8mm Forum: Curse Of The Crimson Altar

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Posted by Kevin Wardle (Member # 1680) on August 01, 2009, 06:23 AM:

Curse Of The Crimson Altar - Walton 200ft Colour/Sound.

I got this copy with my 'Castle Of Death' Walton print, it was from the same seller and was sealed, too! I think it cost me £9, which was a bargain!

Now, there are two versions of this film on super 8. This one from Walton and one called 'The Crimson Cult' which was from Ken films in the USA. Both are very different and are well worth finding.

For now I will review the Walton version, as I haven't seen the Ken version in ages.

Robert Manning, played by Coronation Street's bad boy, Mark Egan pays a visit to a country house to look for his missing brother. While he's there he has weird dreams, finds stab marks on his body, blood tracks all over the house and Boris Karloff. Karloff tells him that there is a Curse on the house, that of Lavinia Morley (played by horror legend Barbara Steele), who was burned as a witch years ago! Enter Christopher Lee who may or may not be responsible? You will have to see the movie to find out! The full length feature, witch, sorry "which" was directed by Vernon Sewell is very rambling at times, and gives more in the way of suspense rather than out and out horror. Walton released a 2x400ft version of this and a very good trailer, which I still have in my collection & with excellent colour.

The Walton print is much better than the Ken version and has better colour. The Walton print is longer, too. If you have both versions or can get them, you might want to edit them together to make a more complete and longer version. However, before you start, make sure you really want to do this as both films have very different print stocks and sound tracks, etc..

Colour and sound are very good and the film come on a full reel! Walton always gave you a good full reel of film!

Picture A/B Sound A

Ken Films version, note the film is in B/W Sound. You could get the Walton version in Colour/Sound and B/W Silent & B/W Sound!

[ August 01, 2009, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Kevin Wardle ]

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on August 01, 2009, 06:06 PM:

Several years ago, I had the Ken (color) version and only watched it once before giving it away. The digest made absolutely no sense and didn't have much in terms of entertainment value.

Posted by Kevin Wardle (Member # 1680) on August 02, 2009, 02:59 AM:

Sometimes Ken films were badly edited. Just shows you how good Walton's releases were! [Big Grin]

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on August 02, 2009, 08:37 AM:

The problem with the Ken release is the awful narrator (not in the Walton versions) making factual errors. He refers to Professor Marsh as "Mr. Boris" and when Robert Manning finds Elder's body he says it is the body of his missing brother, Peter. It does have scenes that are not in the Walton versions however. I have the 2X400ft Walton mini feature of this film which is an excellent edit, however by adding the scenes from Ken Films "The Crimsom Cult" you get a slightly longer version. These scenes include Robert Mannings visit to the Police station, longer scenes with Barbara Steele and the finding of Elder's body. You need to re record the sound where the narrator appears but as these are non dialogue scenes it is a very easy job to do by just using the background action music from the Walton print. It's a great film and luckily my prints have held up rather well, which is just as well as Lavinia Morley wouldn't look good in any other colour but green. I always show it as part of a double bill with "Horror Hotel" (1960).

Paul.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on August 02, 2009, 05:02 PM:

Kevin,

Thanks for the review. The Ken Films' version is absolutely one of their worst releases. I did edit the Walton 2x400' and the Ken 200 footer together, but in my case the color on the Ken print has held up much better than the Walton.

Doug

Posted by Kevin Wardle (Member # 1680) on August 03, 2009, 04:22 PM:

I ran my two extracts today and the Ken print has faded quite badly, but has part of the original titles. The Ken version is badly edited. My Walton print has excellent colour and sound and is very well edited. Karloff gets much more screen time than in the Ken version. I love the box art of the Ken version.

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on August 03, 2009, 10:29 PM:

I hate the KEN version - OMG it's such a piece of crap. I remember having to run to my local video store to rent a copy on VHS (which was a bottlegged copy the proprietor taped off of cable) in order to understand what the heck was going on. And you're right, the narration is all wrong. Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed that it's the same narrator for both the KEN and COLUMBIA digests - were the KEN sound digests out-sourced to COLUMBIA? I mean how else do you explain the identical narrator?

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on August 04, 2009, 05:09 AM:

I agree that Ken cutdown was truly appalling,both extracts are actually availiable as extras on the German dvd of CRIMSON ALTER and surprise,surprise the Walton extract is the best looking of the two,this release is mostly in english too.

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on December 19, 2009, 06:46 PM:

I really like this Walton 200 footer and just ran it again. The color is still very good. As Kevin stated, you get your moneys' worth with this full reel of film! What a treat to see screen legends Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee together again! I'll be after the extended version now. [Smile]

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on January 25, 2012, 08:22 PM:

Don't know if anyone's aware but there was a 2x400 version put
out in the USA some years ago.I got this from Phil Sheard some
twenty years ago and finally got around to editng it into the old
Walton print and the 200' from Ken, which gives a nice running
time of about an hour.There are a couple of scenes in the trailer
I could have added but why ruin a nice trailer.Quality wise the
Walton print has better colour and definition but the USA 2x400
does have the complete front and end titles plus lots of different
scenes.

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on January 31, 2012, 09:01 AM:

That alternative 2X400ft version sounds very interesting, I had never heard of it. Can you remember if it uses the original title or the US title on the opening credits?

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on January 31, 2012, 07:44 PM:

Hugh - I'm also intrigued by the US 2 x400', which I've heard mentioned by one collector but have never seen. Any idea who released it?

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on February 01, 2012, 08:55 PM:

The 2 X 400' reel version was also put out by Walton. Maybe it was distributed by someone in the U.S... but it wasn't printed here. I have two prints - one with gorgeous color - one turned red... so they vary.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on March 03, 2012, 03:15 PM:

Hi Brian,the version I have edited in the Walton print is a totally
different edit to the Walton 2x400,including the American title
"The Crimson Cult".I got it from Phil in 1993 and remember him
saying it was better than Walton's print,which I didn't think it was
be it editing,definition or colour.The print is very similar to the
little Ken films 200' reel, but I have checked the leader and
that had been replaced, however the tail does say "part 2, long,
MOVIES INC. whoever they may be but Phil did say it was a U.S.
release and I have no reason to doubt him.That aside,the
version I have is very good and even has the part where during
the outdoor celebrations for the witch Lavinia Morley, poor old
Boris Karloff has a firework land in his lap! somehow I don't think that was supposed to happen but they left it in.I can't
believe that Walton had any thing to do with this 2x400 as
their prints were exemplary, case in point "WITCHFINDER
GENERAL" & "ONE MILLION YEARS BC" which I like to think I
might have had something to do with,because the Distributors
in the UK were tortured by me for years asking for this film to
be put out on 8mm,even 4x200 as the "Sinbad"&"Jason" had
been very popular and I was not too impressed with what was
on offer at the time,the callowness of youth.A similar thing
ensued with"Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" which wasn't going
to be released until after much armtwisting from yours truly
and a 35mm print from a certain well known reviewer and
success was at hand.

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