Charles Beaumont (1) (1929–1967)

If ever there was a book of short stories that started with a BANG!, this is it! “Miss Gentibelle” is the story, and BANG it is! “There’s been a lot of death in this house…” That parrot - oh my god!

I recognized the author's name from the old Twilight Zone t.v. episodes and I thought I'd take a chance. I wasn't disappointed! 17 short stories by Beaumont, most of them appearing for the first time in this collection. The first story was definitely my favorite, but there is enough show more darkness and creepiness to go around! And "The Crooked Man" was a big mind bender for me, with a world where heterosexuality is illegal and homosexuality is the norm! That one first appeared in 1955 - way ahead of its time!

LOVE this blurb from the back cover:

“If you are lily-livered or chicken-hearted or a dangerous maniac, don’t read these stories.”

You’ve been warned!

“The moon is the shepherd,
The clouds are his sheep…” show less

According to Roger Corman's brother Gene, "The Intruder" was the only film that exploitation King Corman ever made a loss on. It is a film with a highly developed and overt social consciousness, but unfortunately it was a commercial and critical failure. In recognition of that failure Corman never made an explicitly political film again; his approach from that time on being to deliver the exploitation goods and to leave any political or social commentary to the subtext. In many ways that is show more a real shame as " The Intruder" is a brave and powerful film that confronts the evils of racism and segregation face on. The screenplay by regular Corman collaborator Charles Beaumont (from his own novel) sees the charismatic Adam Cramer (William Shatner) arriving in a small town in the southern United States on the eve of school integration. Cramer begins insinuating himself with the townsfolk and begins delivering dangerous speeches about the dangers of integration and the need for racial segregation. His inflammatory rhetoric soon sees the situation running out of control with an angry mob taking to the streets. After Ella (Beverly Lunsford), a white schoolgirl, makes a false accusation of rape against a black student, Cramer finds the situation fast spiralling out of his control and a lynch mob taking to the streets.
The Intruder" is robust in the extreme in regard to its overall themes and pulls no punches in regard to its message. Beaumont's screenplay and Corman's economic and studied direction powerfully highlight the dangers of rhetorical political demagoguery and how that can lead to unintended and violent outcomes on the streets. It's a message with just as much political resonance today as it did when first filmed. Corman doesn't shy away from some brutal racist language, which makes the film a challenging and abrasive watch for modern, more politically correct audiences, but his approach is absolutely correct and ensures that the evils of racism are properly and appropriately illustrated. The film is shot in clean, clear black-and-white by cinematographer Taylor Byars who, along with Corman, makes excellent use of authentic locations. William Shatner delivers a first class performance as Adam Cramer which belles his reputation as a b-grade actors. Shatner is powerful, commanding and impressive, with the right mix of overblown oratory, ingratiating subtlety and poisonous charisma to give the character of Cramer the required persona.
All this makes "The Intruder" a powerful and brave statement that Roger Corman handles with great skill. His direction keeps the story taut and focused, delivering a powerful piece of polemic that gets to the heart of the appeal of politicians peddling dangerously simple answers, while at the same time it skewers the evils of racism and intolerance. This film is far from being my favourite Roger Corman film, but it is probably his best conventional film and without a doubt his most important. "The Intruder" deserves much greater and much wider recognition. show less

Known as "Burn, Witch, Burn" in the United States and "Night of the Eagle" in the UK, this is a clever and nicely constructed adaptation of Fritz Lieber's, superior horror story "Conjure Wife". Written by frequent Roger Corman collaborators Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson, the film tells the story of professor Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde), a young, gifted academic, loved by his students and quickly rising through the ranks of academia. When he catches his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) show more engaging in secretive witchcraft, he orders all her magical totems and witchy accoutrements destroyed. As soon as Tansy's charms are burned things start going terribly wrong for Norman - he's accused of rape, his country cottage burns down and Tansy tries to drown herself. With his life out of control he begins to reappraise his belief in the supernatural. The Matheson / Beaumont story is hugely interesting in the clever dynamic it sets up between male and female. Norman has a rigid belief in "masculine" rationalism and logic, while Tansy has a "feminine" belief in intuition and supernaturalism. Norman tries to control and impose his will on the world with his cold, rigid logic, while Tansy seeks to work in tandem and co-operation with the natural world. The climax of the film, where Norman is forced to submit to a world beyond his rationalism and arrive at a belief in the supernatural, clearly sets out where the film-makers sympathies lay - the women are clearly in charge in this world of magic. Director Sidney Hayers and cinematographer Reginald H. Wyes give the film a beautifully stark look, with some excellent shadowy and atmospheric black-and-white photography. The interiors are cleverly illuminated, but it is the exterior nighttime photography that really catches the eye - the moonlit exteriors, particularly when Norman goes walking across the night time beach and through an ancient cemetery are particularly impressive. Hayes moves the story forward at pace, building from one set piece to the next with unrelenting momentum; his only misstep, perhaps, being the strange stone eagle climax. The acting is good throughout - Peter Wyngarde starts out arrogant and in control, at home in his world of staid conformity, buts ends up a broken man in a world beyond his ken. Janet Blair is equally good, panicked at Norman's actions, frighteningly knowing of the consequences and strangely willing to sacrifice herself for the man she loves. Margaret Johnston as Flora also puts in a good turn as a second witch on campus. Overall "Night of the Eagle" is a superior, tight and terse little chiller with plenty of delicious subtext and subversive thought floating (not very far) beneath the surface. show less

Having previously read Beaumont's The Hunger and Other Stories, I was expecting some more dark and fantastic tales from this famous Twilight Zone-alumn. The selection here is a bit more chaotic, since it's a posthumous collection, and not one Beaumont put together in his lifetime. The genres are all over the place, and can best be described as belonging to that mid-century fantastic that's a bit adjacent to Buzzati or Cortazar, but more American and straightforward. Some of the stories here show more even feel a bit out-of-place: there's one about bullfighting, and another about stock car racers that have no fantastic elements. But there's also a strong jazz story in here that's a great companion piece to Beaumont's own "Black Country". The anti-imperialist sci-fi fable "The Jungle" is another great one, and there are also tales of demonic horror like "The Howling Man", and "The New People" that foreshadow the horror fiction of the 1970s that was obsessed with Satanism. Even the weakest Golden Age style sci-fi pieces like "The Beautiful People" have something to offer, but there's just a bit too much filler. Beaumont died too young, and was never able to develop into the master he could have been. I'm more interested in reading his two novels; the noir Run from the Hunter, and the source novel for Roger Corman's The Intruders (of the same title). show less