Last night's movie was the triple-threat "Daughter of the Mind"(1969), which started out as horror, turned into science-fiction, then ended as a Cold War thriller. How's that for authorial invention? It's based on a book by Paul Gallico, who wrote The Snow Goose (which inspired Camel's classic album) and also The Poseidon Adventure, so you've got a diverse talent to begin with. Add in Aaron Spelling, and you have one heck of a gripping TV Movie, one that I hadn't seen or heard of, probably because of the air date. I was watching Laugh-In in those days. Don Murray plays "Dr. Alex Lauder", a parapsychologist at an unnamed university (filmed at UCLA). His colleague "Professor Samuel Hale Constable" (Ray Milland) is a expert on cybernetics whose 10-year-old daughter "Mary" (Pamelyn Ferdin) has recently died in a car accident. On his way home from the cemetery one night, she appears to him in the road. "Daddy? Daddy?" she says in a ghostly voice. Her apparition causes him to swerve and almost crash. He tells his ailing wife (Gene Tierney) who disbelieves his story, explaining it away as stress, so he goes to Dr. Lauder at the university and asks him to investigate. Lauder explains that his expertise is in ESP, not "spiritual visitations" but he agrees to help because he can see that his friend is distraught. After some initial skepticism (which Constable wasn't expecting from a parapsychologist), Dr. Lauder is stunned during his first look at Mary's bedroom. She appears again, and again calls out "Daddy! Daddy!" Lauder gets her voice on tape. "We both saw her this time!" Professor Constable says, and there can be no doubt.
The next day a taxicab pulls up, and out steps a fashionable gent and a woman dressed in a sari. They knock and introduce themselves as "Arnold" and "Devi Bessmer" (William Beckley and Cecile Ozorio), an Englishman and his highly psychic Indian wife. Devi has "intuited" Prof. Constable's need for help, all the way from overseas, and they've flown to America at their own cost and volition, just because Devi likes helping people with her gift. The Bessmers suggest holding a seance (which seems to be our theme of the month), and say that Mary's room would be the ideal place. The professor and his wife have kept it "as is" since the day she died. The seance is held, with the Bessmers presiding, and the Constables, Dr. Lauder, and a chiropractor and his daughter who work for the family all sitting at a table holding hands. "Everyone think good thoughts of Mary". Devi lolls her head in trance and makes really weird throaty sounds. Then Mary appears again, saying "Daddy?" And this time she has a message: "They say I won't be able to see you again if you don't stop what you're doing. Please stop, Daddy. I don't want to lose you. I don't like being dead."
There's a scream, and when the lights go on, there's a hand in a melted bowl of wax. It's Mary's hand, also made of wax. How did it get there? It seems that Mrs. Constable is a sculptor, and she was working on a wax bust of Mary, but was unable to complete it when her daughter died. So no one can explain how little Mary's hand, a replica made of wax, came to float in the bowl, complete with fingerprints. Things are getting schpooky enough now for the CIA to intervene, especially since Constable, a professor of cybernetics, also works with defense contractors on missile guidance systems. Ed Asner plays the chief prick in charge, and it turns out they'be been wiretapping the Constable residence for some time now. "We have to," Asner tells Dr. Lauder, "It's agency policy with all potential defectors." Needing Lauder's help, because even the CIA can't explain the wax hand or the seemingly paranormal phenomenon, Asner sends the doctor to question a magic shop owner and former ventriloquist (John Carradine), who explains various vaudeville and seance slight-of-hand techniques, as well as the art of voice-throwing and table-raising. But even he can't explain Mary's hand. This leads Dr. Lauder to experiment with wax on his own hand, in an effort to find a rational explanation. Meanwhile, Professor Constable wants badly for Mary's apparition to be real because he loves his daughter; her death was premature and tragic. He needs to hold on to any trace of her. But what did she mean by saying, "Daddy, they say I can't see you anymore if you don't stop what your'e doing"? He comes to believe it's his work: designing nuclear weapons systems. This was 1969, the height of the cold war. Constable struggles with his dilemma, and decides not to defect, but to fly to a neutral country, where he can ponder the morality of giving US nuclear secrets to "the other side", i.e the commies. "It's the only thing that will prevent World War Three - mutually assured destruction."
But Asner and his spooks have been listening in the whole time. They race to the scene to intercept Professor Constable before he can leave the country. Dr. Lauder, meanwhile, is still working on the mystery of the waxen hand. And a suspect has popped up in the possibly fraudulent seance. All of this leads to an ending that is worthy of a grade A spy thriller. It's one heck of an interesting movie overall, featuring themes of communication after death, technology as a poor imitation of God, and the sensibility of the infamous M.A.D. policy, now that the nuclear genie is out of the bottle and cannot be put back in. Gene Tierney looks much older than her 49 years (20 years older), but then, she suffered from severe mental illness. It's a wonder she could act at all, much less act well. George Macready (another great actor), only 70 but looking 90, is on hand as a sympathetic professor, who misses his dead wife too, and hopes the visitations are true. It's a stretch to call it horror, but I'm glad I didn't know that in advance, cause I might've skipped it (this being Halloween month), and then we'd have missed one heck of an original movie. Two Huge Thumbs Up. It needs a restoration because the picture is slightly soft. And I looked up Don Murray because he was ringing a bell. I had him mixed up with Don Galloway, who pushed Raymond Burr in his wheelchair in "Ironside". Remember when people thought Burr was really in a wheelchair? Talk about convincing acting! But when I finally IMDB-ed Don Murray, it turned out he was in the reboot of "Twin Peaks" in 2017. He played "Bushnell Mullens", at 88 years old! And he was in a ton of other movies. Check him out in "Daughter of the Mind". ////
The previous night, we had another spine chiller from ABC and Aaron Spelling, "Satan's Triangle"(1975), featuring another stellar cast: Doug McClure, Kim Novak, Alejandro Rey, Northridge's own Jim Davis of Nordhoff Street, and Ed Lauter. McClure is Coast Guard "Lt. Haig", flying with helicopter pilot "Captain Pagnolini" (Michael Conrad) to check out reports of an abandoned boat, 250 miles off the coast of Florida. Haig is the duo's wise guy, teasing Pagnolini with tales of the Bermuda Triangle. "You know, Cap, 98% of ships and planes that enter the Triangle, never make it out." "Okay Lieutenant, but we ain't in a ship or plane, so shaddup." Pagnolini is a staunch Catholic; he knows the devil is all too real and doesn't think Haig's jokes are funny.
They arrive at the site. The boat, a fishing skiff, does appear abandoned at first glance. But on closer inspection, they can see a dead man hanging from a sail. There's another one on deck who looks to be impaled on a fallen mast. Not good. Haig winches down in a rescue "chicken basket" and verifies the dead men on deck. "I hate to say it, Pagnolini, but the mast guy is a priest." "Oh, great", says the Cap. "I'll tell you what, Haig, you inspect down below then get out. I'm already having engine trouble and my fuel pressure's dropping from the wind." We can see he's having problems with the chopper.
Down below, the first two cabins are empty. "That's good", says Pagnolini, "now come back up and let's go". But Haig has two more rooms to check out, and in the last one he strikes pay dirt. "Um, Pagnolini?" He loves saying Pagnolini's name. "Pagnolini? There's another deceased in here, except he's floating in mid-air." "Cut the crap, Haig! We've gotta leave. Wind's pickin' up; get on deck and get out." "Okay, but there's a dead man floating." "Come up now, or I'm flying back without you!" Haig rolls his eyes, because there really IS a dead man floating in mid-air. Then he sees a pair of green eyes in the darkness, and hauls Kim Novak up from her hiding place. She's nearly catatonic, but he gets her to the chicken basket, straps the both of them in, and signals to Pagnolini for the pull-up. Then, halfway to the helicopter, the basket's cable snaps. They have to swim back to the boat, while Pagnolini has no choice but to fly back to Miami after radioing for help.
While they are waiting for another chopper or a ship to arrive, Novak tells Haig what happened. "And we're both gonna die here, too" she adds, "this is the Devil's Triangle, you know." Haig shrugs her off. "Oh, you must've heard me joking with Pagnolini. I was just getting his goat. I don't really believe in that Bermuda Triangle stuff. There's a logical explanation for everything." We then watch a recreation of the events on the ship. Jim Davis chartered it for marlin fishing, to catch a bigger marlin than his Dad. (scenes of the big fish struggling are difficult to watch). But after he gets it on the hook, the captain sees a person in the water, and cuts the marlin loose, saying "we have to rescue that man!" Davis is furious; for all he cares, the man could drown. He just lost his prize marlin. "That's gonna cost you 5 grand," he tells the captain, meaning he's refusing to pay his fee. First Mate Ed Lauter calms him down, and later, they try again. He catches and lands a big marlin this time, but the crew get in a lifeboat and leave. They quit without pay because of the rescued man, a priest. In Spanish, they explain "This is El Diablo's territory. Priest make him very angry. We go!"
Now crewless, the captain enlists the priest (an experienced seaman) to help him steer and navigate. Jim Davis is pacified, having landed his prize fish. Ed Lauter is high up on the poop deck, tying down the mainsail. Now all hell breaks loose. A sudden storm hits, flashing lightning that renders the men negative like black and white film. That's when Lauter falls and gets impaled. The priest, in trying to save him, ends up with a broken neck, hanging upside down from the sail, and Jim Davis ends up dead and floating in mid-air, below deck. If you remember "The Philadephia Experiment", its not unlike when James Farentino ended up melded as part of the ship. Beyond scary.
Lt. Haig is now falling for Kim Novak (a stunner) who confesses she's actually a prostitute. "Why do you think he (Davis) brought me along?" But Haig is a good guy at heart. He's sympathetic to what she's been through, the horror on deck, and he verbally "walks her through" the aftermath, to "logically explain" each death, so she won't think it's the Devil's Triangle that's doing it. I have to cut in to ask, "whatever happened to the Bermuda Triangle anyway? Do ships and planes still disappear there without a trace? They used to, all the time in the 1970s. Maybe it's old hat now. Maybe the devil got bored and moved on. I mean, you never hear about it anymore. Is it still a Thing?
Well, anyhow, this is yet another TV Movie I saw at first airing. It's weird rather than out-and-out terrifying, but the ending is major league, with a horrific twist, and like all of our TV movies, it's another one you'll never forget. I liked Doug McClure in The Virginian, and then again in "The Land that Time Forgot". Kim Novak was known as The Thinking Man's Bombshell. She had intelligence as well as looks. You also get a lot of great Coast Guard chopper footage, filmed with the cooperation of the USCG. Like all of our other recent horror movie situations, the Devil's Triangle is real, or it was, if the devil has abandoned it. Maybe he'll do a retro tour? Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is very good. ////
I've just finished editing my second of two books, and now I'm all done! I began writing the first one in October 2021, the second in February 2022, and now I'm ready to put them both on PDF and send them off for submission. I'm just winging this part, assembly and publication, both of which I know absolutely nothing about. But I do think you'll be able to read them (if you wish) by April of next year. That's my hope. You'll have to buy a copy (or copies, if you want both books), because I wanna be able to call myself a professional author (and all I've gotta do is sell one copy to be one!). But also, I've worked very hard, and they are both very good if I do say so myself. One is a little weird, but hey! That's a selling point.
I've already started another book, which is of course the new version (the more complete version) of What Happened in Northridge, though I may or may not keep that title. I would very much like to talk to and interview anyone with knowledge of the subject. Rest assured, I will keep you confidential. However, in the case of the bad guys involved, they will absolutely NOT be confidential. This book will be every last thing I know about what happened to me (and others) in September 1989, fully analysed, containing every single thing I know and every last question I still have. I've had to spend 34 years of my life dealing with this unresolved situation, and the things I've learned even just this year might be the most astounding details of them all. Truly astounding, to the point where I've wondered what my life has all been about. It's very sobering to know that there are people in the world who know more about my life than I do. Therefore, this book will be My Say. I'm offering the chance for others to have their say also. The time for pretending it didn't happen has long since come and gone, so if you are part of the select group of people who definitely know what happened (even if you pretend you don't, and even if you compartmentalize your memories and tell yourself you don't remember when you know you actually do), this is your chance to talk, to be interviewed, and to tell what you know about The Biggest Secret in American History. You in the select group know that statement is not hyperbole. I've never stopped investigating it since October 1993, and in fact this coming week is the 30th anniversary of when my memory first came back, after what was done to erase it at Northridge Hospital, which some of you have always known about for all these years. For more than half my life you have known what I was subjected to, and that's what I mean when I say that it's mind-boggling to realize, as I have recently come to do, that people close to me (and others who were close to me) have known more about my life than I do. But thanks be to God, that's not the case anymore. So, as far as the book goes, you can either help me tell it, or I'll tell it for you, and you can be certain I'll leave nothing out.
My blogging music was Klaus Shulze "Cyborg", my late night is Wagner Tristan. I don't think I'll be up early enough to see the solar eclipse, so watch it for me if you can. I hope you had a nice Friday the 13th, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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