Carnival of Souls
About Carnival of Souls
Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) is the only person to climb out of a car that goes off a bridge. She leaves for Utah, takes a job as a church organist, and rents a room. A pale man (Herk Harvey) keeps appearing. She is drawn to the abandoned Saltair pavilion outside Salt Lake City. The visions thicken until the crash and the pavilion occupy the same story.
Cast & crew
More about Carnival of Souls
Herk Harvey directed and produced. John Clifford wrote it. Maurice Prather photographed it. Dan Palmquist and Bill de Jarnette edited. Gene Moore wrote the organ score. Harcourt shot it in three weeks in Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City, after Harvey took three weeks off from his job at Centron. He raised $17,000 from local investors at $500 each and deferred further costs. The Saltair pavilion was rented for $50. Herts-Lion International released the film on 26 September 1962. The theatrical cut runs 80 minutes. A director's cut runs 84 minutes. Hilligoss was paid $2,000. The Internet Archive identifier is CarnivalofSouls.
Themes
Making
Harvey paid locals so the crew could shoot quickly in a department store and other public rooms, and he used the empty Saltair pavilion as the carnival.
Look
Maurice Prather shot the bridge crash at Eudora and the interiors of the closed Saltair pavilion.
Music
Gene Moore wrote the organ score that runs under the film.
Preservation
The film survives in an 80-minute theatrical cut and an 84-minute director's cut. A copy is on the Internet Archive as CarnivalofSouls.
Notes
- The opening crash was filmed at the bridge that carries 222nd Street over the Kansas River at Eudora.
- Saltair, built in 1893 and rebuilt after a 1925 fire, had closed in 1958. Another fire in 1970 destroyed the pavilion seen in the film.
- Harvey plays the pale man. Sidney Berger, Frances Feist, Art Ellison, and Stan Levitt are in the cast.
- Harvey said the film was loosely based on the 1961 short An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, from Ambrose Bierce's story.
- Some listings give 91 minutes. Michael Weldon gives 80 for the theatrical cut and 84 for the director's cut.
- The company is Harcourt Productions, not Harlequin.
Scenes
- The car leaves the bridge and Mary walks out of the water alone.
- The pale man appears in the boarding house and on the road.
- She walks into the closed Saltair pavilion.
Influenced by
- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961 short film)
Also available
- Internet Archive (CarnivalofSouls)