Before I begin tonight's review, a quick note about the soundtrack in "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things". I forgot to mention it last night, but it's fantastic. The music, by Karl Zittrer, is a collection of spooky synthesizer sounds, composed in a way to dial up the sense of unreality as it pertains to what the Hippie actors are experiencing. Zittrer's synths sound like screws turning inside your head, as if your mind can't handle what you're seeing. Tobe Hooper would use a similar tactic two years later for the music on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It's great score, and it blends perfectly with the overall soundtrack that includes dialogue and jungle sounds (animal screams, foliage rustling, insect scratchings, etc). I wish there was a soundtrack CD. I'd buy it!
Now on to tonight's picture, a nifty occult thriller called "The Devil's Hand"(1961). Robert Alda stars as "Rick Turner", a man about to marry his sweetheart "Donna" (Ariadne Welter). You've gotta suspend your disbelief pretty quickly in this one, because we jump from the opening scene where Rick has lost his job and the marriage is put on hold, to a dream he is having, where a beautiful woman beckons him to her home. Next, Rick is telling Donna about his dream as they window shop along a Los Angeles boulevard. They pass in front of a Doll Store, and lo and behold, Rick sees a doll that looks exactly like the woman in his dream.
When they go inside to talk to the owner (Neil Hamilton, i.e. "Commissioner Gordon"), he insists that Rick ordered the doll himself. Rick is stunned. "I can assure you, Sir, that I've never been in this shop in my life". But Hamilton won't back down. There's something malevolent in his manner as he continues to assure Rick the doll is his. He shows Rick a photograph of the same woman. "You brought this picture for me to work from. You paid for the doll in advance. Would you like me to gift wrap it for you"?
Feeling very ill at ease, Rick and Donna leave the shop. Rick tells her the man's mistaken. "I've never met him, and I never bought a doll. But that is the woman in my dream! She's in that photograph, too"! He also guarantees Donna he's not having an affair, but she loves and trusts him. "Just don't leave me for your Dream Woman", she jokes. That night, Rick has the dream again. He tells Donna he needs to take action, so they go back to the shop, and this time there is a doll of Donna, too. "Who ordered this doll"?, Rick demands. "A lady who is one of my regular customers", Hamilton answers. "It's quite obviously the likeness of my fiancee", Rick replies, indicating Donna. They know Hamilton is messing with them, so Rick presses him for the woman's address. "This 'regular customer'.....who is she? Where does she live"?
Hamilton twists the whole thing into a pretzel. "Why, she's the same woman from your photograph. I should think you'd already know her".
"Tell me where she lives"!
Hamilton gives Rick her address, as if he meant to all along. "Her name is Bianca Milan, she orders from me all the time".
Rick storms out, with Donna in tow. "Don't forget your doll", Hamilton beckons in their wake.
Rick tells Donna he has to pay a visit to Miss Milan. "I've got to get to the bottom of this, how she's able to invade my dreams. Don't worry Donna, I'm only going to demand that she leave us alone".
But as they continue home, Donna is suddenly stricken with a sharp pain in her chest. Is she having a heart attack? Don't forget that Neil Hamilton runs a doll shop. He also has an assortment of Sharp Pins on hand. Are you getting the picture? That's right! They're Voodoo Dolls.
Rick goes to Bianca Milan's house, and it's as if the dream is coming true. She called him, now he's come. Rick knocks, the door opens, and there in the flesh is the stunning Miss Milan (Linda Christian). He's taken aback by her beauty. Much of his anger dissipates before he even says "hello". She invites him in, they sit down, and Rick makes a half-hearted attempt to get his questions answered. "How are you able to appear in my dreams"?
Milan is coy. "Ohh, you could call it a form of mental telepathy".
"Why did you choose me? What do you want"?
"Very simple. I saw you on the street and found you quite handsome. What I want is you, and here you are". She's basically letting him know she has power over him and there's nothing he can do about it. "Look, Rick, let's be honest with each other. You desire me, too, or you wouldn't be here".
"But the dolls! And the man in the shop; how does he tie into all of this"?
"He is the leader of a group I belong to. His name is Francis Lamont. The dolls are for casting spells, as I have cast on you. But you know you don't mind. You are attracted to me as I am to you. Would you like a drink"?
Rick protests that he's engaged, but it's weak excuse. In another moment he's in Bianca's embrace, there's a Major League Make-Out going on, and all Rick's thoughts of Donna have fallen by the wayside. When they come up for air, he asks Bianca if he can join her group. What he doesn't know is that that's been the plan all along, why Bianca seduced him in the first place, so he could join her circle and be set up for human sacrifice. (yikes)
We find out that Bianca not only works for the demonic Francis Lamont, she's also his girlfriend. They're a Diabolical Dynamic Duo; she brings in the recruits by invading their dreams, and Lamont sacrifices them to Gamba the Evil God, on a ceremonial altar set up in the basement below his doll shop. It's a voodoo ceremony, replete with Native Bongo Drummer. Lamont is much older than Bianca, and has to tolerate her dalliances with men her own age as the price for their sacrificial lambs, but he warns her : "don't fall in love". Now, it looks like she's doing just that with Rick. She wants to sacrifice Donna instead. Rick draws the line at hurting his now-ex fiancee. Donna's still in the hospital with the unknown heart ailment. Rick knows exactly what's ailing her, and promises to remedy it.
One night, he sneaks into the shop and removes the pin from from the Donna doll. She instantly recovers from her "illness" and is ready to leave the hospital the next day. But does Rick want her back, or is he still in Bianca's thrall? The answer isn't clear. Meanwhile, Lamont has discovered that someone's broken into the shop. He places the blame on a newspaper reporter who's been posing as a cult member.The man's car goes off a cliff the same night.
All of this will lead to a four-way showdown between Rick, Lamont, Donna and Bianca. We know where Lamont stands, his only allegiance is to Gamba. And Donna is an innocent. She's still in love with Rick, despite his betrayal. But where does his heart lie? With the sweet, loyal Donna, or the sexy, seductive Bianca, who's only been using him all along. Does he even realize this?
The plot is not complex in this film. Like I said, it basically jumps right in to the Bianca "Dream Theme" and follows it all the way down to the Satanic Sacrifices that take place toward the end. But it's fast-paced and Neil Hamilton excels as the austere Francis Lamont. He's got that unmistakable Voice you remember from the Batman TV series, and a strong Continental accent gives his words authority. He's pure evil as the cult leader, and it must have been a kick for him to play because he began his career in Silent films, was a well-known star during the Golden Era, and always played well heeled, gentlemanly types. Now he's uttering oaths that would put him in league with Alan Ormsby, haha.
"The Devil's Hand" is not particularly scary, nor is the script well-developed, but it looks great and it's weird, which is enough to earn it Two Solid Thumbs Up from your tireless reviewer. Recommended for it's obscure take on the subject matter, and for Neil Hamilton's far out performance. /////
That's all for the moment. This review was written in great haste, so if there are typos or if it's crummy, check back for the edited and sentence corrected version tomorrow afternoon. See you at the Usual Time!
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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