PSYCHE 59

Dysfunctional marriage: Curt Jurgens and Patricia Neal

PSYCHE 59 (1964). Director: Alexander Singer.

"Someone has to stop loving somewhere along the line -- otherwise it's like committing suicide." -- Alison

"All the men I knew have either gotten married or gone queer -- what's going on in this country?" -- Robin

Alison Crawford (Patricia Neal) has been psychosomatically blind since a traumatic incident which she doesn't recall. Considering that the audience is clued in almost from the first that something went on between Alison's husband, Eric (Curt Jurgens) -- a real pig -- and her younger sister, Robin (Samantha Eggar), it doesn't take much to figure out what Alison saw. So much for suspense over the final revelation. Robin has recently broken up with her husband, so she comes to stay with Alison and Eric, something the latter isn't thrilled by -- or is he? Then there's Eric's friend, Paul (Ian Bannen of From Beyond the Grave), who is in love with Robin, and her strange mother-in-law, Mrs. Crawford (Beatrix Lehmann). If this all sounds interesting, be warned that it isn't. Despite the hysterical blindness, the infidelity and betrayal, and god knows what else, the film is actually quite boring until the last couple of minutes -- too little, too late. The acting is good but the characters are so one-dimensional that not even the performances can bring the people fully to life. Maybe Tennessee Williams could have done something with these dysfunctional individuals, or perhaps the producers should have turned it into a wild horror movie with someone -- Pat Neal, maybe? -- wielding an ax on hubby. But despite some interesting elements, this just never jells or amounts to anything but a waste of ninety minutes. It's a shame, because Neal [Diplomatic Courier] is especially fine in this, expertly delineating her character's blindness. While his character is not at all likable, Jurgens' portrayal of the husband, a virile but perhaps frightened man on the cusp of fifty, might have been made somewhat sympathetic, but the part is too under-written for that. Walter Lassally's cinematography is excellent, and there's some nice music by Kenneth V. Jones. Alexander Singer also directed A Cold Wind in August. He simply fails to imbue this film with enough dramatic tension.

Verdict: . **.

RETURN FROM THE ASHES

Ingrid Thulin and Maximilian Schell

RETURN FROM THE ASHES (1965). Director: J. Lee Thompson.

"I was revolted, curious, shocked -- even thrilled."

"A man should always marry a woman with beautiful eyes. That way there's always something to love, no matter what happens."

"I came to you for advice, not the truth."

Michelle (Ingrid Thulin), a wealthy widow who also happens to be a doctor, falls in love with a poor chess player named Stanislaus Pilgrin (Maximilian Schell) in pre-WW 2 Paris. After the Nazis occupy the city, Stan marries the Jewish Michelle more as an act of defiance than anything else, but immediately after the wedding she's taken off to a concentration camp. After four years of Hell and a fifth in a sanitarium, Michelle makes her way back to Paris. At first Stan not only doesn't recognize his own wife, but thinks she must be dead and this woman her mere lookalike. He asks her to "pretend" to be Michelle -- herself -- so that he and her step-daughter, Fabienne (Samantha Eggar), can claim her 30 million franc fortune. And things get more twisted after that ... In a pre-credit sequence set on a train taking Michelle to Paris, a mischievous little boy falls through the door, and an old man remarks to his wife that Michelle, who has absolutely no reaction to the child's death, must have an "incredible lack of feeling." Then he sees the numbers tattooed on her arm and realizes why she is emotionally dead inside ... The trouble with Return from the Ashes is that nothing else as powerful as this opening sequence ever occurs in the movie, which turns more or less into a comparatively ordinary suspense film. On the other hand, Return sets up some intriguing situations, isn't entirely predictable, and boasts excellent performances from the entire cast, including Herbert Lom as a doctor friend of Michelle's. Attractive Thulin [The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse] gives an assured and authoritative lead performance; Schell [Judgment at Nuremberg] makes a charismatic "bad boy;" and Eggar expertly limns the petulant, sexual woman-child. The film also has interesting characters and some excellent dialogue. Still one might have hoped that such a momentous occurrence as the Holocaust might have developed into something a little more explosive than a fairly standard murder mystery. Attempts to equate atheism with "evil" are a little tiresome. J. Lee Thompson also directed Happy Birthday to Me.

Verdict: Despite disappointing aspects, this is an absorbing suspense film with some fascinating elements and several fine performances. ***.

YOUNG AND WILLING aka THE WILD AND THE WILLING

Virginia Maskell and Ian McShane

YOUNG AND WILLING aka The Wild and the Willing/1962). Director: Ralph Thomas.

"Damn it woman! Lloyds doesn't underwrite everything in life!"

Harry Brown (Ian McShane in his film debut) is a charismatic ladies man at an English college who has a steady girl, Josie (Samantha Eggar of Curtains), but has an affair with the wife, Virginia (Virginia Maskell), of one of his professors, the rather stern Chown (Paul Rogers). Harry is kind to his somewhat geeky roommate, Phil (John Hurt of Alien), and friendly with what appears to be the sole black student on campus, Reggie (Johnny Sekka). Other characters include Sarah (Katherine Woodwille), for whom Phil is carrying a torch, and somewhat snooty Andrew (Jeremy Brett), who was also involved with Virginia. It all leads up to a protracted finale in which Harry gets Phil to help him climb a tower and plant a flag as a prank, an act that leads to tragedy. Young and Willing has its moments, but a lot of it is very predictable. However, the actors are quite good, especially McShane and Maskell, here playing a role very different from hers in Doctor in Love, which was also directed by Ralph Thomas.

Verdict: Some compelling moments and performances. **1/2.

THE DEAD ARE ALIVE

 Alex Cord and Enzo Tarascio

THE DEAD ARE ALIVE (aka L'etrusco uccide ancora/1972). Director: Armando Crispino.

Professor Jason Porter (Alex Cord) is an archaeologist exploring Etruscan tombs in Italy. His ex-girlfriend, Myra (Samantha Eggar), is now married to temperamental maestro Nikos Samarakis (John Marley), who hates Jason and vice versa. Jason tries to rekindle things with Myra, and accuses her of having a thing for her stepson, Igor (Carlo De Mejo). Igor's mother, Leni (Nadja Tiller), claims she and Nikos were never divorced. However, the big problem is that some maniac, who plays loud chorale music on a small tape player, is running around bashing and killing people, especially romantic couples, in the ruins; the weapon is a metal tubular probe used in underground photography. Suspects include all of the aforementioned, as well as a blackmailing guard named Otello (Vladan Holec), Nikos' mousy secretary, Irene (Daniela Surina), and Stephen (Horst Frank), the choreographer for the latest production that Nikos is conducting [why some of these people are wandering around the ruins in the first place is a question]. Jason realizes at one point that the murders seem to mirror scenes in ancient Etruscan paintings, but wonders how anyone could have entered the tomb to see them before the official opening. Inspector Giuranna (Enzo Tarascio) tries to discover the truth, but the real truth is that The Dead Are Alive can't make up its mind if it's a mystery, a horror film, or a twisted family melodrama, and doesn't quite work on any level. The movie is much too long and convoluted and I defy anyone to figure out the motives of the killer when he or she is finally unmasked. The mixed-bag international actors are okay, but unable to do much with the material.

Verdict: Initially intriguing but it goes on and on and on ... **.

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1973)

Samantha Eggar

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1973 telefilm). Director: Jack Smight.

In one of television's more pointless exercises, this TV movie is a remake of the Billy Wilder 1944 classic. The story, based on James Cain's novel, remains the same. Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Richard Crenna) and Phyllis Dietrichson (Samantha Eggar) conspire to do away with her husband (Arch Johnson), hoping to invoke a double indemnity clause in his insurance by making it look like an unusual accident. If you've never seen the original movie, or even if you have, this version will still prove entertaining because of the suspenseful storyline, but compared to the Wilder version with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson, this is like a high school production. The actors aren't bad, with Eggar making a suitably sociopathic Phyllis and Lee J. Cobb as good as ever in the Robinson role [if not as good as Robinson, whom he apes to some degree]. As for Richard Crenna? He rushes through the opening and closing scenes like a complete amateur [possibly he was directed that way as this telefilm is only 75 minutes long!] but for the rest of the movie he's okay, and was probably cast for the same reason MacMurray [who was much better] was, that likability factor that makes the unpleasant character more palatable. Jack Smight's direction is strictly by the numbers, completely devoid of style, and he does nothing to increase the tension. The murder scene itself might as well be  a trip to the supermarket. It also has to be said that this kind of noirish material plays better in the right time period, the forties, than updated to the seventies.

Verdict: Stick to the original. **1/2.

THE BROOD

THE BROOD (1979). Director: David Cronenberg. 

Frank Carveth (Art Hindle) has a young daughter Candy (Cindy Hinds) and a wife, Nola (Samantha Eggar) who is getting a bizarre form of therapy from a psychological wunderkind named Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) who runs an outfit called Psychoplasmics. Carveth has no idea that Nola's treatment has some odd side effects. First her mother is killed, and then her father, by what appears to be a little boy in a hood but actually turns out to be an odd creature with no naval -- meaning it wasn't born in the usual sense ... what's going on? There are some interesting concepts and dialogue in this movie as there generally are in Cronenberg's films, but the film is awfully draggy and talks itself out long, long before the not-very-thrilling wind-up. Even the murder sequences aren't handled with that much flair. Busy actor Henry Beckman gives a terrific performance as Nola's father, Barton. Eggar is fine in a thankless, somewhat embarrassing role. Hindle and Reed are also good, as are some of the supporting players, but this picture just doesn't move. 

Verdict: If you need a good night's sleep ... *1/2.