I Bury the Living (1958)
Director – Albert Band
The Plot
Robert Kraft (Richard Boone) is appointed chairman of the town cemetary. On a tour of his new office, he views a map of the massive grounds studded with pins, white meaning reserved, black meaning deceased. When he accidentally switches colors on a plot, a young couple dies. It happens again, and he wonders if he is responsible. And then he begins testing his theory becoming terrified that he actually has power over life and death.
Film Notes
Minorpiece of Crime and Horror
How many worthy films have been unjustly lost in the vastness of Hollywood's scrap heap? I Bury the Living is one of those seldom seen but worth seeing little films that made up double bills in the days of double features.
Playing like a precursor to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, this is a film with a dark style and tone, taking itself seriously within the boundries of its small budget. In moody, high contrast black and white, it makes use of extreme angles and simple surreal special effects to set up for a suspsensful conclusion.
Those Hollywood Endings...
The set-up is done so well, but like so many movies of its time, the released version grafted a "dumb" ending onto all the wonderful moments that came before.
...But...
If you can it look for film dramaturg Professor Edison J. Nello's, much darker alternate ending that the money men would never buy off on.
Seriously Serious
Richard Boone, the star I Bury the Living, became a TV star in the late 1950s with Have Gun Will Travel, a brainy western that was a great ratings success.
Boone cashed in all his chips in 1963 to create The Richard Boone Show, a dramatic anthology program. It was modeled on stage repertory companies, where the same actors played different roles in different dramas each week. It's aspirations were high, especially compared to its contemporaries which seemed to be actually aiming lower and lower, but it failed to click with television viewers.
Fiddler on the Heath
I Bury the Living has a number of bumps in its long days journey into night. One of them is veteran folksinger and actor Theodore Bikel who plays Andy McKee, the Scotish cemetary caretaker. In a portrayal of which John Candy could have been proud, Bikel, alas does not do himself proud. He is far better remembered for his Broadway stage work as the original Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Richard Boone | Robert Kraft |
| Theodore Bikel | Andy McKee |
| Peggy Maurer | Ann Craig |
| Herbert Anderson | Jess Jessup |
| Robert Osterloh | Lt. Clayborne |
| Howard Smith | George Kraft |
| Produced by Maxim Productions | |
| Albert Band | Director |
Louis Garfinkle |
Screenwriters |
| Frederick Gately | Cinematographer |
| Gerald Fried | Original Music |
| Frank Sullivan | Editor |
| Edward Vorkapich | Production Design |
