You have to love the movie titles in the 60s and 70s. Today the title would be more like Door to Door Dangerously Manic Person, which doesn’t quite carry the immediate emotional concern that “maniac” carries. Special thanks go to our resident maniac Paul, at It Came From Hollywood, for this and his research that follows.
“According to the AFI catalog, “Door to Door Maniac” (also known as “Five Minutes to Live“) started production in March 1957. After three years of production and less than 30 days of filming between 1960 and 1961, the movie premiered in Dallas, Texas, in December 1961. The less than 30 days of actual filming make sense if you’ve seen the picture. The three years it was in some form of production is the real head scratcher.
“Produced by Flower Film Productions, a “one and done” production company headed by a mysterious figure known as Ludlow Flower. I say mysterious because Ludlow Flower left no trace that he even existed on planet Earth outside of this motion picture, save for a few mentions in some unclassified documents released by the F.B.I. concerning organized crime. Draw your own conclusions on that one.
“Sutton Pictures, a subsidiary of Pathé Laboratory, handled distribution. Pathé was largely known as a film processing company, but between 1961 and 1962 it distributed eleven movies, none of which resulted in much box office. At the end of 1962, Pathé got out of the distribution biz.
“Enter American International Pictures. A.I.P. re-released Five Minutes to Live as Door to Door Maniac in 1966. With the catchier title and the typical over-the-top media marketing that only A.I.P. could provide, the film reached some success as it was often double-billed with Nashville Rebel, a biopic about the life of Waylon Jennings. This could be attributed to the success of both Cash and Jennings. By the mid-1960’s both musicians were household names in country music, and A.I.P. took full advantage of that fact.
“Door to Door Maniac is often credited with being an A.I.P. production. This, I suppose, is both true and false. Five Minutes to Live has a run time of 74 minutes according to TCM, which has run the picture several times on its cable channel. The print TCM typically runs is the Sutton Pictures 1961 version. A.I.P.’s 1966 version contains 4-5 minutes of new footage allegedly shot by none other than Robert L. Lippert. This includes the cringeworthy rape scene.
“A.I.P., never one to miss an opportunity, again re-released Door to Door Maniac in 1969 as Johnny Cash was at the pinnacle of his stardom.
“Door to Door Maniac was never included in any of A.I.P.’s TV packages, presumably because the added footage would have had to be excised, thus shortening its run time.
“It wasn’t until 2000 that Door to Door Maniac was offered on TV via Universal, and it continues to be held by Universal to this day. I do not know if the version that is now available is the original 1961 version or the ’66 re-release. Odds are it is the original from Sutton Pictures, as it is listed with a 74-minute run time.
“The pressbook is a bit of an oddity as well. It is laid out like a typical A.I.P. book, but, unlike any other A.I.P. film, either produced by American International or picked up for distribution by them, nowhere in the pressbook will you find the A.I.P. logo or the company’s name within any of the text.
