Quote of the Week

Posted by Marisa on May 19, 2013

“My personal opinion is that [The World’s Greatest] Sinner is very unusual,” [Gil] Barreto observes. “Nobody else but Tim would have dared to make a movie like that. Very controversial, especially when Tim pierces the host (to make God cry out in pain and reveal Himself). Tim’s acting was good, but it was very strange.”

Carey changed during the filming, Barreto reports, truly becoming the character he was portraying. Clarence Hilliard starts out sweet and loving and becomes a wicked man. Barreto recalls, “At first, I only had a few lines, but Tim was so nasty to the bit players that they started quitting the picture. As they disappeared, Tim kept giving me their lines, until I had a big supporting role. Tim became God Hilliard, and we really had God in person on the set. It was very difficult to be with Tim at times.”

Nothing would deflect Carey from bringing his vision to the screen. The result is there for all to see: a crazed B-movie, insane, disturbing, and provocative, fueled by rage and passion.

– Harvey F. Chartrand, “Timothy Carey: The World’s Greatest Director!”, Filmfax Plus magazine #102 (April/June 2004)

Quote of the Week

Posted by Marisa on March 10, 2013

Timmy always seemed to have a project going, but I guess that’s par for the course with creative personalities. I don’t recall the origins of The World’s Greatest Sinner. He wanted to combine religion and politics in a film and do something a little different about a self-made type of person who becomes a big celebrity. He had a production book. I wonder if it’s still around. It explains the plot in quite a lot of detail.

The World’s Greatest Sinner was 20 years ahead of its time. The religious aspect upset the studio heads. People who could have advanced the film were anxious, because they thought the public would condemn it as blasphemous, although I don’t think The World’s Greatest Sinner is irreligious, compared to films today. The character of Clarence Hilliard is redeemed in the end. And Timmy had such a shoestring budget to work with… that didn’t help.

Most of the film was shot in El Monte, California, where Timmy lived. One very amusing scene had Timmy standing on a pile of fertilizer as he was campaigning. He had a big guitar in his hand and he was running for office, talking to the crowds, making a political speech. And the camera pans down and we see that Timmy is standing on a great big pile of cow manure. (laughs) I thought that was a funny touch. That was very good!

I remember that day. Timmy was positioning all the people. They were just local people who were acting in the scene. Timmy had a few professional actors working on the picture with him, like the guy who played his campaign manager (James Farley) and Gil Barreto (who played Clarence’s disciple). I don’t think anybody other than Timmy had any significant credits, though. The World’s Greatest Sinner was all improvised. I don’t remember Timmy ever working from a script.

I went to a few screenings of The World’s Greatest Sinner. I saw the film in Manhattan. Timmy brought it to New York and showed it in several screening rooms, trying to get some film companies interested. But they were all turned off and scared by the religious aspect. But The World’s Greatest Sinner does conclude with a miracle, a church scene where Clarence Hilliard begs forgiveness. He has remorse for the type of person he was and seeks redemption. The problem was with the blasphemous stuff that came before. Not too many people could handle that. It was too ahead of its time.

– Interview with Timothy’s brother George Carey by Harvey F. Chartrand, unpublished Filmfax article, 2003

Pic of the Day: “Mermaids of Tiburon” revisited

Posted by Marisa on September 21, 2012

Our pic of the day is a delightfully evil shot of bad guy Milo Sangster from John Lamb‘s Mermaids of Tiburon (1962). While pushing some equipment around on his boat, Timothy manages to direct this wicked grin right into the camera.

Tim’s old friend and former roommate Gil Barreto is in the cast list here, but I’m not sure that he actually appears in the film as it’s available today (on DVD and also at Fandor). They had both just come off the taxing four-year ordeal that was the shooting of The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962). Lamb was the underwater photographer for several television series, including Sea Hunt and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Diane Webber, who appears here as the Mermaid Queen, also portrayed a mermaid in the Voyage episode entitled, strangely enough, “The Mermaid” (01/29/67). It was directed by Jerry Hopper, who directed Tim in Alaska Seas (1954). Lamb again helmed the underwater sequences. Alas, it’s a mostly dreadful episode.

Pic of the Day: “Mermaids of Tiburon” revisited

Posted by Marisa on January 17, 2012

Today’s pic takes us back to Mermaids of Tiburon (1962), directed by underwater photography specialist John Lamb and starring actress, model and belly dancer Diane Webber as the Mermaid Queen. Timothy and henchman Jose Gonzales-Gonzales are in hot pursuit of the mermaids’ hidden treasure, the mysterious “flame pearls.”

Also appearing in this film is Tim’s old friend and former roommate Gil Barreto. He played Alonzo, Clarence Hilliard’s Mexican gardener, in The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962) as well.