Hal D

What movie is this?Statue smiles-woman screams

Hi. I saw a b & w movie at a Drive-in theatre between 1961 - 1964. The only scene I remember is a woman looking at the back of a small(about a foot tall or so)statue? It slowly turns and slowly smiles hideously at her(the mouth looked animated). She screams loudly. That's all I can remember. This has been a mystery to me for many years as I've been trying to find out what movie this is from. Hopefully my 5 or so year old eyes did see what I think I saw. One other mystery film-another b & w one-a small statue of Jesus comes off the crucifix on a wall to help someone. I remember the closeups of the nails unscrewing from the hands. It might of been Italian made. What film was that? Please help-Thanks

Rex Bachmann

Hal D wrote (post #1):

Quote:

I saw a b & w movie at a Drive-in theatre between 1961 - 1964. The only scene I remember is a woman looking at the back of a small(about a foot tall or so)statue? It slowly turns and slowly smiles hideously at her(the mouth looked animated). She screams loudly. That's all I can remember.

Since nobody else has answered this, I'll resist the temptation no longer to ask a simple question, which may or may not be helpful to you: Are you sure you saw this in a movie theater? It sounds vaguely familiar (but that's as likely as not to be because something in me wants to remember seeing such a story).

Given the time frame, given the black-and-white status of the photographic technology, and---frankly---given the scene, this strikes me as something that might have been seen on the television of the time, a plot from Thriller---for which there are various episode summaries, on- and off-line---, or some such similar program. It may seem as if you saw it in a theater, but perhaps you have confused it with something else. Time will play tricks on the memory.

In any event, it's a tough call.

Karl_Luph

The statue scene may have been in the 1963 b&w movie called "The Haunting" directed by Robert Wise. It was about a house that was haunted and might have had some statues around inside or out in the garden possibly.

Rex Bachmann

Karl_Luph wrote (post #3):

Quote:

"The Haunting". . . . was about a house that was haunted and might have had some statues around inside or out in the garden possibly.

There are indeed several scenes in the hall with white (marble?) statues (indirectly) representing Hugh Crane and his family including the family dog, I think, (actually they're supposed to represent some saint who went about "curing" the lepers). However, if, as the poster said, one of the statues actually turns and gives an animated smile, then he's thinking of something besides The Haunting, where there's no such scene, to the best of my recollection.

Scott Weinberg

When I saw the thread topic, I thought of a scene from Clash of the Titans but clearly that's not it.

Hal D

Yes-I did see this statue movie at Sunset Drive-in in Chicago Illinois sometime between 1961-1964. I've even gone through old microfilm to see if I could find the movie title. No luck so far placing this film. This question has frustrated me for years. My main worry is maybe I saw a scene as a small child and reinterpreted it as something else. "Plague Of The Zombies" is an example of how you remember something you saw as a child totally different. I swear I remember the head chopping scene as being in extreme close-up. When the guy woke up after fainting, he was looking straight at the head(all in closeup). This is NOT how the film plays as you know. These shots are shown from a DISTANCE. But I remembered them as close-up.

Karl_Luph

Wow Scott, great observation, I had forgotten about The Clash of the Titans, but I guess that wasn't the movie Hal was thinking of. Rex, are you referring to "The Haunting" from 1963 with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom?

TonyD

there is no scene like that in the haunting, as someone else already said.

i watched it recently on laser. not in this movie.

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Jack Briggs

I further affirm that there is absolutely no such scene in The Haunting, a film that eschews special effects (barring that "breathing" door).

Karl_Luph