A Bucket of Blood (1959), dir. Roger Corman, Alta Vista Productions
Corman shot this in five days, arguably the first in a trilogy of cheaply shot and produced horror/comedies.
Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) is a busboy at the Yellow Door, a coffeehouse populated by beatniks. Walter is a pleasant enough fellow, but what he longs to be is both accepted by the artists that hang out at the show and respected as an artist.
He's so desperate that after his shift, he rushes back to his little apartment with a slab of clay with hopes of turning it into a masterpiece. Shame that Walter hasn't an ounce of talent. As he tries to come up with something to sculpt, his landlady's cat gets trapped in wall. Walter tries to free the kitty with a knife, but he ends up killing it.
Rather than confess, Walter hits on the idea to cover the cat up in clay and pass it off as his own work. He takes it to work, and the results are immediate and wonderful. The art snobs love it, especially Walter's mastery of anatomy. Even Walter's boss Leonard de Santis (Anthony Carbone) begrudgingly admits Walter has talent and agrees to sell the sculpture for Walter. Naolia (Jhean Burton), is so impressed she even offers to spend the night at Walter's place. Flustered, he turns her down. Instead, she slips Walter a small packet as thanks for the 'gas' she got looking at Dead Cat.
Shame that Naolia was being followed by undercover man Raby (Bert Convy), who is assigned to track the drugs that seem to flow out of the Yellow Door. Yeah, that little packet is pure heroin, which the hapless Walter wasn't aware of. When Raby tries to arrest Walter, the artist panics, but on the plus side Murdered Man will surely be a better sensation than Dead Cat.
When Leonard knocks Dead Cat over and reveals the fakery, he is at first overjoyed that he can ruin Walter's rising star and rid himself of the busboy, but when Walter unveils Murdered Man, Leonard is naturally horrified. When an art collector offers him 500 bucks for Dead Cat, well, Leonard finds his morals wilting a bit.
Alice (Judy Bamber) is a nude model who always looked down at Walter. When Walter hires her for the night, he pretty soon has another macabre masterpiece in his portfolio. Of course, Raby's partner is going to wonder why he hasn't checked in. The threads around Walter start to tighten...
Miller is a delight, with Walter being equally pitiable and likeable. The setting is also wonderful, with the coffeehouse regulars helping sell the idea of a beatnik black comedy.
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