William Castle’s 1974 film “Shanks” with Marcel Marceau

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Marcel Marceau performs in William Castle’s 1974 horror film about puppetry.


A revenge-driven puppeteer applies his talent to humans in this supernatural horror film.

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Wikipedia says:
“Shanks is a 1974 American horror film about a puppeteer able to manipulate dead bodies like puppets. Mime Marcel Marceau, in his first major film role, plays the titular Malcolm Shanks. It was the last film directed by producer-director William Castle. Marceau, who had for decades before performed in his signature white face makeup and without speaking, both spoke and appeared without makeup for this film. He played two roles: Malcolm Shanks, who could not speak, and Old Walker, who could. He had appeared in 20 shorts and films in small and cameo roles, often as his mime character Bip. Director William Castle took an interest in him after watching him perform the pantomime “Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death” and approached him with the script for Shanks, saying it dealt with similar themes. Said Marceau of the script, “it was exactly what I had been looking for.”

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