I thought it would be interesting to compile the list of all the MSTed directors who only made one movie. Either they never got another opportunity, they didn’t like the process, or in the obvious cases, they were incompetent at their job. This is what I found:
Brian Burgess - Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
Saul Bass - Phase IV
Kazuho Mitsuta - Mighty Jack
Kiyosumi Fukazawa & Atsuo Okunaka - Time of the Apes
Robert Hutton - The Slime People
Clark L. Paylow - Ring of Terror
Lou Place - Daddy-O
Tom Kennedy - Being from Another Planet
Paul Frees - The Beatniks
Harold P. Warren - Manos: The Hands of Fate
Arch Hall Sr. - Eegah
Joseph V. Mascelli - The Atomic Brain
Vic Savage - The Creeping Terror
Ralph Brooke - Bloodlust!
Robert L. Lippert - Last of the Wild Horses
Michael Rae - Laserblast
Robert S. Fiveson - Parts: The Clonus Horror
Ian Curteis & John Croydon - The Projected Man
Don Barton & Arnold Stevens - Blood Waters of Dr. Z
Richard Ashe - Track of the Moon Beast
Mary Ann Fisher - Lords of the Deep
What are you using for your “one movie” criteria? There’s a couple “movies” on your list that were actually just a couple episodes of teevee shows glued together. So, those weren’t originally made as movies, and if those directors did other teevee stuff it shouldn’t be on the list.
One reason could be that they made the one movie the had a hankerin’ to make, and then went back to their regular lives, having accomplished their dream.
My criteria were either theatrical features, direct-to-video, or made-for-TV movies. The reason I counted those “compilation movies” was that it was the only time the directors retroactively made a film as they’ve only done TV episodes.
I wouldn’t say that any of the people listed was incompetent at their job. A movie did get made. That’s the number one requirement. I’d bet, except for maybe Manos, that every one of the listed movies even made money. Something about Hollywood, though, is that failing upward is common. So, one-filmers may actually be the most competent in that culture.
Lou Place is also listed on IMDB as the uncredited director of The Beast With 1,000,000 Eyes. Anybody know the story behind that?
I’s also interesting to see where some of these people later turned up. Lou Place is credited as the Production Manager for Agent From H.A.R.M. and later was the Unit Production Manager for 5 seasons on Cannon.
After this 1979 film, it seems like Mr. Fiveson took a bit of a break from directing. However, IMDB shows 3 TV movies from 2007, all seeming to do with aviation, which had him as the director.
The story there is complicated. Apparently, Place was fired due to issues with the Guild. Roger Corman took over the director’s chair without credit.
Those were TV documentaries that weren’t exactly feature-length (all three of them are less than an hour). I classified them as “specials” and not “movies” for that reason.
