The Ghost Chaser (Man of Terror), 1959-12-31

Typed memo regarding The Ghose Chaser (Man 0f Terror) [unproduced film].

Culver City: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, December 31, 1959. A stapled two-page Inter-Office Communication from Crandall Brown to Richard Maibaum regarding a 43 page teleplay entitled "The Walking Corpse" or "The Blood Brotherhood."

The memo states: 'From Ken Englund to Leon Mirrell. James Clavell, who directed "The Fly" and other features, could be tied in with the property, per Englund. I The format in this submission is virtually the same as the format in the submission titled "Man of Terror" by the same author (see coverage dated 10-16-59). The only apparent additions are (I) the statement that more humor is to be injected into the series and (2) suggestions for casting the Professor, which are Gig Young, Richard Basehart, Peter Ustinov, Brian Aherne and Richard Greene. My comment about the first submission under the title "Man of Terror" applies to this submission which is essentially the same excerpt for the teleplay. The idea has some possibilities but the author hasn't realized them in his format or teleplay. The whole piece is so artificially contrived and the writing - dialogue, characterization and construction - in the teleplay is not very professional. The voodoo stuff and other horror elements would, I think, elicit guffaws rather than create a chiller mood; the attempt to blend a tongue-in-cheek approach with horrific ingredients doesn't come off, tends to vitiate the effect of each; and the central characters still lack conviction and clear-cut definition .... Perhaps James Clavell could take the nucleus and build something solid out of it but, as it stands, the material is far from a likely project.'