“Go and redeem some other promising young creature, but leave me to keep Christmas in my own way.”
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Review: Note: This is the only cinematic version of A Christmas Carol listed in Peary’s book; are there others that might be considered “Missing Titles”? Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“You don’t know me at all anymore; you really don’t.”
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Mayron’s new relationship with a young professor (Christopher Guest), for instance, simply follows the predictable arc of giddy new romance souring over time (though I do like the discomfiting authenticity of the early scene in which they first meet at a party and go home together, only to part ways for months before meeting up again).
Meanwhile, Mayron’s attempts to “make it” as an artist/photographer are laughably unrealistic: her repeated assertions that she’ll no longer need to take on jobs as a photographer-for-hire at bat bitzvahs and weddings once she’s lucked into showing her work at a small gallery simply make her come across as an utter moron. (And it’s frustrating that we never really see evidence of her talents as a photographer; her compositions are fine, but not earth-shattering). Finally, the sudden dissolution of her friendship with Skinner — ostensibly the main focus of the film, per its title — comes so quickly that we’re not yet invested in their fates. Note: Watch for Eli Wallach in a small role as the rabbi Mayron develops a crush on. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“We are virtually blind — all of us.”
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… to the ethical dilemma he faces when he knows without a doubt that his medical colleague’s diagnosis of a patient is wrong:
… to the (perhaps) inevitable downward spiral of a man who has so clearly become a “freak” of nature (albeit a self-created one) — and by the end, it manages to argue that a man who can see “everything” may have access to universal secrets best left untapped. With that said, in many ways the film is typically low-budget Roger Corman fare — though it should be noted that his budget and the production values are clearly higher than what he was working with for his more outrageously campy earlier sci-fi outings in the ’50s. The special effects are occasionally laughably cheap (i.e., when Milland sees through flesh to drawings of people’s innards), but at other times are remarkably chilling — most notably the final physical transformations that take place in Milland’s eyes.
And while there’s a smattering of awkwardly handled dramatic moments (c.f. the pivotal “murder” scene that drives Milland underground, or Milland’s tentative flirtations with his colleague, Diana van der Vlis), other scenes hit surprisingly hard — such as Milland’s interactions with Don Rickles as a manipulative carnival manager who recognizes Milland as a lucrative cash cow. Note: Milland gives a believably tortured performance here as the fatally obsessed title character, perhaps his best since his Oscar-winning role in The Lost Weekend (1945) nearly 20 years earlier. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“I feel sorry for you and your lack of soul!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: In his review, Peary argues that “rather than being a straight horror film, [Carnival of Souls] delivers a message similar to the one in Invasion of the Body Snatchers about how we are turning into pod people”, given that “Mary is such a passive, uninvolved (soulless) character”. (Interestingly, the Strasberg-trained Hilligoss apparently complained about this very description, and attempted to inject even more life into her protagonist.) Unfortunately, Peary’s review glibly gives away spoilers, as do other online reviews — so be duly forewarned; but chances are you’ll find yourself guessing the truth about Mary’s “situation” long before the end. Remade in 1998 by Wes Craven. Note: According to TCM, Carnival of Souls was restored and revived in theaters in 1989, and made available on home video the following year, thus entering into mainstream moviegoers’ cultural consciousness just a few years after Peary’s GFTFF was published. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“I have found my Josette — and this time, there will be that wedding.”
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It’s fairly standard fare, without much to distinguish it — though the sets are atmospheric, there are a few effectively scary sequences (including the graphic death of one newly “turned” vampire), and impressive make-up is used to age Collins. However, only true fans of the vampire genre — and/or fans of the original T.V. series — need bother seeking this one out. Watch for Joan Bennett in a small role as the family’s matriarch; she starred in the television series as well.
Note: According to TCM, House of Dark Shadows has the distinction of the being the only feature-length film based on a daytime soaper. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“You’ve been taken to the cleaners, and you don’t even know your pants are off.”
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“This killer is a fiend of the most diabolical kind, interested in only one thing: blood.”
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Review: Note: Film fanatics will doubtless note that the special effects used here for Birch’s eyes (“lacking any visible aperture on the optical tissue”) were likely an influence on Corman’s later X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963). Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“Goddamnit, I don’t want this world no more!”
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Review: Meanwhile, the universe inhabited by the film’s characters is a tad too black-and-white to ring true: the policemen who chase them off their downtown camping ground are presented as merely unfeeling brutes, and the doctor who examines Waites in the hospital treats him literally like a clinical specimen (indeed, his lecture to the medical students standing around him is almost laughable). Finally, whatever emergent compassion we’ve grown to feel for the characters disappears by the film’s final incongruous half hour, when events inexplicably turn comedic, with Moffat and his friends ransacking a crematory for the ashes of a friend who has just died; it’s actually quite tasteless. Watch Leaving Las Vegas (1995) instead if you’re in the mood for witnessing the devastation and downward spiral of chronic alcoholism. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“Please sir — I want some more.”
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Response to Peary’s Review: The film is perhaps “best remembered”, however, for its infamous portrayal of “the Jew”, Fagin, by a youthful Alec Guinness in heavy prosthetics. Jewish groups at the time objected strongly enough that its U.S. release was delayed for several years, and “bits with the character were deleted” (they’ve since been restored); meanwhile, modern viewers continue to be dismayed by the overt anti-Semitism evident in Guinness’s characterization. While I certainly can’t argue with these sentiments, I find myself in agreement with Peary’s concise, somewhat neutral assessment of Guinness’s performance as “mannered, effeminate, [and] creepily effective”. Ultimately, for better or for worse, Lean and Guinness remain faithful to Dickens’ original conception of Fagin — and to Cruikshank’s illustrations in the original serialised novel. Indeed, it’s this close attention to detail that marks both Oliver Twist and Great Expectations (the latter generally considered to be the superior of the two films) as enduring cinematic adaptations. P.S. Watch for teenage Anthony Newley in his first significant role as the Artful Dodger. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“I am Ayesha, who some call She — who waits.”
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The real box-office draw here is, naturally, Ursula Andress in the title role, bedecked in either a slinky white sheath or an elaborate gold feather headdress, repeatedly intoning the line quoted above. While she’s no great actress, she’s weirdly believable as an uber-goddess determined to secure Richardson for herself after literally eons of waiting around and ruling her mini-universe.
But the whole affair is ultimately just typically low-budget Hammer fare, only must-see for true fans of this particular sub-genre. Note: My favorite moment in the film: Cushing looks at a series of mummified skeletons lining the walls of a cave, and asks Christopher Lee (Ayesha’s right-hand man, Billali), “Who are they?” Lee’s deadpan response: “High priests like myself, to Ayesha – but with one difference: they are dead.” Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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