Bloch On the Screen 1: Sweets to the Sweet

This post is brought to you by The Book of the Black Sun, a classic Mythos collection by G. W. Thomas. Originally published in 2002, it is the oldest tome we have at RAGE m a c h i n e Books, and it still sells well. Of course, it sports a different cover these days with its second edition thanks to the talented M. D. Jackson. This gathering of short-short, short and novella length tales is a kind of self-referring mandala of Lovecraftian weirdness. A sequel of sorts appeared later with The Book of the Black Sun II: The Book Collector. A third volume, The Book of the Black Sun: Black Millennium will happen some day…

“Sweets to the sweet: farewell!
I hop’d thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid,
And not have strew’d thy grave.” – Hamlet

The Original

“Sweets to the Sweet” (Weird Tales, March 1947) is one of those Robert Bloch stories everybody knows. (If you’d rather listen to it, here.) Like “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, it is a Dorothy McIlwraith selection from the 1940s. Much is made of Farnsworth Wright’s 1930s reign as editor but McIlwraith had her own regulars who did their best work after Wright’s death. Bloch is one of these. His early stories are too strongly influenced by Lovecraft, while the 1940s stuff has Bloch signature sense of humor, black, black humor. “Sweets to the Sweet” is no exception. The tale has been reprinted dozens of times by editors like August Derleth, Peter Haining, Helen Hoke, Don Congdon, Roger Elwood-Vic Ghidalia and C. L. Grant, along with the Martin H. Greenberg crowd (despite it not being in The Best of Robert Bloch, 1977). It should be no surprise it was adapted to the screen.

In My Favorite Horror Story (2000, Baker & Greenberg), Stephen King wrote:

Bloch was the first horror writer whose work was easily available to me in paperback editions while I was growing up. Consequently, he was the first horror writer whose works I owned. Belmont Books issued his two classic Arkham House collections, Pleasant Dreams and The Opener of the Way, in about four paperback editions. Many of those stories stand out clearly in my memory, but I thought then and think now that “Sweets to the Sweet” had one of the most chilling snap endings I had ever read.

The plot of the original Pulp story has Miss Pall in the office of the lawyer Sam Steever, complaining about her employer, the lawyer’s brother, John. Miss Pall has been hired as housekeeper and nanny to Irma Steever, John’s eight year old daughter. Miss Pall is appalled at how brutal and vicious the father is toward the girl, beating her and calling her a witch, a designation the girl adopts. If her father calls her a witch, she’ll be a witch. She even asks for a black cat. This leads to Irma sneaking an encyclopedia volume with “Witchcraft” defined in it. Miss Pall’s final complaint is that her boss had beaten the child but she will not cry, only giggle with delight.

With Miss Pall’s complaints heard, she leaves the story. It is now up to Sam Steever to look in on his brother, who has had business failures and is drinking heavily. He talks to his brother then calls again and gets Irma. The girl tells him that daddy isn’t feeling well, having pains in his arm. Later, in another call, John tells him the pain is in his back, where Irma is sticking the pins the doll she had of him using some candles she stole. Sam comes to the house and finds his brother is fine. He catches Irma with a doll and confronts her but it proves to be no voodoo doll but a sugar candy treat. She bites off the head and a terrible scream comes from upstairs. Sam Steever rushes upward while the young girl skips off into the night.

“The Eyrie”, Weird Tales‘ letter column was no longer a place of comment by 1947 but a list of “Weird Club Members”. This is too bad since “Sweets to the Sweet” appeared in the same issue as “Mr. George” by August Derleth, another classic tale that was adapted for the screen. It would have been interesting to see which story won “First Place” among the readers. “Mr. George” got more PR but “Sweets to the Sweet” has had a longer run.

The Adaptation

“Sweets to the Sweet” appeared as the third of four segments in 1970’s The House That Dripped Blood, from Amicus Production. It was directed by Peter Duffell. The script was based on four Bloch stories and written by Robert Bloch himself. (The other three were “Method for Murder” (Fury #7, July 1962), “The Waxworks” (Weird Tales, January 1939)  and “The Cloak” (Unknown, May 1939). Each section had a big actor to carry the film, Denholm Elliott, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Jon Pertwee. “Sweet For the Sweet” got Christopher Lee in the role of the abusive-appearing father. (There is a great joke in the fourth segment, where Jon Pertwee’s Horror actor character lists off the great films including Dracula “The Bela Lugosi one, not that new fellow.”) That new fellow is, of course, Christopher Lee.)

In adapting his tale, Bloch drops the standard Pulp feel for a more Hollywood one. He changes the characters’ names, for instance. John Steever becomes John Reid and Irma Steever becomes Jane. Miss Pall becomes simply Ann, played by a far less frumpy Nyree Dawn Porter. Bloch’s original character is stuffy, dutiful but nothing like the caring and better looking Ann. She disappears about half way through the tale, to be surmounted by the brother, Sam Steever. In the screen version, Ann is the champion of the little girl until its final scene. The character of Sam Steever disappears as an unnecessary scaffolding device that film does not require. That being said, the film version is simpler, and I think, less effective. The original finale of the story has Irma biting off the head of her sugar candy doll, a deliberate act that is nastier than simply throwing the wax image into the fire. (Let’s not forget that title, something the film does, I think.) Bloch was a seasoned Hollywood writer by 1970, and knew what would work and what would be too cumbersome in an episode shown in twenty minutes. His cuts make sense even if we lose something in the translation. Others’ thoughts.

Conclusion

I suppose my biggest surprise is that the story hasn’t been re-adapted since 1970. All those Twilight Zone reboots and such, but no. There was an EC Comics knock-off called “Daddy Lost His Head” back in 1951. This shot from the film reminds me of this TZ Magazine cover. That story was an unused script by Richard Matheson. Still, magic dolls and voodoo witchcraft are hardly new even before Bloch and Matheson’s time. F. Marion Crawford had “The Doll’s Ghost” in 1896. Daphne DuMaurier had one in 1937. Algernon Blackwood wrote another in 1946. You get the idea. Not new.

Hollywood would offer up its own evil doll in Chucky in Child’s Play (1988) and numerous sequels. The thrills and chills in The House That Dripped Blood are a far cry from modern Horror films (which Bloch was not a fan, as his Psycho II shows.) The goofy creepers of this Amicus production are hard to take seriously, especially Jon Pertwee crossing his eyes humorously all the time. It is a fun watch and a jump back to a simpler time in entertainment. We will look at the other three segments in some future posts.

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