Unmade, Unfinished and Unreleased Films

Unmade, Unfinished and Unreleased Films 

For one reason or another, the features which never got beyond the drawing board, remained in the can, or are still in limbo somewhere...

The Great Space Adventure (filmed 1963) Notorious US producer/director Albert Zugsmith started filming his second Filipino production (after Zigzag, released 1963) before running out of money and abandoning his actors in Manila. The whole sordid tale will be revealed in our interview with the film's assistant director Dik Trofeo! 

Ito Ang Lahing Pilipino (1977) Not strictly a film, but a series of short films bankrolled by the Marcos family and destined for TV. 

Juan de la Cruz (dir. Gerry de Leon) Filming started in 1976, stalled soon after when de Leon became ill, and was officially shelved by producer Fernando Poe Jr after de Leon's passing.

Ladyfingers (c.1979) Hollywood production written by Dick Adair; Joe Zucchero was also involved during pre-production.

License Expired (announced 1982) What would have been Weng Weng's fourth Agent 00 adventure was listed in the end credits of The Impossible Kid (1982). The Caballes' follow-up film instead was the locally-released The Cute, The Sexy 'n' The Tiny (1982), and Weng Weng never again appeared in a film for export. 

Limahong (announced March 1948) A million-dollar follow-up to United Philippine Artists' Sword Of The Avenger/Ang Vengador (1948), producers Sydney Salkow and Dave Griffin announced in March 1948 they were scouting Manila locations for an ambitious tale of a 15th Century Chinese pirate, from a script by John O'Dea. Last mention was in April 1948 (presumably some pirate ran off with the million!).

Queen Cobra (1978)

Scotch On The Rocks To Remember, Black Coffee To Forget (1974)

The Silencers (announced January 1967) A Woolner-produced action thriller set for filming in late Spring 1967 in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore, starring Stewart Granger and Anthony Eisley. 

The Vengeance Of Cleopatra Wong (2007)

War Dogs (c.1985) From Don Gordon Bell's interview on Nanarland: "One production that we were actually shooting was called "War Dogs" and was about scout dogs used by the US Army in Vietnam. I wrote the screenplay with Bill James Haverly, and also played the crazy Cambodian villain. Our friend Ken Watanabe brought over a Japanese Director, Cinematographer, and Sound Man, we had built two sets, hired Filipino Crew, and were into the fourth week of shooting when the Filipino 'producer' RAN OUT OF MONEY! Sacre Bleu, he was actually running a real estate scam and thought he could raise enough to produce the film. I don't even know what happened of the footage. Well, we learned a harsh lesson but gained great experience."