Toast to Our Brother (1951)
23 mins - color, 16mm

Graeff Fact: Two known prints exist, one in the Legacy Project/UCLA Film and Television Archives, the other in private hands

The Orange Coast College Story (1954) - 20 mins - color
starring Chuck Roberts,
Donna Scheining, Glenn Kaminsky
narrated by Vincent Price
directed, produced, shot, and
edited by Tom Graeff

Graeff Facts: Vincent Price was a friend of the faculty advisor and agreed to record the narration as a favor. A major scene at a college dance was later scrapped, apparently for technical reasons, and a scaled-down version was created for the film.

3 minutes - color
starring Chuck Roberts
directed, produced, written, shot,
and edited by Tom Graeff
(as Tom Lockyear)

Graeff Fact:A restored and expanded version of the film was premiered at Outfest 2008 in Los Angeles, marking the first time the film was screened theatrically in Hollywood.

The Noble Experiment

Read Graeff's description of the plot and themes

Graeff Facts:The film was shot with the sound pre-recorded and then lipsynced by the actors on set. A device, invented by cinematographer Austin McKinney, was attached to the camera so the soundtrack could be played as the camera rolled. As a promotional gimmick, Graeff passed out little candy "magic pills" to the audience at the film's premiere in Newport Beach, California.

Not of This Earth (1957)
67 mins - B&W
starring Beverly Garland, Paul Birch, Morgan Jones
assistant to director: Tom Graeff (uncredited)
directed by Roger Corman

Graeff Fact: Besides working as an assistant to Corman, Tom appears briefly in the role of a parking attendant who is pursued and killed by alien Paul Birch. Tom's voice is used in one scene, but dubbed by someone else in the next scene.

Graeff Facts: Tom's final title before selling the film to Warner Brothers was The Boy From Out of This World. 20th Century Fox offered to buy the script for $10,000, but Graeff and his original backers declined the offer and decided to do it themselves.

Watch a reimagined title sequence as it may have appeared on the original print.

Graeff Fact: Tom's involvement with this film was the last time he worked on a film in Hollywood. The film's cinematrographer, Austin McKinney, a former collegue and UCLA classmate of Graeff's, did not know Tom had worked on the film until years later.