Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #104 :: July 20•26

Universal Pictures

We’re past mid-July and heading into what is considered the ‘Summer Wind-Down’ in the post-1975 Summer blockbuster era anyway. With the major films released between May and mid-July, this week sees many films released but a lot of them with smaller budgets and smaller scales, looking for audiences tired of the traditional action films released earlier. Before Summer blockbusters existed, the earlier part of the century did produce a few films that won many awards and have gone on to be regarded as classics. 1942 gave us one of the first films to address World War II directly, and won six Oscars in the process. 1952 produced a Oscar-winning Western with subtle, or not so subtle, political references to the current era of Communist witch hunts and blacklisting. The Summer of ’82 gave us a musical that took the Number 1 spot away from E.T., and a film that gave us Glenn Close … and her first Oscar nomination. 1992 saw the first film to deal with identity theft, and 2012 gave us Moon Nazis. Read on to learn more about these and the other films released this week across the decades. Are any of your favorites on the list?

1922

July 21 – The Blacksmith (USA)

• Cast: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Virginia Fox
• Director: Buster Keaton, Malcolm St. Clair
• Production Company: First National Pictures
• Trivia: An alternate version of the film was discovered in June 2013 with a final reel markedly different from the original release. It has been determined that substantial reshoots were undertaken after the film’s release which represents Keaton’s preferred version for wide distribution.

1932

• No new films were released this week in 1932.

1942

July 22 – Mrs. Miniver (USA)

Stanley Kramer Productions

• Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon, Christopher Severn, Brenda Forbes, Clare Sandars, Marie De Becker, Helmut Dantine, John Abbott, Connie Leon, Rhys Williams
• Director: William Wyler
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: The film premiered in New York City on June 4, 1942, opened in limited release in the US on July 3 and in London on July 10. Inspired by the 1940 novel Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther. The highest grossing film of 1942, and the winner of six Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Actress (Garson) and Supporting Actress (Wright). It was the first film to score five Oscar nominations for acting. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2009. The film entered pos-production in 1940 while the US was still a neutral country, but as the US moved closer to war the script was re-written to reflect the increasing pro-British, anti-German outlook of the country. A scene of Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed German pilot in her garden became more and more confrontational with each new draft of the script. The scene was filmed before the Pearl Harbor attack, and was refilmed in February 1942 with Miniver now slapping the pilot across the face. The sermon was written and re-written the night before it was to be shot, and made such an impact that President Roosevelt used it as a morale builder. Part of it was printed in leaflets in various languages and dropped over enemy and occupied territory, and the dialogue was reprinted in Time and Look magazines. Roosevelt ordered the film rushed to theaters for propaganda purposes. Winston Churchill once said that this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers. Norma Shearer was originally offered the role of Mrs. Miniver but rejected it because she didn’t want to play a mother. Greer Garson did not want the role either but was contractually obligated and won the Oscar for her efforts. Her acceptance speech lasted a record 5 1/2 minutes. A sequel, The Miniver Story with Garson and Pidgeon reprising their roles, was released in 1950.

1952

July 22 – The Sound Barrier (UK)

• Cast: Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, John Justin, Dinah Sheridan, Joseph Tomelty, Denholm Elliott, Jack Allen, Ralph Michael
• Director: David Lean
• Production Company: London Film Productions, distributed by British Lion Films
• Trivia: The film was released in the US on November 6, 1952 as Breaking Through the Sound Barrier and Breaking the Sound Barrier. The film was a box office success but is one of the least known of David Lean’s films. Ralph Richardson and Ann Todd were cast as father and daughter, despite the fact that in reality there was little more than four years between them. The de Havilland Comet in the film has rectangular windows which contributed to the plane’s metal fatigue, resulting in two mid-air break-ups in 1954. The aircraft was extensively redesigned with oval windows but the legacy of the aircraft prevented it from being a success.

July 23 – Untamed Frontier (USA)

• Cast: Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters, Scott Brady, Suzan Ball, Minor Watson, Katherine Emery, José Torvay, Douglas Spencer, John Alexander, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Garland, Robert Anderson, Fess Parker, Ray Bennett, David Janssen
• Director: Hugo Fregonese
• Production Company: Universal-International Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in Australia on May 22, 1963. The film’s working title was The Untamed. Fess Parker’s film debut.

July 24 – Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom (USA, serial)

• Cast: Kirk Alyn, Carol Forman, John Crawford, Michael Fox, Don C. Harvey, Rick Vallin, Larry Stewart, Weaver Levy, Zon Murray, Nick Stuart, Marshall Reed, Pierce Lyden, William Fawcett, Rory Mallinson, Frank Ellis
• Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet, Fred F. Sears
• Production Company: Sam Katzman Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: Also known as The Miraculous Blackhawk: Freedom’s Champion, or just simply Blackhawk. Based on the comic book Blackhawk, created by Will Eisner and first published by Quality Comics, but later owned by competitor DC Comics. Columbia Pictures’ 49th serial.

July 25 – High Noon (Canada)

Stanley Kramer Productions

• Cast: Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace Kelly, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr., Harry Morgan, Ian MacDonald, Eve McVeagh, Morgan Farley, Harry Shannon, Lee Van Cleef, Robert J. Wilke, Sheb Wooley
• Director: Fred Zinnemann
• Production Company: Stanley Kramer Productions, distributed by United Artists
• Trivia: The film premiered in London on May 1, 1952, followed by a general UK release on June 9. The film opened in the US on July 30. The film, which takes place in real time, faced controversy for its veiled political themes against blacklisting (which made John Wayne dislike the film immensely, and his efforts with an anti-Communist lobby are credited with the film losing the Best Picture Oscar to The Greatest Show on Earth, who was one of Joseph McCarthy’s biggest supporters). Screenwriter Carl Foreman was blacklisted after the film was released. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning four (Actor, Editing, Score and Song). It also won four Golden Globes (Actor, Supporting Actress, Score and Black and White Cinematography). Ironically, John Wayne accepted Cooper’s Oscar on his behalf and complained he wasn’t offered the role (he was, but he turned it down because of the political undertones and had called the film ‘un-American’). Was among the first 25 films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1989. While Will Kane was supposed to be about 30, Gary Cooper was 50. Grace Kelly, who played his wife, was only 21 at the time. Lee Van Cleef was cast as Deputy Pell, his film debut, but producer Stanley Kramer felt his nose was too hooked which made him look like a villain. He told Van Cleef to get it fixed but the actor refused so Lloyd Bridges got the role and Van Cleef was given the smaller role of Jack Colby, one of the Miller gang. Fred Zinnemann said that the black smoke billowing from the train is a sign that the brakes were failing. He and the cameraman didn’t know it at the time, and barely got out of the way. The camera tripod snagged itself on the track and fell over, smashing the camera, but the film survived, and is in the movie. Gregory Peck had turned down the lead role, which he later regretted but said no one could have played it better than Cooper. The film introduced the idea of a theme song which could be marketed separately from the film, and could be used as a musical motif throughout the film. Tex Ritter recorded the theme song for the film ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’, and Frankie Laine had a million selling record with his version ‘High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling)’. The tune became the first Oscar-winning song from a non-musical film. Due to Zinneman’s extensive preparation and ten days of rehearsal, each scene only took one-to-three takes and the film was completed in 38 days. Lon Chaney Jr., who was five years younger than Cooper, had to wear heavy makeup to make him appear much older. The film was to be shot in color but was chnaged to black-and-white for artistic reasons. Zinneman fought for years to keep the film from being colorized but when it was bought by Republic Pictures, he lost the battle and the colorized version was shown many times on television.

July 25 – Holiday for Sinners (USA)

• Cast: Gig Young, Keenan Wynn, Janice Rule, William Campbell, Richard Anderson, Michael Chekhov, Sandro Giglio, Edith Barrett, Porter Hall, Ralph Dumke, Jack Raine, Frank Dekova, Will Wright
• Director: Gerald Mayer
• Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: Actor John Houseman was the film’s producer. Film’s working title was Days Before Lent.

July 26 – Dreamboat (USA)

• Cast: Clifton Webb, Ginger Rogers, Anne Francis, Jeffrey Hunter, Elsa Lanchester, Fred Clark, Paul Harvey, Ray Collins, Helene Stanley, Richard Garrick, Jay Adler, Emory Parnell
• Director: Claude Binyon
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film opened in New York CIty on July 25, 1952. It opened in Australia on April 4, 1953. The gold lamé dress worn by Ginger Rogers in one of the scenes was worn again by Marilyn Monroe in a short scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

July 26 – The Story of Will Rogers (USA)

• Cast: Will Rogers Jr., Jane Wyman, Carl Benton Reid, Eve Miller, James Gleason, Slim Pickens, Noah Beery Jr., Mary Wickes, Steve Brodie, Pinky Tomlin, Margaret Field, Eddie Cantor, Frank Bank
• Director: Michael Curtiz
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened in New York City on July 17, 1952, and played in Australia from July 10, 1953. The film’s on-screen title was The Story of Will Rogers as told by His Wife. The film’s screenplay was based on the true short story ‘Uncle Clem’s Boy’ by Rogers’ widow Betty Blake, which was published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1940. Will Rogers Jr. starred as his father. Bing Crosby screen tested for the role but his personality was deemed too different from Rogers’. The film depicts Rogers’ father, Clem Rogers, as being part of the Oklahoma delegation at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, despite the fact that Clem Rogers had died in 1911.

1962

July 22 – Play It Cool (UK)

• Cast: Billy Fury, Michael Anderson, Jr., Helen Shapiro, Bobby Vee, Dennis Price, Richard Wattis, Danny Williams, Shane Fenton, Jimmy Crawford, Lionel Blair, Anna Palk, Felicity Young, Ray Brooks, Jeremy Bulloch, Maurice Kaufmann, Peter Barkworth, Bernie Winters
• Director: Michael Winner
• Production Company: Independent Artists, Coronado Productions Ltd., distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
• Trivia: The film was released in the US on May 29, 1953. The statue of the troglodyte guitarist which appears in the nightclub also appears in a nightclub scene in Band of Thieves (1962), and the maze of Laurence Olivier’s House in Sleuth (1972).

July 25 – Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (USA)

• Cast: Richard Beymer, Diane Baker, Corinne Calvet, Fred Clark, Dan Dailey, James Dunn, Juano Hernández, Arthur Kennedy, Ricardo Montalbán, Paul Newman, Susan Strasberg, Jessica Tandy, Eli Wallach, Edward Binns, Philip Bourneuf, Tullio Carminati, Marc Cavell, Charles Fredericks, Simon Oakland, Michael J. Pollard, Whit Bissell, Lillian Adams, Walter Baldwin, Laura Cornell, Miriam Golden, Pitt Herbert, Pat Hogan, Baruch Lumet, Burt Mustin, Sherry Staiger, Sharon Tate, Alfredo Varelli, Mel Welles
• Director: Martin Ritt
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: The film premiered in Chicago on July 18, 1962. Based on Ernest Hemingway’s semi-autobiographical character Nick Adams. The film’s original title was Ernest Hemingway’s Young Man. Hemingway was reluctant to sell the Nick Adams stories but agreed on the condition that ‘Nick was a good boy.’ Hemingway was to provide the film’s opening and closing narration, but he committed suicide before that could happen. Filming began in Mellen, Wisconsin and ended in Verona, Italy. Interiors were supposed to be filmed at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, but that facility was taken up by the production of Cleopatra, forcing the production to finish its studio work back in the United States. Richard Beymer was cast because it was felt he was an actor who could stand up next to Gary Cooper, but Cooper died before production commenced. Henry Fonda was then announced to play Nick’s father in 1961. The European version of the film runs six minutes longer than the US release. Sharon Tate is listed as being in the film, but repeated viewings have not been able to locate her.

July 26 – The Notorious Landlady (USA)

• Cast: Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Fred Astaire, Lionel Jeffries, Estelle Winwood, Maxwell Reed, Philippa Bevans, Doris Lloyd, Henry Daniell, Ronald Long, Richard Peel, Dick Crockett, Ottola Nesmith, Bess Flowers
• Director: Richard Quine
• Production Company: Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: The film opened first in West Germany on April 13, 1962, then France on May 9 and Sweden on May 28. It premiered in Chicago on June 27. The song “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” by George and Ira Gershwin serves as the main theme for the movie and was introduced in the 1937 Fred Astaire film A Damsel in Distress. Jack Lemmon’s father appears in the movie in a non-speaking role. Larry Gelbart’s film writing debut.

1972

July 21 – Junior Bonner (UK)

• Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Preston, Ida Lupino, Ben Johnson, Joe Don Baker, Barbara Leigh, Mary Murphy, Bill McKinney, Dub Taylor, Sandra Deel, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Charles H. Gray
• Director: Sam Peckinpah
• Production Company: ABC Pictures, Joe Wizan-Booth Gardner Productions, Solar Productions, distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation (US and UK), 20th Century Fox (International)
• Trivia: The film premiered in Los Angeles on June 2, 1972. It opened in the US on August 2. Gene Hackman was supposed to play the role that went to Joe Don Baker, but Steve McQueen vetoes his casting because of his salary demands. Robert Preston and Ida Lupino played McQueen’s parents although they were just 12 years older than him.

July 26 – Fat City (USA)

• Cast: Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark, Nicholas Colasanto, Art Aragon, Curtis Cokes
• Director: John Huston
• Production Company: Rastar, distributed by Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12, 1972. It received a UK release on August 24. Based on the boxing novel Fat City by Leonard Gardner, who also wrote the screenplay. John Huston wanted Marlon Brando for the lead role but Brando kept saying he needed more time to think about it and Huston took that to mean he wasn’t interested so Stacy Keach was hired. Huston wanted Beau Bridges for the role of Ernie, but Bridges felt he was too old for the part so he suggested his brother Jeff. Susan Tyrrell earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role. Candy Clark’s theatrical feature film debut.

1982

July 23 – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (USA)

• Cast: Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Dom DeLuise, Charles Durning, Theresa Merritt, Jim Nabors, Lois Nettleton, Noah Beery Jr., Robert Mandan, Barry Corbin, Mary Jo Catlett, Mary Louise Wilson, Howard K. Smith, Donald F. Colson, Helen Kleeb, Mickey Jones, Bobby Fite, Paula Shaw, Kenneth White, Ted Gehring, Verne Lundquist, Lee Grosscup, Alice Drummond, Terri Treas, Randy Bennett
• Director: Colin Higgins
• Production Company: Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions, RKO Pictures, distributed by Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on November 19, 1982. Adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical. The last of three films directed by Colin Higgins, which included Foul Play and 9 to 5. Charles Durning received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film was also Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Parton). Peter Masterson and Tommy Tune, who directed the Broadway musical, were supposed to direct the film together, but Universal was hesitant to give the film to first-time directors. After Dolly Parton was cast, Willie Nelson was suggested as her co-star, and while Universal met with him, Burt Reynolds ultimately got the role. Reynolds blamed Parton for having the original directors fired. Universal wanted to hire Mickey Rooney, but Reynolds took credit for manipulating Higgins into casting Durning, suggesting that no one knew Durning could sing and dance and by casting him Higgins would get all the credit for the ‘discovery’ instead of already having a known commodity in Rooney. While the movie is faithful to the show, one change was having Reynolds’ and Parton’s characters in an on-going affair instead of the one-time fling 15 years earlier in the show. Parton had described her experience making the film ‘a nightmare’. Five songs from the Broadway show were dropped from the movie, while Parton contributed two songs including a two-stanza version of ‘I Will Always Love You’. She actually wrote several new songs that weren’t used, but one, ‘Where Stallions Run’, was restored for the ABC TV broadcast because the film was too short after the editors made their cuts for broadcast. While the song ‘Hard Candy Christmas’ was performed by several female members of the cast, Parton recorded it herself and released it as a single which reached the Top Ten on the Country singles chart in late 1982. In some parts of the country, advertising was a problem as the word ‘Whorehouse’ was considered obscene, so advertising replaced the word with ‘Cathouse’. Television ads were banned outright in some locations. In some interviews, Parton referred to it as The Best Little Chicken House in Texas. The film opened at Number 1, ending E.T.‘s six week run in the top position. The house used in the film sits on the Universal backlot and has been used in an episode of Ghost Whisperer and in the film House of 1000 Corpses.

July 23 – The World According to Garp (USA)

Warner Bros. Pictures

• Cast: Robin Williams, James ‘J.B.’ McCall, Mary Beth Hurt, Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Swoosie Kurtz, Peter Michael Goetz, Mark Soper, Warren Berlinger, Brandon Maggart, Amanda Plummer, Jenny Wright, Brenda Currin, John Irving, George Roy Hill, Kate McGregor-Stewart
• Director: George Roy Hill
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Pan Arts, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: The film’s Los Angeles premiere was held on July 14, 1982. The film was also released in Canada on July 23. Based on the 1978 novel by John Irving. Glenn Close’s film debut, earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She played Robon Williams’ mother, although she was just four years older. John Lithgow was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in one of the first positive depictions of a trans person in a Hollywood film. The house that the plane crashes into was built at one end of the only runway at Lincoln Park Airport, a very small airstrip in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. Christopher Reeve turned down the lead role; Jeff Daniels was also considered. The movie was the first filmed adaptation of a John Irving novel. Irving has a cameo as a wrestling match referee. Director George Roy Hill plays the pilot who crashes into the house.

1992

July 24 – Mo’ Money (USA)

• Cast: Damon Wayans, Stacey Dash, Joe Santos, John Diehl, Bernie Mac, Harry J. Lennix, Marlon Wayans, Mark Beltzman, Quincy Wong, Kevin Casey, Larry Brandenburg, Garfield, Alma Yvonne, Richard E. Butler, Matt Doherty, Evan Lionel Smith, Rondi Reed
• Director: Peter Macdonald
• Production Company: Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: The film was released in the UK on December 18, 1992. Damon Wayans revealed Kadeem Hardison was the original choice to play Seymour Stewart, but Wayans’ mother told him to cast younger brother Marlon. Bernie Mac’s film debut. First film involving an early version of identity theft.

2002

July 25 – The Safety of Objects (Israel)

• Cast: Glenn Close, Dermot Mulroney, Jessica Campbell, Patricia Clarkson, Joshua Jackson, Moira Kelly, Robert Klein, Timothy Olyphant, Mary Kay Place, Kristen Stewart, Alex House, Charlotte Arnold, Aaron Ashmore, C. David Johnson
• Director: Rose Troche
• Production Company: Clear Blue Sky, Renaissance Films, Infilm, Killer Films, distributed by IFC Films
• Trivia: The film screened at TIFF on September 7, 2001. It received a limited US release on March 7, 2003, and was released in the UK on August 15, 2003. Based upon a collection of short stories of the same name written by A. M. Homes. Kristen Stewart’s film debut.

2012

July 20 – Interview with a Hitman (UK)

• Cast: Luke Goss, Caroline Tillette, Stephen Marcus, Elliot Greene, Branko Tomovic, Philip Whitchurch, Danny Midwinter, Patrick Lyste
• Director: Perry Bhandal
• Production Company: Kirlian Pictures, Scanner Rhodes, distributed by WellGoUSA
• Trivia: The film premiered in the US on home video on March 5, 2013. The film was shot in 18 days. Also known as Hitman Reloaded in Australia.

July 25 – 360 (France)

• Cast: Lucia Siposová, Gabriela Marcinkova, Johannes Krisch, Jude Law, Moritz Bleibtreu, Jamel Debbouze, Dinara Drukarova, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Rachel Weisz, Juliano Cazarré, Maria Flor, Ben Foster, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ivanir, Danica Jurcova, Peter Morgan, Riann Steele, François-Xavier Demaison
• Director: Fernando Meirelles
• Production Company: BBC Films, The UK Film Council, ORF, Unison Films, Gravity Pictures, Hero Entertainment, Prescience, EOS Pictures, Wild Bunch, Film Location Austria, Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Fund, Revolution, Dor Film, Fidélité Films, O2 Filmes, Muse Productions, distributed by Wild Bunch (France), Filmladen (Austria), Paris Filmes (Brazil), Artificial Eye (United Kingdom)
• Trivia: The film was screened at TIFF on September 9, 2001. It received a home video release in the US on June 29, 2012. It received a limited theatrical release in Canada and the US on August 3, and a UK release on August 10. Loose adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 play Reigen.

July 25 – Iron Sky (USA, limited)

Blind Spot Pictures

• Cast: Julia Dietze, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Tilo Prückner, Udo Kier, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Michael Cullen
• Director: Timo Vuorensola
• Production Company: Blind Spot Pictures, 27 Films Production, New Holland Pictures, distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Finland (Finland), Polyband (Germany), Hoyts (Australia)
• Trivia: The film was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, 2012, and at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 10. The film played several international markets beginning in March 2012. It opened in the UK on May 23, and in Canada on August 10. One of the most expensive Finnish films ever made. A director’s cut of the film with 20 additional minutes was released to home video in 2014. More than 10 percent of funding for this film came from fans. The donors are listed in the credits. The radio traffic heard in the scene where the spaceships from the other UN countries join the fight was entirely crowdsourced. The dialog were recorded by fans of the film at home and send to the director. Fans of the film contributed fictional film posters that can be seen in the movie theater scene. The Wehrmacht-soldiers entering the Götterdämmerung spoof the 1984 Apple ad for the Macintosh.

July 25 – Ruby Sparks (USA, limited)

• Cast: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Chris Messina, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Aasif Mandvi, Steve Coogan, Toni Trucks, Deborah Ann Woll, Elliott Gould, Alia Shawkat, Wallace Langham, Michael Berry Jr.
• Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
• Production Company: Bona Fide Productions, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Trivia: The film received a limited release in Canada on August 3, 2012, and opened in the UK on October 12. Zoe Kazan not only stars in the film but wrote the screenplay as well. She and Paul Dano had been in a relationship since 2007. The house Calvin’s mother lives in actually belonged to Sid Krofft, co-creator of H.R. Pufnstuf and other bizarre Saturday morning kids shows, and much of the dialogue in the scene was written on the spot based on Krofft’s tour of the house on the day of filming.