Bryant Halliday Movies
Actor, producer, and writer Bryant Halliday founded Janus Films, the first American distributor of foreign classics. Movies he brought stateside include those of Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman. Halliday grew up in a Benedictine monastery and was slated to become a priest, but at age 21, the acting bug bit and Halliday joined Cambridge's Brattle Theatre Company. While with the troupe, Halliday appeared in a wide variety of shows, including Shakespeare. He and associate Cyrus Harvey launched Janus Films in the early '50s. Halliday also ran the 55th Street Playhouse in New York and used it as a primary location for exhibiting Janus-distributed films. He returned to acting in 1963, making his feature film debut as an evil ventriloquist in the cult-favorite Devil Doll (1964). Halliday then starred in such films as Curse of Simba and Tower of Evil. Upon selling Janus, Halliday spent the rest of his career involved in French television. Halliday died on July 28, 1996, following a stroke; he was 68. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This gory low-budget British outing involves a team of archaeologists landing on fog-shrouded Snape Island -- recently the site of a hideous double murder -- in search of the tomb of a Phoenician chief and subsequently falling victim to an unseen maniac. Accompanying the shore party is a private detective (Bryant Halliday), hired by the family of the young woman suspected of the crimes (Candace Glendenning), who is determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious murders. Though it is eventually determined that the real killer is still at large, the archaeologists stubbornly refuse to abort their dig...and summarily suffer the consequences. Released originally in 1972, this crass, exploitative potboiler (based on a story by horror author George Baxt) found its way to American theaters in 1981 as Beyond the Fog in an attempt to cash in on John Carpenter's 1980 film. Released later to video and cable as Tower of Evil. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1967
An experiment gone wrong gives new meaning to the saying "you can't get there from here" in this sci-fi drama. Professor Steiner (Bryant Halliday) is a scientist working on a machine that will "project" matter from one place to another; while he's making considerable progress, the device is not yet perfect. Steiner believes that he's close to a breakthrough, but his superior Dr. Blanchard (Norman Wooland) doesn't believe in the project and cuts off Steiner's funding. Not willing to give up on his invention, Steiner learns that visiting researcher Prof. Lembach (Gerard Heinz) might be willing to back him, so with the help of his assistant Shelia (Tracey Crisp), he attempts to "project" himself into Lembach's hotel room with his experimental machine. However, the equipment goes awry, and Steiner emerges as a hideous electrically charged mutant whose touch can kill, sending him on a spree of revenge against those who tried to stop him. The Projected Man was the sole directorial credit for TV writer Ian Curteis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Peach, Bryant Halliday, (more)
- 1965
Lion hunters beware! Chief M'Gobo is watching and waiting to throw a deadly voodoo curse upon anyone who harms his sacred cats. Don't believe us? Just watch what happens to a thoughtless British big game hunter in this horror outing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Price, Lisa Daniely, (more)
Hugo is mad as heck, and he's not going to take it any more! Hugo is the dummy used by the Great Vorelli, a ventriloquist and hypnotist who wows London with his amazing act. Hugo can walk as well as talk, and he does other interesting things. Neglecting his statuesque mistress Magda, Vorelli pursues a pretty volunteer from the audience named Marianne; he know she is a wealthy heiress, and is after her money as well as her charms. Following a charity concert at Marianne's country estate, he mesmerizes the girl, who then falls into a baffling coma. When (in one of the movie's best sequences) a jealous Magda challenges the hypnotist over his attentions to the younger woman, Vorelli lulls her into submission, then gets rid of her, using Hugo to ensure his own alibi. Marianne's journalist boyfriend Mark investigates the mysterious murder and discovers another killing in Vorelli's past with interesting connections to the present. This underrated British horror story could be the best filmed variation on the "dummy with a soul" theme inaugurated by a brief sequence in Alberto Cavalcanti's classic 1945 anthology Dead of Night and continuing more recently with Magic (1978.) Fine photography by Gerald Gibbs, convincing performances by Bryant Halliday, Sandra Dorne and Yvonne Romain and flawless animation and editing of Hugo's scenes provide a galvanizing elaboration of the original, somewhat skeletal, concept. A rental video is hard to find, but available. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryant Halliday, William Sylvester, (more)
