Another success in finding the obscure.

[AlecWest]

One of the "lost" videos I was looking for was the 1972 Night Gallery episode titled, "The Caterpillar," starring Lawrence Harvey. So far, only Season One is available on DVD ... and "The Caterpillar" is a Season Two episode. But there was a VHS release, no longer in print, and it's still being sold by 9 Amazon Marketplace sellers:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009I9AZO/103-9383030-2839858

It includes 4 thirty-minute episodes on one VHS tape:

1) They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar
2) The Last Laurel
3) The Caterpillar
4) Little Girl Lost

According to the seller, it's only been viewed once. So hopefully, I can get a decent capture with my Hauppauge card and burn a DVD before the tape deteriorates any further. I get the impression that the Season One DVD didn't sell well ... which would preclude further seasons being released on DVD. So, this might be the only opportunity to get a copy of the episode without the Sci-Fi channel logos in tow (sold by online entrepreneurs).

For those unfamiliar with the episode, here's the rundown. Harvey plays a man with a seriously rotten attitude toward his fellow man. He treats everyone like riff-raff. And, he lusts after the wife of an old man. The action takes place in a Latin American setting where there's a certain type of earwig that, once in an ear, will burrow its way into the brain ... killing almost anyone who falls victim to it (a plot somewhat stolen later for Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan). So, Harvey pays a guy to put one of these earwigs on the old man's pillow while he sleeps. Unfortunately, he treats the guy he pays just as arrogantly as he treats everyone else. And, already having been paid, the guy decides to put it on Harvey's pillow instead (grin).

However, after several days of torment and agony, Harvey miraculously (in his doctor's opinion) survives the ordeal - as the earwig goes completely through his brain and exits his other ear. But as he's recuperating, he's visited by his doctor who has had a chance to examine the earwig. It turns out that the earwig was female ... and had laid hundreds of eggs on its trip through Harvey's brain ... eggs that would hatch into tiny earwigs that, like their mother, would eat their way out of his brain.

Anyhoo, there are three other obscure videos (at least) I'm looking for. And if anyone knows where they can be found, please let me know:

1) A specific version of "The Monkey's Paw" that has been done and redone several times on TV. The version I'm looking for is black-and-white, from the late 50s or early 60s, and centers the plot around a farm family during the depression years. A traveling gypsy family asks the farmer for food. But instead of just giving him a handout, he invites the family in to share a full meal with them. As a thank-you, the gypsy man gives the farmer a monkey's paw which he claims will grant them 3 wishes. And he warns them that the wishes need to be specific, otherwise catastrophe could result.

The farmer's wife made the first wish, asking for a large sum of money (without being specific). Later the same day, a mailman delivers a certified letter from an attorney - telling them they've been named as the sole beneficiary of the estate of an uncle who died - and enclosed was a check for the amount the wife had asked for. Fortunately, they didn't really know the uncle that well and did not grieve for him all that much. But they decided to save their remaining two wishes and give them more forethought.

But, the farmer's son was working in a flour mill and was crushed by a grinder. He was taken to a cemetery and buried. A day later and, without thinking, the farmer's wife wished for her son back. Not long afterward, three loud knocks were heard at the door. The farmer stopped his wife as she ran to the door, saying something like, "Wait, you didn't wish for him to be whole again, you merely wished for him to come back." Three more loud knocks. Reluctantly, the farmer and his wife used their third wish and wished their son back into his grave. And, the knocks went away. Woo woo.

Odd, though. I always wondered why they didn't use their third wish to make him whole and healthy again. Oh, well.

2) "The Richest Man in Bogota," starring Lee Marvin.

3) Title unknown ... movie done in 40s or 50s. Involves a lifelong criminal who's always managed to stay one step ahead of the cops and has never been caught in the act and never prosecuted. Approaching old age, he decides to retire and have his memoirs transcribed - detailing all his exploits and escapes. So, he hires a little old lady to transcribe in shorthand. The rest of the film dramatizes the exploits and escapes. Finally, when he's done, the little old lady shows him her FBI badge and arrests him, sending him to prison for what's likely the rest of his life. But, during the process of transcription, the lady FBI agent realizes that the criminal is a likable and lovable person ... and falls in love with him. And, she marries him before he's willingly led off to jail by his new wife (grin).

I'd also like to find a "cheap" copy of the 1956 film, "Death of a Scoundrel," starring George Sanders. There are two old VHS tapes of the film available from Amazon Marketplace, both going for (roughly) $78 (oi).

[BJ_M]

I remember the "The Caterpillar" - as soon as i read that i remembered another episode (or was it a "twilight zone" episode?) where a family ends up in a doll house

[MrMoody]

I remember that one, too, one of the creepiest things I ever saw on TV as a kid.

[AlecWest]

Update ... I found an online storefront selling "Death of a Scoundrel" on DVD. And according to the site, the film's origin format was a laserdisc ... so I'm hoping the person who owned the laserdisc took good care of it. I should have it in about a week or so.

[offline]

I'm looking for one similar in nature to the Night Gallery series. It involves a surgeon who performs the worlds first heart transplant, and the donor that returns from the dead to cut out his heart. Anybody remember watching something like this?