Devil’s Partner (1960)
Directed by Charles R. Rondeau
Starring Ed Nelson, Edgar Buchanan, Jean Allison, Richard Crane, Spencer Carlisle, Byron Foulger

This film was one that I remember seeing the poster art but never really knew the film. I’ve read that it was in public domain, but never remember seeing it on VHS. It wasn’t until I bought a bootleg DVD of it last year when I first saw it. And of course, since I bought that bootleg, now we have not only a legitimate release, but a beautiful 4K restoration on Blu-ray! You’re welcome.

Released in 1960, about a decade away from when movies, both theatrical and for television, loved to tackle the theme of the devil, selling one’s soul, and all the other mischievous things Old Scratch would get into. But here we have a very early film that not only tackles that subject but does it in a very strange and different way. The film starts with a very old man killing a goat, using the blood for a ritual, and writing a pact with the devil on a piece of animal skin, promptly dying. Right before he expires, we see a mysterious hand come into the frame to sign the contract. What a way to start the film.

A short time later, a young man arrives in this small desert town looking for his uncle, who just happens to be the old man that we saw in the opening. It seems nobody in town liked the old man, and the young man, who says he’s the nephew, takes up residence in his uncle’s little shack. We quickly realize something is strange with the nephew, especially when he starts doing spells or rituals of his own, making some of the locals be attacked by different animals. Of course, as crazy as it sounds, it doesn’t take too long before the local doc starts to put the clues together, even though they make little sense!

Devil’s Partner really is an oddity, and for that alone, really is a must see. It is so different for films of that era, especially ones dealing with the devil. Granted, by looking at the poster art, you’d think it would be a whole different picture all together but leave that up to good old-fashioned ballyhoo!

Film Masters has done an excellent job restoring this film, which is almost a shame since most viewers out there probably have never seen it before so they don’t know how it might have looked.

Edgar Buchanan stars as the local doc, who was in just about every TV show from the ‘50s to the early ‘70s, as well as being in a ton of westerns. Those that grew up in the late ‘60s know him as Uncle Joe from the TV show Petticoat Junction. Richard Crane stars as the local gas station owner that is attacked by his own dog. Crane is better known (to me) as the poor title creature from The Alligator People (1959). But the real star of the film is Ed Nelson, who is another veteran of TV and movies, with close to 200 credits. He plays both the old man and the young nephew. This isn’t any spoiler since it’s in the opening credits that he has dual roles. At the start of his career, he found himself working with Roger Corman, taking any job available just to get on set. He was one of the guys responsible for building the creatures from Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) as well as operating the giant monsters in Corman’s Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957). But eventually he started getting bigger roles, even getting into television, and making quite a name. For genre credits, he was also in Corman’s Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), The Brain Eaters (1958), Night of the Blood Beast (1958), A Bucket of Blood (1959), the highly underrated The Screaming Woman (1972). One of his last roles was in The Boneyard (1991), co-starring Phyllis Diller and Norman Fell, which is actually a fun monster-romp with some great old-fashioned rubber monsters! Nelson was always one of those actors that always gave a believable performance.

The disc comes with an audio commentary from the guys at Monster Party Podcast (Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, and Matt Weinhold) which is a combination of little factoids and their usual humorous comments, which makes for a very entertaining and educational experience. The disc also has Part 3 of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures documentary on Roger Corman’s The Filmgroup, as well as a new interview with Mr. Corman himself!

And if you needed another special feature, how about a complete second feature? Almost like the good-old-days with the double feature at the drive-in, right? Well, you also get a new HD print of Corman’s Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961), which was the second feature when Devil’s Partner was originally released. Now, I’ll say it right off the bat, that I’m not a big fan of this movie. But just about every print you’ve seen of this looks pretty bad, from being grainy, washed out, or just poor print quality. But Film Masters has done an amazing job here getting it to look as good as they do. There is even a little extra showing a little before and after the restoration, which is short, but pretty cool. There is also a cool commentary by Tom Weaver, but he also interjects comments from others, both by reading the interviews he’s done, or playing the actual audio from them, once again educating the listener while having fun.

The film itself is a strange combination of a comedy, a heist movie, and a monster movie, all of which don’t seem to work together, at least not for me. The creature is a wonder that a) nobody drowned while filming it, and b) didn’t completely fall apart during any of the shooting! BUT . . . that being said, as silly as it looks, it is memorable, so I have to give them credit for that. But I just don’t think the humor works, which really detracts the story for me.

But as a whole package, this new release from Film Masters shows that they are continuing some incredible work saving some of these films, not only from obscurity, like Devil’s Partner, but taking the time and effort in taking care and bringing these films back to looking great again.