Our pal, Graham Hill, comments on about every blog we post. And we sincerely hope our readers check out those comments. They are insightful and invaluable.
In discussing Herbert Marshall he noted: “The last good performance of HERBERT MARSHALL in a good film, was 1963’s John Huston mystery thriller THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER.”
The story goes that only Curtis, Douglas and Mitchum actually performed in the movie itself. And that Lancaster and Sinatra are only in it for the unmasking sequence and that their parts were played by others. And that many of the characters supposedly played by Kirk Douglas were done by a character actor named Jan Merlin.
It was reported that is was a grueling process, applying and removing the disguises, and that’s why several stars, including Elizabeth Taylor, had bowed out.
The real credit for making THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER work, has to go to the legendary JOHN CHAMBER, who began his career in the army designing prosthetics for amputees and patients requiring reconstructive surgery.
If you don’t know the name, you know his work… how about the pointed Vulcan ears of Mr. Spock on the original STAR TREK TV series; how about Herman Munster; how about a nose for Lee Marvin in CAT BALLOU; how about Martin Landau’s incredible make-ups for his role in the original MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TV series; how about the creatures you saw in LOST IN SPACE and THE OUTER LIMITS?
But it was in the original 1968 PLANET OF THE APES, that Chambers really WOW-ed the world, when they first encountered the amazing ape prosthectics he created.
That movie changed everything in HOLLYWOOD having to do with the art of make-up. PLANET OF THE APES had over 20% of it’s budget spent on make-up, as the picture could only work if those “damn dirty ape” characters looked believable and real.
Up to 70 make-up artists worked on PLANET OF THE APES, including those working around-the-clock in shifts, producing ears and jaws etc., which had to be replaced daily. With most of HOLLYWOOD’s make-up force tied up with all that, a good many other movies waiting to film were delayed.
Chambers shared his talent and mentored so many other make-up artists. He also shared it with the CIA…
John Chambers died at age 78 in 2001, but if you’ll recall the 2012 movie ARGO, you’ll see how he (played by John Goodman) had helped the CIA and other secret government agencies, in just one of their missions.
The main premise of Martin Landau’s character on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, was always he had to double someone every episode. He had to double dictators, politicians and others.
Well, John Chambers really elevated spy work as he could create “doubles” in real life. However, whether he created multiple Lee Harvey Oswald’s we’ll never know.
We do know he was awarded honors by the intelligence community, and by the Motion Picture Academy with a special Oscar in 1969.
Many of Chambers make-up and prosthetic innovations are still used today, specially the skull caps.
But getting back to THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER…
Chambers make-up designs for the cameos of Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster were damn good, but as these cameos were probably just one days work for those stars, another actor was similarly made-up for Curtis, and actress for Burt. Robert Mitchum was made-up throughout the picture. Star and producer Kirk Douglas’ character is in various disguises, so Jam Merlin helped out there.
Director John Huston made most of the film in England and even on his own estate in Ireland for the hunting scenes, though it looks like some of that was also making use of the Disney Ranch near me in the San Fernando Valley back in California.
John Chambers himself, had his make-up lab workshop, right in his own home garage in Burbank, right by the Disney studio.
With so much in HOLLYWOOD today being computer generated, being CGI-ed, skill’s the likes of John Chambers and all those he inspired, are now being rapidly replaced by the simple use of moving a mouse and watching a screen.