Скачать или смотреть Sci-fi’s Greatest Hits, #18: "Strange Pursuit" from "The Hideous Sun Demon".

"Strange Pursuit" written and sung by Marilyn King.

Found in "The Hideous Sun Demon" (1958 - Clarke-King Enterprises, distributed by Pacific International Enterprises).

This "daytime werewolf" tale (in which a man undergoes monstrous change via the influence of sunlight) is brought to us by Robert Clarke, producer/director, co-writer and main-character actor, with the help of family members and film students. A fairly modest production, it's acquired cult status throughout the years to the point that it's well recognized nowadays. I've always enjoyed it: the film has a brisk pace, and the monster design is quite effective and, in its own limited way, iconic. One also has to admire the grit that actors and crew needed to film atop the vertigo-inducing heights of an oil tank access framework... particularly Clarke, who worked under that handicap of the restrictive full-torso monster suit. Admirable too, oddly, is the story decision to make the protagonist one of the most unlikeable "heroes" in '50s sci-fi history: the accident that afflicts him is his own fault (he's established early on as a lush); he immediately assumes an attitude of Larry Talbot-like self-pity; when he isn't wallowing in "poor me!" bouts of suicidal fidgetiness, he's out roaming for booze and female company (despite having a fanatically faithful girlfriend), irresponsibility that catches him outdoors in daylight more than once. When he finally comes to his inevitable bad end, there's no question but that he had it coming.

One of the aforementioned family members that helped Clarke out on this project was Marilyn King, member of the King Sisters vocal group, who wrote and performed the movie's one musical number, "Strange Pursuit", a piece that actress Nan Petersen mimes at the piano (which, I gather, she also didn't play in reality). It's a competent, if not outstanding, love ballad which receives added weight once Clarke's character becomes a hunted fugitive.