So we went old school for last Friday’s Watch Party, viewing Man Beast, a *gasp, choke* Jerry Warren movie from 1956. Running a scant 60 minutes, it was surprisingly non-painful, considering all the rock climbing stock footage and it’s quite evident bargain basement budget. The plot, which touches on Yeti breeding with human women to dilute the Yeti genes, was surprisingly provocative for the time (although we also recently watched Ron Ormand’s Untamed Mistress, also from 1956, which itself revolved around women who slept with gorillas, so…well, not exactly racoon-fur hats but perhaps a bit of a trend of the time). They probably got away with it because the main audience of 7 year olds may not have gotten what was being discussed, and because no actual adults would have been going to a theater or drive-in to watch a Jerry Warren movie.
In the end, I was conflating this with the more dire (and boring) the Snow Creature from 1954, also made by an infamous bad director in W. Lee Wilder. Believe it or not, yes, W. Lee as the brother of the marginally more successful director Billy Wilder, who won seven (!) Academy Awards back when that actually meant something, and was nominated 21 times. I don’t have W. Lee’s Oscar stats close at hand, though.
Next Watch Party a week from Friday. Join us, won’t you?
