Genre movie legend Michael Armstrong will make history by being the first screen writer to publish his entire set of filmed and unfilmed screen plays in their original uncut texts before front office changes and including all missing scenes and dialogue, thereby enabling readers to experience the films exactly as he intended them for an audience.
Published in the same font and precise page layout of Armstrong's unique writing style, each title will be accompanied by a detailed writing history as to its sources and creative problems, front office cuts, changes and alterations, casting choices, production history and an outline of the circumstances that led to certain screen plays ending up on a screen, others being shelved, and many never actually having even been read by anyone in the industry. Selected titles will also contain hitherto unseen stills, off-set photographs, and some of Armstrong's own full colour original art work, storyboards, set and costume designs.
Amongst them will be the genre classics: Mark Of The Devil with its missing end scene; his original 1960 screen play The Dark which he wrote at the age of fifteen and would later direct with imposed front office alterations under the title The Haunted House Of Horror in 1968; the portfolio trilogy Screamtime with all its episodes uncut and with his original unfilmed written links; The Black Panther with its numerous missing scenes; his original thirty minute screenplay of The Image, the David Bowie short he directed; Eskimo Nell with detailed cuts and changes that took place during production plus his original draft under the working title, The Movie Makers; the little seen comic documentary It Could Happen To You and the missing short he directed, The Hunt, together with the ill-fated The Enchanted Orchestra, and Sex Pistols film, A Star Is Dead, and many more; famous, infamous and unknown titles.
The exclusive A4 hardback editions will have a strictly limited print run, black cloth cover with gold foil embossing and sewn bound pages, building over the coming months into a unique collectors' library set of Armstrong's complete written works for the cinema, with each copy numbered and signed by Armstrong himself.
The screen plays will be published by London Repertory Company to whom Armstrong has donated all royalties, with proceeds going towards their efforts to regenerate traditional repertory theatre and allied apprenticeship training in the UK.
The first title, available now, is his 1982 multi award-winning classic, tongue-in-cheek parody of "Old Dark House" horror movies, House Of The Long Shadows, written specifically for the four great horror legends, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine, and directed by genre favourite Pete Walker in 1983. The second in the series is his 1969 unfilmed horror comedy take on 50s and 60s TV Westerns: Ghost Town.
Both titles are available to buy online via www.michaelarmstrong.co.uk/publications
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