you think I should just delete that title altogether?) I also added Donkey International Film as the theatrical distributor.

Added NOVEMBER CHILDREN as the main title and replaced NIGHTMARE COUNTY as a re-release title from (1976). I also added NIGHTMARE OF DEATH as an alternative title (do you know the year this title was first used?) also submitted august 1972 as being the first release year. For the distributor section I changed the 1977 IRC re-release to 1976 and added Cinema National Corporation with the original 1972 theatrical release.

As for THE JESUS TRIP I added THE RAVAGED as a 1972 re-release and added Emco Films’ retitled re-release to the distributors section.

Also added the alternative title BREAK LOOSE to the 1972 film PARADES. Do you happen to know what year the title BREAK LOOSE was first used?

Added aka title THE INCREDIBLE PEEPING TOM to HENRY’S NIGHT IN (1969) and the aka title WEEKEND WARRIOR to WEEKEND LOVERS (1969).

Also submitted June 1971 as the original release month/year for The Exotic Dreams of Casanova (if you find an even earlier month/year I will update it). It looks like someone added the West Germany release date and it might have bumped the original U.S. release year. Also corrected the July 1977 date of LISA LISA to August 23, 1974 in Gastonia, North Carolina. Corrected the February 1977 to July 1976 for LITTLE GIRL, BIG TEASE (again if you find an even earlier month/year I will update it). Also imdb does list the aka title SNATCHED (if you click on the ‘see more’ tab or if you search that title) but I added the correct country and an aka attribute so it should actually show up on the page now.

Changed DEAD DUDES IN THE HOUSE to THE DEAD COME HOME as the original release title and added October 1989 as the earliest date in Paterson, New Jersey. Also added James Riffel [us] under the distributors section as the original distributor (do you know if he used a company name? Because you said it was self released I just added his name as the ‘company’ name) Also updated the aka title THE HOUSE ON TOMBSTONE HILL so it will actually show up on the page. I furthermore changed the release date for THE SIX THOUSAND DOLLAR NIGGER to December 22, 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia and corrected the SUPER SOUL BROTHER title attribute to alternative title.

I changed THE CARHOPS to KITTY CAN’T HELP IT as the main title and added Mammoth Films as the film’s first distributor. I also added THE CARHOPS to the aka section (I used reissue title as the attribute; there was no ‘recut version’ attribute so I thought that was the next best thing). I also corrected N.M.D. Film Distributing Company [us] in the distributor section adding the correct date (1977) and recut with added footage and retitled re-release. Added SWISS BANK ACCOUNT as a reissue title for THE HOAX, added American Films Ltd. [us] under the distributor section (with the correct attributes) and I also added the April 19, 1972 release date in Phoenix, Arizona.

I added both releases with appropriate attributes for Cinematic Releasing Corporation [us] under the distributor section for DEATH OF A SNOWMAN.

As for VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES I added December 1973 as the U.S. release date, added International Cine Film Corporation [us] as the original U.S. distributor, Independent Artists Corporation [us] for the 1981 retitled (WALK OF THE DEAD) re-release and I also added International Amusements Corp. [us] for a 1975 re-release (is this correct?). I also added International Cine Film Corporation [us] to the page of THE DRACULA SAGA. I also corrected the aka titles VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES with as dubbed version attribute & WALK OF THE DEAD with a reissue one.

rivamarsh said...

I think all of the changes I submitted went though from the last “Updating the IMDB” post, except the date changes, for instance DEATH CURSE OF TARTU is still stuck at 1968 (but the USA 1966 is listed under release dates) I think they're really backed up but I will write and ask what the problem is? (I always check the date changes from the last post, I haven’t forgotten)

Keep up the great job as always

Temple of Schlock said...

Thanks for making these changes and additions to the IMDb. We should leave THE IRV CARLSON SHOW as an alternate title of THE NOW PEOPLE/TELL IT LIKE IT IS, since there's no evidence that it ISN'T an alternate title. I can't find a date for NIGHTMARE OF DEATH, just the mention of it in the MPAA database, but 1973 is the date for the BREAK LOOSE re-release. Everything else is great. Now go get some rest -- you'll need it for the two updates I'm posting next week! ;)

Screen 13 said...

I may be able to help. I think there's a mention for NIGHTMARE OF DEATH in a 7/2/73 Boxoffice Magazine in it's MPAA listings. According to my notes, it was submitted by Cinema National and Rated R.

Keep up the great work!

Screen 13 said...

One more note: I think that the 1972 issues of Boxoffice that feature NOVEMBER CHILDREN in the MPAA reports are 4/3/72 for the R and 11/13/72 for the PG. I hope I have my notes correct.

Temple of Schlock said...

Screen 13: Thank you very much! I checked Boxoffice and all those dates are correct.

Rivamarsh: As per Screen 13's comments, NIGHTMARE OF DEATH is a 1973 re-release, rated R, with Cinema National still the distributor.

Screen 13 said...

Re: LITTLE GIRL, BIG TEASE. Cannon announced it's Distribution of the film in December, 1975, at that time aiming it for a Mid-December release I think. The information was from a 12/1/75 Boxoffice. Looking at the Miscellaneous Company listings in a 7/19/76 issue, as well as it's 3/16/76 for further investigation, it was listed as having an April, 1976 release.

Again, I hope the research is on the right track.

rivamarsh said...

Corrected NIGHTMARE OF DEATH as a 1973 re-release. Also added Cinema National with a 1973 retitled re-release.

rivamarsh said...

UPDATED!!

Tell It Like It Is (1971) (AKA The Now People)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379585/

November Children (1972)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258839/

The Jesus Trip (1971)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067268/

Parades (1972)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081058/

Henry's Night In (1969)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064419/

Weekend Lovers (1969)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065199/

"The Exotic Dreams of Casanova" (1971)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067074/

Lisa, Lisa (1974)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075710/

Little Girl... Big Tease (1976)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125837/

The Dead Come Home (1989) (AKA Dead Dudes in the House)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101670/

The Six Thousand Dollar Nigger (1978)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081572/

Kitty Can't Help It (1975)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126230/

Although the aka hasn't gone through yet.

The Hoax (1972)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0201661/

Death of a Snowman (1978)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197909/

AKA attributes still have not been updated.


The Saga of Dracula (1973)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069208/

Vengeance of the Zombies (1973)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069165/

Unknown said...

"The Dead Come Home" is great, and that was the perfect title for the movie. Troma completely ruined the film's reputation, with their stupid titles and cover art.