The Shirley Temple Storybook Collection: Terrible Clockman/The House of the Seven Gables (1961)

Terrible Clockman - A futuristic fantasy tale of a clockwork monster who comes to life and frightens the inhabitants of a small Swiss town. Young viewers will be pleased to learn that although things might get a little scary, there’s no reason to worry, Shirley will be with you the whole time. Based on a 19th century novelette by Jules Verne, often hailed as "The Father of Science Fiction."- House of Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne’s supernatural and romantic tale of a New England family and their life in the House of the Seven Gables, a two-hundred year-old dwelling haunted by the ghosts of past generations. In a cinematic rendition of one of the best-known 19th century American novels, Shirley is joined by legendary stars Martin Landau, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Culp, and others.

A piece of early T.V. history-that is all it is good for

Beware....if you think you are buying great acting and adaptations of classic literature,turn back, put away your credit cards and run! As a piece of television history,"The Shirley Temple Storybook", a show from the early 1960's that ran a season and flopped, has interest in that it chronicles the early attempts of NBC to bring melodramatic teleplays to the small screen.In the DVD release, nothing has been done or changed,and the shows look EXACTLY as the evening they aired, with static interference,film rolling and buzzing sound....there is even a scene in "The House Of The Seven Gables" where you can spy stage hands in the background and actor Martin Landau waiting for his cue!!!The teleplays and the names associated with the productions will be easily recognized by any T.V. buff.What is really bad, though, is that the stories are so cheaply and ridiculously acted and staged that it is utterly laughable...and it is! The biggest problem,though, is that I purchased this to see "The House Of The Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and it is nothing even REMOTELY close to the book.Now granted, I had a lot of trouble with Hawthorne's LENGTHY prosaic style when I read his novel, but puleeeeze...what is done in "The Shirley Temple Storybook" is to somehow put together a ridiculous story with dialog and plot that resemble an episode of Dark Shadows: The Beginning Collection 1.IT IS NOT THE HAWTHORNE STORY.Kudos, though, to the set designer,who did recreate the house as it stands in Salem.I have been there, and at least that looked correct.By this time,Shirley Temple Black was in her late thirties, and I suppose that her name and former glory as a child star would be a draw; but this is really,really,really bad! You will see the likes of Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched),Robert Culp and Martin Landau making complete fools of themselves as supporting cast.Talk about "arriving overdone?".This DVD hits the trash can right off! March 10, 2008

Safe For Children

"Shirley Temple's Storybook" was an anthology series that Shirley hosted for children on NBC in the early 1960's. Shirley also typically played a role in each of the stories in the series. As a young child I was a big fan of the series and for me "The Terrible Clockman" (1961) was the most anticipated of the entire collection. At the conclusion of each week's telecast there would be a trailer for next week's show and I couldn't wait for this one to be shown. It looked to be very scary and it was based on a Jules Verne story.

Unfortunately it proved a disappointment. Although the format of "Shirley's Storybook", three act plays with theatre style production design, worked fine for drama ("House of Seven Gables") it was not a good fit for science fiction. Too much suspension of disbelief was required. The title character is a man size clock, actually a guy inside a gold colored suit of medieval armor with a clock face. It looks surreal enough to be scary but the action sequences are very poorly staged.

The basic story involves an alchemist (played by Eric Portman) in league with the devil who wants to marry the beautiful daughter (played by Shirley) of a clockmaker (played by Dr. Zorba from "Ben Casey"). He blackmails them with a spell that manipulates time and turns a giant clock into a walking monster.

Watch for John Astin ("The Addams Family") in a minor role as the Coachman; you will probably recognize his voice before you recognize his face.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child. December 29, 2007

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