Soho Bites 21: The Night Caller (1965)

Aliens in Soho.

This is our (vegetarian friendly) Butcher’s episode and please don’t @ me about that apostrophe – it’s meant to be there because we’re talking about Butcher’s Film Services who were based in Soho for many years.

In the first half of the show, Dr Laura Mayne of Hull University joins us to talk about this long departed fixture of Wardour Street.

Here’s an interesting article from The Londonist by Zoe Craig about the history of Wardour Street as the centre of the UK film industry.

In the second half of the programme we’re joined by Cevin Moore to talk about a 1965 SciFi/Noir/KitchenSink/PoliceProcedural called The Night Caller which was distributed by Butcher’s in their final few years

Starring John Saxon as the handsome scientist turned de facto detective and boasting some great performances from, among others, Alfred Burke, Patricia Haines, Maurice Denham, Warren Mitchell, Marianne Stone and Aubrey Morris, it’s a low budget film that punches above its weight.

The Night Caller – which was called “The Blood Beast From Outer Space” in the US, was made in black & white but, for some inexplicable reason,a colourised version was released in 2011. 

The Night Caller can be yours to own for ever as part of this DVD box set of vintage SciFi from Renown Films

Discover the locations of some of the exterior scenes thanks to our friends at ReelStreets.

The Night Caller was based on a novel by Frank Crisp called The Night Callers (must have been more of them in the book!) We love the cover….

Cevin Moore has two podcasts – check them both out. There’s the long running Film Guff and his new project Here Lies Amicus.

Laura’s new podcast, which she makes with Dr Adrian Smith (who has been on the show far too many times) is called Second Features and for info about her research interests, have a look at her her profile on the Hull University website.

The originator of Soho Bites, Dr Jingan Young, has launched a new research project. Find out all about it on the Cities in Cinema website and follow the project on Twitter.

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