1957 horror, dir. Jacques Tourneur, Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins:
IMDb. Karswell's enemies seem
to die very conveniently for him; but of course there's no such thing
as magic.
Tourneur famously didn't want to show the actual demon on screen,
instead keeping things ambiguous as in his earlier Cat People, but
was overruled by the producers. The film we might have had is one in
which the audience shares the protagonists' initial uncertainty: maybe
each death really was just an accident (as in the M R James short
story "Casting the Runes" from which this was adapted). But no, we are
clearly shown that it was a demon, this is a horror film, and so
the clock must be counting down until the next time it shows up.
And then there's the utterly pointless brownface. Did audiences of the
time find this funny? It's the only reason I can see for putting it
in, and he's not a particularly comedic character otherwise.
It's difficult now to tell whether Dana Andrews here is playing
deliberately mannerless or whether that was standard for American men.
I found myself increasingly reminded of Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man
as they both work hard to remove any sympathy I might have had for the
characters. (In my fantasy version of the film, not only are things
left ambiguous, but he's entirely absent, and Joanna Harrington,
daughter of the first victim, played by Peggy Cummins and largely
relegated in the actual film to plot token and love interest, has to
deal not only with working out what's going on but also with all these
kindly men telling her not to worry her pretty little head about it.)
But to be fair there are some excellent bits here. The old British
Library Reading Room. The scene where the parchment tries to fly into
the fire. The smoke that presages the demon's appearance. Even the
demon up close when all we can see is a claw; it's the demon at a
moderate distance that disappoints.
As a long-time reader of Martin Gardner I'm amused to see a reference
to the Bridey Murphy craze, which was just fading when this was made.
But also Reginald Beckwith as the medium has the perfect expressions
as he's setting up; yes, he's dealt with sceptics before. And I
haven't mentioned Niall MacGinnis as Karswell himself, a splendidly
un-malevolent villain, who's found a way to make a good life out of
black magic but is quietly living with his elderly mum and causing
very little trouble until he feels forced to defend himself…
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.