Despite its title, this collection of three brilliant yet unproduced film scripts is a dream realized for readers everywhere. Collected here for the first time, Gauntlet Press is offering the actual screenplays written by Richard Matheson for three major movie projects that were, sadly, never filmed. The first is titled THE FANTASTIC LITTLE GIRL, which was to have been the sequel to Mr. Matheson's hit science fiction movie, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. Scott Carey, the title character, was thought to have shrunk into oblivion, but when his wife, Louise, discovers that she, too, has been struck by the same malady and is herself shrinking, she returns to the house where her husband was lost, hoping to join him. This is a thrilling adventure into the microcosm of the world and the macrocosm of the soul. The second script, an international thriller titled APPOINTMENT IN ZAHRAIN, is a story that Mr. Matheson adapted specifically for Clark Gable, who died shortly before production commenced. Death also canceled his final and, in my opinion, most magnificent screenplay of all, SWEETHEARTS AND HORRORS. Remember the wonderful classic comedy/horror film, COMEDY OF TERRORS, starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff? SWEETHEARTS AND HORRORS was scripted to reunite that cast, with the addition of Basil Rathbone and Tallulah Bankhead! The script had me laughing aloud, I swear! Here's the story: There are five Sweetheart siblings, Dudley (Karloff), the cantankerous, child-hating kid's show host; Sydney (Rathbone), the smooth and natty ne'er-do-well; Adelbert (Lorre) the clumsy, not-quite-bright brother; Malcom (Price), the hateful, drunken ventriloquist; and Portia (Bankhead), their witheringly vicious actress sister ("A cross between Medea and Ma Barker"). When the five Sweethearts receive identical telegrams informing them of their father's murder, their respective responses are: Eureka! Hurrah! Oh. Yippee! Ha-ha! And the game is afoot! The surviving Sweehearts converge at their late father's home to hear the will and collect their fortunes. At the same time, they each gleefully endeavor to knock off their other siblings in order to cash in on the entire estate! This is a hilarious and rollicking farce that, if I could, I would wish onto film starring the original cast. It would have been an instant classic! As funny as it reads, it would have been a marvel of hilarity with the collective talent slated for the production. Unfortunately, all of the actors died before the film could be realized, but this sidesplitting script lives on, hurrah (as Sydney would have said). An insightful introduction by California writer Dennis Etchison kicks off the festivities, and I say festivities because this volume is a collection to celebrate. HURRAH!
