The Killer Shrews (1959)
Director - Ray Kellogg
The Plot
Hank Tracy, Jesse James' faithful giant of a companion, is mortally wounded in a stage coach robbery gone wrong. Hank ends up under the medical care of Dr. Maria Von Frankenstein and her brother Rudolph, who are living in a spooky former mission, high above a poor suffering Mexican village. If you can't guess what happens, you shouldn't even think about watching this film.
Film Notes
John Ford Meets Samuel Beckett
The influence of Pantheon director John Ford washes over the inner and outer landscape of The Killer Shrews as endless, cloud filled horizons overwhelm tiny humanity in a conflict of man vs the sub-beast.
In this film, shrews, the tiniest and most primitive true mammal, grow to the size of large dogs. Perhaps a comment on mankind's own repressed and suppressed primitive nature bursting forth with savage vengeance? Then again, maybe it's producer Ken Curtis' cinematic id crashing out of his Sons of the Pioneers persona as a teeth-gnashing metaphorical critique of the viciousness that was the Hollywood studio system to which he incessantly played the servile half-wit bumpkin servant to American Manifest destiny.
Kellog's Special Treat
Director Ray Kellogg might be better known for his co-direction (with John Wayne) of The Green Berets, but his hand was never more sure than in this minimalist monstrous piece. Meanwhile, screenwriter Jay Simms (The Girl From Uncle) tipped his hat to the immense starkness of style that was Samuel Beckett (Endgame).
-- Ed Schneider
Ingmar Ozu-Bresson on The Killer Shrews
"Le ciel ci-dessus — la bête ci-dessous. Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie tombe victime au plus petit animal qui devient grand avec désir vorace, révolutionnaire. La nature de l'homme est la dent déchirante du changement mutant. Les cheveux blonds d'Ingrid Goude - transcendance de l'ange tombé."
("The sky above - The beast below. The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie falls victim to the smallest animal grown large with ravenous revolutionary desire. The nature of man is the ripping tooth of mutant change. The blonde hair of Ingrid Goude - fallen angel transcendence.")
Cast & Production Credits
| James Best | Thorne Sherman |
| Ingrid Goude | Ann Craigis |
| Baruch Lumet | Dr. Milo Craigis |
| Ken Curtis | Jerry Lacer |
| Gordon McLendon | Radford Baines |
| Alfredo de Soto | Mario |
| Dupree | Rook |
| J.H. | Judge |
| Produced byHollywood Pictures Corporation | |
| Ken Curtis | Producer |
| Jay Simms | Screenwriter |
| Wilfrid M. Cline | Cinematographer |
| Harry Bluestone | Composer (Music Score) |
| Emil Cadkin | Composer (Music Score) |
| Aaron Stell | Editor |
| Louise Caldwell | Set Designer |
| Earl Snyder | Sound/Sound Designer |
| Ben Chapman | Production Manager |
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INSECTIVORA; SORICIDAE: Shrews