On this day in movie history - Under the Gun (1951):

Under the Gun

directed by Ted Tetzlaff,

written by George Zuckerman,

based on a story by Daniel B. Ullman,

was released in the United States on January 26, 1951.
Music by Milton Rosen.

Cast:

Richard Conte, Audrey Totter, John McIntire, Sam Jaffe, Shepperd Strudwick, Gregg Martell, Phillip Pine, Donald Randolph, Royal Dano, Richard Taber, Dabbs Greer.

On this day in movie history - Scene of the Crime (1949):

Scene of the Crime

directed by Roy Rowland,

written by Charles Schnee,

based on the article Smashing the Bookie Gang Marauders by John Bartlow Martin,

was released in the United States on July 28, 1949.
Music by André Previn.

Cast:

Van Johnson, Arlene Dahl, Gloria DeHaven, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, John McIntire, Donald Woods, Norman Lloyd, Jerome Cowan, Tom Powers, Richard Benedict, Anthony Caruso, Robert Gist, Romo Vincent, Tom Helmore, Caleb Peterson, William Haade.

On this day in movie history - Psycho (1960 movie & books):

Psycho

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by Joseph Stefano,

based on the novel by Robert Bloch,

was released in the United States, on June 16, 1960.
Music by Bernard Herrmann.
Inspired by the true 1957 Ed Gein murder case.

Cast:

Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Simon Oakland, Frank Albertson, Pat Hitchcock, Vaughn Taylor, Lurene Tuttle, John Anderson, Mort Mills, Virginia Gregg, Paul Jasmin, Jeanette Nolan.

Recommended reading:

Psycho

By Robert Bloch.

Filmed as Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Published by The Overlook Press.

First published 1959.

ISBN-10: 1590203356

ISBN-13: 9781590203354

Description:

"Psycho all came from Robert Bloch's book." – Alfred Hitchcock.

"Icily terrifying!" – The New York Times.

"Robert Bloch is one of the all-time masters." – Peter Straub.

Norman Bates loves his mother. She has been dead for the past 20 years, or so people think. Norman knows better, though.

Ever since leaving the hospital, he has lived with Mother in the old house up on the hill above the Bates Motel. One night, after a beautiful woman checks into the motel, Norman spies on her as she undresses. Norman can’t help but spy on her.

Mother is there, though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.

If you love to be scared, or are a fan of classic movies, then you know the story of Norman Bates, his mother, and the dark and frightening Bates Motel. Alfred Hitchcock’s taut, shocking scare-fest starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh is a classic movie, as scary today as it was in 1960 when it was first released, and this is the 1959 novel upon which the movie is based.

It was here that the legend of the Bates Motel was born.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho

Edited by Richard J. Anobile.

The Film Classics Library.

Published by Universe Books.

First Edition.

Published 1974.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0876631898

ISBN-13: 978-0876631898

Description:

The Film Classics Library present the most accurate and complete reconstruction of a film in book over 1,300 frame blow-up photos shown sequentially and coupled with the complete dialogue from the original soundtrack, allow you to recapture this film classic in its entirety – at your leisure.

On this day in movie history - The Asphalt Jungle (1950 movie & books):

The Asphalt Jungle

directed by John Huston,

written by Ben Maddow and John Huston,

based on the novel by W. R. Burnett,

was released in the United States on May 12, 1950.
Music by Miklós Rózsa.

Cast:

Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Teresa Celli, Marilyn Monroe, William Davis, Dorothy Tree, Brad Dexter, John Maxwell, Mary Anderson, Ray Bennett, David Bond, Chet Brandenburg, Benny Burt, Harry G. Butcher, Frank Cady, Jean Carter, Mack Chandler, David Clarke, John Cliff, Harry Cody, Gene Coogan, Henry Corden, Chuck Courtney, John Crawford, Ralph Dunn, Gene Evans, Pat Flaherty, Alex Gerry, Sol Gorss, Fred Graham, William Haade, Don Haggerty, Eloise Hardt, Thomas Browne Henry, Wesley Hopper, George Lynn, Ethel Lyons, Fred Marlow, Strother Martin, Patricia Miller, Howard M. Mitchell, Ralph Montgomery, Alberto Morin, Kerry O'Day, Raymond Roe, Henry Rowland, Tim Ryan, James Seay, Jack Shea, Charles Sherlock, J. Lewis Smith, J.J. Smith, Joseph Darr Smith, Helene Stanley, Jack Stoney, Ray Teal, Leah Wakefield, Harlan Warde, Jack Warden, William Washington, Constance Weiler, Judith Wood, Victor Wood, Wilson Wood, Jeff York.

Recommended reading:

The Asphalt Jungle

By W. R. Burnett.

Filmed as The Asphalt Jungle (1950), directed by John Huston.

Published by Prion Books Ltd

First published 1949.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1853753467

ISBN-13: 978-1853753466

Description:

So successful in evoking [the city's] aura that the reader breathes the air of menace that emanates from its implacable personality and shivers at the unmistakeable evidence that blind chance plays a considerable part in determining the course of every life within the city's confines. – New York Times.

The Asphalt Jungle is a gripping tale of the planning and execution of a jewellery store heist in a dark and corrupt Midwestern metropolis. Set amid a seedy urban wasteland of crooks, killers and con-artists, the various members of the gang are steadily undone by personal obsessions, double-crossing and cruel fate.

First published in 1949, W.R. Burnett's hardboiled classic was made into the definitive heist movie by John Huston in 1950, starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe. Its screenplay, co-written by Huston was nominated for an Oscar.

A master and pioneer of the gangster genre, W.R. Burnett is the author of over thirty novels - including Little Caesar and High Sierra - and sixty screenplays. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards.

The Asphalt Jungle: A Screenplay

By Ben Maddow & John Huston.

Screenplay Library.

Published by Southern Illinois University Press.

Published 1980.

First Edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0809309467

ISBN-13: 978-0809309467

Description:

Dore Schary, then head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, bought The Asphalt Jungle while it was still in manu­script in an effort to match the success Warner Brothers had enjoyed with Burnett’s Little Caesar and High Sierra. The choice of Ben Maddow and John Huston as screenwriters assured the artistic success of the screenplay, for few writer/directors could have matched Huston’s ability to develop these characters cinematically.

It was a case of strength building upon strength. Burnett’s fully developed characters were transformed by Maddow and Huston into a screenplay of impressive immediacy. Indeed, the portrayal of the criminals in splendid performances from Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore, and Jean Hagen, led Bosley Crowther to lament, “If only it all weren’t so corrupt!” But the characters of Burnett, Maddow and Huston, don’t permit us to romanticize about them or their activities. We share their professional pride in a robbery well planned and are silent accomplices to their mutual treachery.