FOTW Audio Productions

Late night shadows in RKO’s “I Walked With A Zombie” (dir. Jacques Tourneur, 1943) 

For those of you living in Australia, a great untapped resource for good films is the national broadcaster, the ABC.

Fluctuating between old British films from studios like Pathe and Rank - and what could almost be a complete collection of  RKO films (the now defunct American studio that created Citizen Kane, a truckload of film noir, and the classic Tourneur/Lewton cycle of psychological horror films) - the ABC after midnight is an almost requisite experience for film students, movie lovers, and anyone interested in the history of cinema alike.

Although RKO (1929–1960) sat on the outskirts of the Hollywood studio system, it contributed greatly to what is now regarded as the Golden Age of Hollywood. The majority of RKO films were made on a lower budget than the big studios like Warner Bros and Paramount, but still turned out quality films with great soundtracks from composers like Bernard Herrmann and Franz Waxman, and notable actors like Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young.

They made lots of genre films - Westerns, War stories, Detective dramas, and Gangster films — and helped to revitalise the horror genre, moving it away from the old world horrors of Frankenstein and Dracula, into a more modern and elegant form of horror, drawing on inroads made in the study of psychology, and techniques of suspense developed in thrillers and film noir. 

They also distributed Rashomon in the US, an early film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, a significant moment, signalling an American open-mindedness to foreign films (which is not always present today) at a very important time in film history - as well as world history (it was only five years after the close of WW2).

RKO now exists only as a small distribution and production company, and although its logo of a beaming broadcast tower is not as well known as the growling lion, the lady with the torch, or the roving spotlights, it occupies a significant place in movie history, one that’s worth having a look at. 

There is no need to subscribe to pay tv to watch classic and classy films; just stay up late with a cup of coffee, and you’ll have something good to think about while your boss is wondering whether to fire you for sleeping on the job the next day. 

ABC Program Guide 

I am currently reading a great book on the legendary guitarist/singer Roky Erickson and his band the 13th Floor Elevators, called “The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators: The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound” by Paul Drummond.

Growing up watching horror films at his local cinema, a love of horror crept into most of his music, with titles like I Walked With a Zombie, a tribute to the classic RKO film by Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton (who also made Cat People and The Leopard Man) and Bloody Hammer. It all made a full circle for him when his song, Burn the Flames, was used in the soundtrack to the Dan O’Bannon 1985 horror comedy Return of the Living Dead.

The book also explores his family life growing up in Austin, Texas; the early music scene that lead to the fullblown psychedelic movement in San Francisco; and the band’s experiments with LSD, and the problems that came with it.

A lot of his music has been re-issued and there is a couple of good compilations available. There was also a documentary made about his life in 2007 called “You’re Gonna Miss Me”.