802 - THE LEECH WOMAN (1959; NR; 77m)

a.k.a. LEECH (working)

co-billed with THE BRIDES OF DRACULA

Ad: "Forever Young! Forever Deadly!
She Lived Off the Life Blood of Male Victims!"

Ad: "Mistress of a century-old secret of eternal youth!"

Plot: A scientist and his older wife follow a very old woman to Africa to locate an elixir of rejuvenation.

Prod: Joseph Gershenson (music sup/*615-Kitten With A Whip;
801-Revenge of the Creature; 803-The Mole People; 804-The Deadly Mantis; 805-The Thing That Couldn't Die; L02-This Island Earth)
Dir: Edward Dein (Calypso Joe; Curse of the Undead)
Asst Dir: Joseph E. Kenney (Monolith Monsters)
Scr: David Duncan (805; 113-Black Scorpion; Time Machine)
Story: Ben Pivar (Legion of Lost Flyers; prod/702-Brute Man)
Story: Francis Rosenwald (Undercover Girl)
Cin: Ellis Carter (803/804; The Incredible Shrinking Man)
Ed: Milton Carruth (The Mummy; Cult of the Cobra; Pillow Talk)
Cos: Bill Thomas (805; won Oscar/Spartacus)
M/U: Bud Westmore
(801/803/804/805/L02; *614-San Francisco International)
ADir: Alexander Golitzen
(801/803/804/805/L02; 615-Kitten With A Whip)
ADir: Robert Clatworthy (804; Female on the Beach)
Set: Russell A. Gausman (702/801/803/804/805/L02)
Set: Clarence Steensen (201-Rocketship X-M; Captive Women)
Sound: Leslie I. Carey (801/803/804/805/L02)
Sound: Joe Lapis (702; Oscar nom/The Boys from Syracuse)
Score: Irving Gertz (804; 203-Jungle Goddess; Alligator People)

June Talbot / Coleen Gray (902-The Phantom Planet; Red River)
Neil Foster / Grant Williams*
Dr. Paul Talbot / Phillip Terry (The Navy Vs. the Night Monsters)
Sally Howard / Gloria Talbott (601-Girls Town; Cyclops)
David Garvay / John Van Dreelen (Beyond the Time Barrier)
really really really old Malla / Estelle Hemsley (Edge of the City)
young Malla / Kim Hamilton (To Kill A Mockingbird)
Jerry Lando / Arthur Batanides (320-The Unearthly; Spartacus)
drunk / Murray Alper (208-Lost Continent; The Errand Boy)
detective Joe / Harold Goodwin (The Invisible Monster)
lead bearer Ladu / Chester Jones (A Streetcar Named Desire)
detective chief / Charles Keane (109-Project Moon Base)
warrior leader Naudos / Paul Thompson (The Disembodied)

Classic Line: "Old women always give me the creeps."

Trivia: The African wildlife scenes were stock footage from Universal's 1954 movie, Tanganyika.

Corman's not the only cheap guy in the movie industry. Universal-International reused its cheesy props too. Did you recognize that framed picture over the Talbot's fireplace? It's the same "hamburger" picture that was in Exeter's office in L02-THIS ISLAND EARTH. Do you want fries with that?

The acting talents of GRANT WILLIAMS were totally wasted in THE LEECH WOMAN. His tour-de-force performance was the title character in another Arnold movie, The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). His other films include: 1957's The Monolith Monsters (about huge destructive reproducing crystals; story written by Arnold); Written on the Wind (also 1957; with Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall); and 1963's PT-109 (about a young Jack Kennedy, starring Cliff Robertson).

Last Updated: 3/28/1999