Super Strange Video

Mad Doctor Of Market Street (1942) $19.99
A mad scientist (Lionel Atwill) is forced to leave San Francisco when his experiments in suspended animation cause the death of a patient. He later lands on a tropical island, takes control and terrorizes the local populace. Then, four survivors of a shipwreck wash ashore on the island, see what is happening and try to free the natives from his God-like rule. Also with Claire Dodd. (Taken from an excellent 16mm print).

This film was to be Lionel Atwill's last starring role. On October 14th. 1942, Atwill effectively ruined his burgeoning film career after he was implicated in what was described as an "orgy" at his home. Naked guests and pornographic films were included, and a rape was perpetrated during the proceedings. Atwill "lied like a gentleman", it was said, in the court proceedings to protect the identities of his guests and was convicted of perjury and sentenced to five years on probation. He was thereafter kept employed only by his horror film employer, faithful Universal Pictures, while the rest of Hollywood turned its collective back on him. Atwill died of pneumonia on April 22nd. 1946. He is more remembered for the horror film genre than his better efforts, but that has fueled his continued popularity and a bid by the Southern California Lionel Atwill Fan Club to petition for a Hollywood Blvd. star (he never received one). Of late, that same fan club angered his only living son, Lionel Anthony, after revealing to the public that his father's ashes resided at The Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles. The son then had the ashes exhumed and taken to his home in Vermont.

Personal quote:
"One side of my face is gentle and kind, incapable of anything but love of my fellow man. The other side, the other profile, is cruel, predatory and evil, incapable of anything but lusts and dark passions. It all depends on which side of my face is turned toward you--or the camera. It all depends on which side faces the moon at the ebb of the tide."

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