Monday, April 16, 2012

Hal Chester aka Harold Ribotsky

Film producer and actor -- via the Telegraph. He started off as a Dead End Kid -- then moved into the (I'm not kidding) "Little Tough Guy" series. He later produced the Joe Palooka films for Monograph (he got the film rights to be the popular comic strip through his friendship with Palooka creator Ham Fisher). Still later, he went to England, producing two memorable films -- Jacques Tourneur's "Night of the Demon" and Robert Hamer's "School for Scoundrels."

Side notes: 1) Chester infamously contracted someone to create and film the "demon" of the title of Tourneur's film, earning the eternal hatred of the director. Tourneur, who had directed such horror classics as "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie," prided himself on being able to create a superlative atmosphere of dread through suggestion. Chester, however, did not trust Tourneur and overrode him. Anyone who compares the film cuts with and without the "demon" will have to agree with the director.

2) Although Hamer takes the director's credit for "Scoundrels," Cyril Frankel really directed the picture -- as Hamer turned up drunk every morning to work until he was fired.










1 comment:

  1. Fabulous selection of Chester's work. Thanks.

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