HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN

Anthony Perkins

HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN (1970 telefilm). Director: Curtis Harrington. Executive producer: Aaron Spelling.

Legally blind, if only psychosomatically, Allan (Anthony Perkins) is released from an institution and comes back to the house where he lived with his sister, Katherine (Julie Harris). Allan was unable to save his father when fire broke out in their home, and Katherine was disfigured during a rescue attempt. Needing money, Katherine takes in a mysterious boarder who rarely speaks and whom Allan can hardly see. He is convinced that there is something sinister about this stranger, and that he is trying to kill him. Allan's former fiancee and neighbor, Olive (Joan Hackett of Dead of Night), does her best to convince him that his worries are all in his head. But Olive may have no idea what Allan is really dealing with. How Awful About Allan certainly has an intriguing premise (taken from a novel by Henry Farrell, who also did the teleplay), and the cast is very interesting, but the developments, besides being psychologically dubious, are not as compelling as one might have hoped for. Giving an unremarkable, even disinterested, performance, Perkins [Pretty Poison] makes Allan completely unsympathetic, and the best work comes from Harris and Hackett -- the former, however, being too true to her character, does little to keep the audience from figuring out the final revelation. Producer Spelling and author Farrell also teamed up for The House That Would Not Die with Barbara Stanwyck the same year.

Verdict: It's understandable why this flick is pretty much forgotten. **.