Our Mayor has just extended the stay-at-home order for Los Angeles until May 15th. Oy. Well, maybe they'll at least open the parks back up before then, so I can go for a hike and take some pictures. Elizabeth, I am glad you got hang out with the Cool Rocks today, and to hear the sweet sound of the bubbling brook. I sure miss my boulders at Santa Susana, and as you know I love the sound of water flowing through the creek at Aliso and Limekiln Canyons, over rocks and down small waterfalls. The sound of rushing water is so soothing, just the thing I need right now if they'd only open up the parks. I understand the need for distancing, but that measure strikes me as unnecessary. Santa Susana is a mile wide and no one goes there. The most I've ever seen is maybe fifteen people all spread out. So please, Mr. Mayor, let us enjoy nature.
On the bright side, I still have the CSUN campus, and according to Weather.com, the Fimbulwinter! is set to end tomorrow. This will mark the conclusion of the Ice Age in the Northridgian Region, after which we may live to witness the coming of the New Swiderians, who will lead us toward re-civilization in the post-Trump Era.
(man, I've been reading too much Gobekli Tepe. I'll shut up now, but seriously - it's an amazing book!)
Tonight's movie was a supernatural thriller called "Tormented"(1960) starring Richard Carlson (of "Black Lagoon" fame) and directed by a guy named Bert I. Gordon. Now, Gordon's movies have been popping up in my Youtube suggestion box recently, but I've been avoiding him for the same reason I used to avoid Roger Corman. From what I'd read about Gordon over the years (which wasn't much, I admit), he was said to be a cheapie hack, one or two rungs below Corman on the cheesiness scale. But as we've been mining the Public Domain lode for several weeks now, we are getting to the point where we can't afford to be as choosy as we once were, so when "Tormented" appeared again last night with the Familiar Invitation ("recommended for you"), I cued it up without hesitation, mainly because of Carlson, a Sci-Fi champ whose presence usually signifies some standard of quality.
Here he plays "Tom Stewart" an amateur jazz pianist who works as a lighthouse keeper on Anacapa Island off the coast of Southern California. I have to stop right here to say here we go again with the Lighthouse Keeper Motif! That's two nights in a row, lol. How the heck did that happen?
But anyway, yeah.....Carlson's life is music, but he makes his living as a Lighthouse Keeper, and he's even working toward a degree in the corresponding scientific discipline. He's also about to be married to his sweetheart Meg (Lugene Sanders). All should be well, but then his old flame "Vi" (Juli Redig) shows up at the lighthouse in a Marilyn Monroe dress, begging him to call off the wedding, to leave his fiance and marry her. She's very pushy and backs Carlson into a corner. She won't take no for an answer, but then she leans against a broken railing and loses her balance. Carlson has a chance to save her as she reaches out for help, but he lets her fall instead, down to her death on the rocks.
This happens at night, with no one around to see. Vi's body is carried away with the tide and for Carlson, it's as if nothing ever happened. He doesn't report her death. Nobody knows Vi came to the island, so he feels he's in the clear, and besides, he didn't kill her - she fell. Well, that may be true but he had a chance to save her and backed away. Now his conscience is bugging him, or is it something else?
The next day, he and Meg are walking on the beach. Suddenly, Carlson sees a third set of footprints in the sand, appearing out of nowhere! He wipes his eyes, does a double take and looks again, but a wave has washed them away. Meg thinks he's acting a bit strange : "Honey, is something wrong"? He assures her everything is fine, but later that evening, he is playing some jazz piano when he hears a voice - Vi's voice - telling him "you've got to leave her, Tom.....I'm the only woman for youuuuu"......(imagine a Ghostly Voice). Now he is seriously spooked.
The next morning it gets worse. Meg's little sister Sandy (brilliant child actress Susan Gordon, the director's daughter) comes in from the beach with a necklace she has found. Inscribed on the medallion is a love message : "To Vi, always my love".
Sandy is excited by her discovery. "Tom, Tom! Look what I found". He, however, is horrified. He tries not to show it, but little Sandy is precocious. She understands adult behavior and so she asks Tom, "Why does this bother you"? Tom realises Sandy will not be as easily brushed off as Meg, who's preoccupied with the wedding, so he makes a pact with her to keep the medallion a secret. "Friends have to protect friends", he tells her. Little Sandy has a crush on Tom, so she will go along with his wishes. Later on, though, a Wise Guy will show up who won't be as amenable. Do you remember an actor named Joe Turkel? He was most famous for playing the bartender in "The Shining", but he was in a lot of movies. He's young here, playing a ferry boat captain who speaks fluid Hipster. He arrives at the beach house one day looking for Carlson. "Hey Daddio", he begins. "Are you Tom Stewart? Did you know a bird named Vi Mason? Oh.....you didn't? Well she knew you. Y'see I brought her over here on my tug, and she left without paying. She owes me a Fin, and I remember she mentioned your name. Maybe you could pay me for her? It's only a Fin".
Carlson pays him the five dollars to get rid of him, but Turkel will later hear news of the wedding while sitting at a beachside bar. He then returns to Carlson, threatening blackmail. "Y'know Dad, I don't think your dame would be thrilled to hear about that other bird...what was her name? Oh right....it was Vi. Now Dad, I see you're an accomplished pianist. You must be pretty well set. What would it be worth to you for me to skid right out of your life? Maybe......hmmm.......does five grand sound about right"?
Carlson is outraged. "Five thousand dollars?! I'm a jazz musician, for God's sake! I don't even make enough money to pay the rent! My job at the lighthouse covers the bills, but if you think I've got five thousand dollars you're wasting your time".
"Yeah, Dad, but somebody had to've laid out the dough for this mansion. How about that honey of yours? Her old man must be loaded to the gills".
Carlson just wants Turkel gone, so he relents : "Alright, look. Yeah, her father is well off, and I can probably get the money from him, but you've got to give me some time so I can come up with an excuse. I can't just hit him up for that kind of cash out of the blue".
"Okay, so when's the wedding"?, asks Turkel.
"It's in five days".
"Okay, Dad - you've got till then. You get me my five grand before you say 'I do', or I'll have to be the guy who can't forever hold his peace, if ya know what I'm sayin' ".
This buys Carlson some time to figure out how to deal with Turkel, but he's still got little Sandy to worry about. Like all children, she's got a million questions for him. She's sincere about her promise to keep Carlson's secret, but how far can he trust her sincerity? After all, she's only eight years old. Much more nerve-wracking, though, is the increasing presence of Vi herself! (or rather.....Vi's ghost). Carlson keeps catching glimpses of her : Vi's hand appears out of thin air, wearing Meg's engagement ring as if she were it's rightful owner. Vi's face shows up in a polaroid snapshot of Meg and Carlson, taken at a pre-wedding party. Only Carlson can see these things, but it's freaking him out and now, others besides Meg are taking notice. "I always knew it was wrong for you to marry a musician"!, her Dad declares. "Especially one who plays jazz"! Now, if that's not one of the greatest lines in motion picture history, I don't know what is, haha. But yeah, Meg's Dad is right to have doubts about Carlson's sanity. By now, he's coming apart at the seams. He's "Tormented"! as the title informs us.
Meg's family has a maid (Lillian Adams) who senses something is amiss, but that's because she's blind. Her other senses are therefore heightened, and she can tell when someone is in the room, including Vi, whose perfume she smells. She will appear at various times throughout the movie to accentuate the possibility that something supernatural is in fact taking place, and that it's not all in Carlson's mind.
This is me talking now, and I've decided that I'm not gonna listen to myself anymore where movie directors are concerned, or t least so-called "bad" ones. I was wrong about Roger Corman, and now it turns out I was wrong about Bert I. Gordon, although on my behalf I did read an article or two suggesting he was a hack. Whoever wrote that never saw this movie, which is competent enough to be called "big league" in it's professionalism. The technical aspects are every bit as good as you'd see in an A-list release, including multi-angled camera work (including crane and dolly shots), excellent editing, creating strong continuity and tension, good use of shadow and light, inventive set decoration and the director's proficiency with actors. Maybe some of Gordon's other movies suck, but this one was top notch in every way. His daughter Susan steals the show (she was also in a "Twilight Zone ep), and she will figure in the film's ending, as her loyalty to Carlson will be tested to the limit. There are some great "ghostly" special effects, including one of Vi's disembodied head (as with lighthouses, we're also dealing with a lot of disembodied heads lately), and once again we also have an excellent beach town location.
What will happen to Richard Carlson and his terrible secret? Will he lose his marbles completely, or will Vi and Joe Turkel leave him alone to get married to Meg, and live happily ever after? There's only one way to find out, and you'll wanna watch "Tormented" for sure. It gets Two Big Thumbs Up from me, and the widescreen print was perfect. I'll look for more Bert I. Gordon films for our schedule. /////
That's all I have for the moment. I am happy to report that the Sun did indeed come out today and I was able to enjoy a very nice walk as a result. Now I will complete my daily mileage requirement with a second trip around the campus, after which I'll be back to see you once again at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment