Hollywood Gothique
LA Cinema Gothique

Rare TV Pilots by Joseph Stefano

Title: The Unknown & The Haunted
Location: Billy Wilder Theater, Courtyard Level, Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Link out: Click here
Description: The UCLA FILM & TELEVISION ARCHIVE presents ARCHIVE TREASURES: CREATED BY JOSEPH STEFANO — RARE TV PILOTS. Joseph Stefano, who adapted Robert Bloch’s novel into the Alfred Hitchcock film PSYCHO (1960), served as producer on the classic science fiction television series THE OUTER LIMITS. At the end of the first season, he wrote a pilot for a spin-off to be called THE UNKNOWN. Although the pilot never aired and the series was never made, Stefano’s script became the final episode of OUTER LIMITS’ first season, retitled “The Form of Things Unknown,” with a science fiction element added to the script. This event represents an extremely rare opportunity to see the original version.

Also on the double bill is another remarkable pilot crafted by Stefano, THE HAUNTED, which Stefano also directed.

Admission is free. Marilyn Stefano will be in attendance.

From the website:

THE HAUNTED ((a.k.a. The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre, 1965). Martin Landau stars as a Los Angeles-based architect-cum-paranormal investigator who specializes in assessing and exorcising old homes. Stefano here weaves together vengeance, hallucinogens and a “bleeding ghost” in a gothic telefilm that was deemed too frightening to air by network executives. Stefano’s only directorial effort, this extremely rare pilot never aired in the U.S. Producer: Joseph Stefano. Screenplay: Joseph Stefano. Cinematographer: William A. Fraker, Conrad Hall. Editor: Anthony DiMarco. Cast: Martin Landau, Judith Anderson, Diane Baker, Nellie Burt, Tom Simcox. 16mm, b/w, 52 min.

THE UNKNOWN (1964) Directed by Gerd Oswald. With nods to Psycho and Clouzot’s Diabolique, The Unknown unleashes sadism and madness when a wealthy playboy lures two unsuspecting women into a house of horrors. With its nightmarish tone and art-film cinematography, The Unknown pilot was considered too off-beat by ABC and was retooled as an episode of Outer Limits. The original pilot is being screened tonight from a rare 35mm print. Producer: Joseph Stefano. Screenplay: Joseph Stefano. Cinematographer: Conrad Hall. Editor: Anthony DiMarco. Cast: Vera Miles, Barbara Rush, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Scott Marlowe, David McCallum. 35mm, B/W, 45 min.

Date: February 25 at 7:30pm