Classic Horrors Club

The murder in the titular “Unexpected Murder,” episode 12 of World of Giants (WOG) is so unexpected that, unless I blinked and missed it, it didn’t happen at all! Nevertheless, I enjoyed this as the  penultimate episode of the series. Mel (Marshall Thompson) is sick, and when Bill (Arthur Franz) goes to the drug store to buy him some magazines, he stumbles into the middle of an operation to send counterfeit bills out of the country.

Something just dawned on me… How would Mel read magazines that are twice his height? Maybe they should spray some rocket fuel on them to shrink them down to his size. Then again, Miss Brown (Marcia Henderson) must have a secret that enables her to accommodate Mel because she offers him a teeny-tiny thermometer to take his temperature. There must be a store that sells pint-sized accessories; that’s probably where they got the drum set last week.

Bill takes Mel back to the drug store to investigate and, wouldn’t you know it, Mel’s coughing almost gives them away. Antics ensue… when Mel climbs into Sandra Tanner’s (Pamela Duncan) purse and showcases some fun props like giant lipstick and comb, Joe Gordon (Mark Roberts) knocks out Bill. This is a drug store, so Mel finds some ammonia packets, breaks them with a pencil, then drops them to the floor to wake his unconscious partner.

Duncan may look familiar. Not only does she have distinctive characteristics, but she’s also best recognized, at least in our social circle, from two 1957 Roger Corman films: Attack of the Crab Monsters and The Undead. Born on December 28, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York, Duncan appeared in over a dozen movies and television shows in the same year. In fact, three-quarters of her 104 credits (in a variety of genres) came during that decade.

Except for one movie in which she was uncredited, she ended her career in the 1960s, unless you count a surprise appearance in the 2000 documentary, Curtain Call. It  was nominated for an Oscar and profiled the residents of Englewood, New Jersey’s Lillian Booth Actors’ Fund of America Home. Duncan lived the last decade of her life there, suffering from a stroke at the age of 80 and dying on November 11, 2005, leaving no survivors.

Why did I decide to feature her rather than the episode’s director, Jack Arnold? It’s because Arnold also directed the series finale and we’ll discuss him next week, as if any discussion is needed. I will say now, though, that pairing him with writer Meyer Dolinsky made a subtle, but noticeable difference in the entertainment value of ‘Unexpected Murder.’ Dolinsky is best known, at least in our social circle, for episodes of The Invaders, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek (season three’s ‘Plato’s Stepchildren.’)