The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

Jonathan Drake, while attending his brother's funeral, is shocked to find the head of the deceased is missing. When his brother's skull shows up later in a locked cabinet, Drake realizes an... See full summary »

Director:

Edward L. Cahn

Writer:

Orville H. Hampton

Stars:

Eduard Franz, Valerie French, Grant Richards

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Eduard Franz	...	Jonathan Drake
Valerie French	...	Alison Drake
Grant Richards	...	Police Lt. Jeff Rowan
Henry Daniell	...	Dr. Emil Zurich
Lumsden Hare	...	Rogers
Frank Gerstle	...	Lee Coulter
Paul Wexler	...	Zutai
Howard Wendell	...	Dr. George Bradford
Paul Cavanagh	...	Kenneth Drake

Storyline

Jonathan Drake, while attending his brother's funeral, is shocked to find the head of the deceased is missing. When his brother's skull shows up later in a locked cabinet, Drake realizes an ancient curse placed upon his grandfather by a tribe of South American Jivaro Indians is still in effect and that he himself is the probable next victim. That night he is awakened by the approach of an Indian, his lips sewed together with string, and wielding a curare-tipped bamboo knife.

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Plot Keywords:

skull | funeral | curse | decapitation | shrunken head | 

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Taglines:

Written, Produced and Directed to Scare the Daylights Out of You!

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 November 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die vier Schädel des Jonathan Drake

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vogue Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The script is based in part on the Amazonian Indian practice of removing the skulls from decapitated heads, padding them with hot sand and shrinking them to an extremely small size.

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Goofs

During the fight between Zutai and Jeff, the "blade" of Zutai's weapon is rubber, and keeps wobbling around, and bends when it brushes against anything.

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Connections

Featured in Svengoolie: The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1995)

User Reviews

One scary movie for a 10 year old in 1960

The movie concerned the death of Jonathan's brother and the brother's missing head. Of course the fact that his head is missing isn't discovered until the funeral. Then the realization hits that the brother's death and decapitation is because of a curse put on their grandfather by a South American tribe he had cheated. At this point Jonathan considers there is a strong possibility that he is next. That thought occurs when he awakens in the middle of the night to discover a rather gruesome looking native, with his mouth sewn shut, standing over him with a long, sharp knife. Now he, family and friends must find a way to save his life. It's too bad most of you will never see this in the theater. (Eduard Franz and Henry Daniell were great actors!)

Seeing it again a few years ago (over 50), I could see all the fallacies and the real lack of anything to be afraid of, it was pretty phony in loads of places. And, compared to what the producers and directors put out today, it, also, was pretty tame. But one more thing I will say scary though it might have been then, now I consider it fun.