DEAD
EYES OF LONDON (1961)
THE GHOST (1963)
Directed by Alfred Vohrer/Robert
Hampton
Retromedia DVD
Reviewed 05.15.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILMS
Up for some melodramatic gothic
spooks? Maybe a little foggy, edge-of-your-seat
thrill-killing thrown in for good
measure? Well, you’re in luck
on the first one. Either way, get
ready for a good lookin’ and
authentic 60s double bill, straight
from Euro-land.
With all the bombast of a living
E.C. Comics yarn, The Ghost stylishly kicks things off right.
It’s really easy to lose yourself
in a film that’s well done.
Such is the case here. This sequel
to The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock provides creeping photography, even
pacing, and a claustrophobic sense
of dread, all of which swirls around
and entices you until there’s
no choice but to give in.
Old Dr. Hitchcock sure has it rough.
Although he enjoys his devilish
seances, the doctor is quite unhappy.
Paralyzed from the waist down, the
only road to recovery for Mr. H
lies in small amounts of a rare
poison, injected daily through a
hypo. His wife, Margaret (Barbara
Steele) says that she loves him
and appears to be quite loyal. That
is, until we see her making out
on a bear rug with Hitchcock’s
personal doctor, Jonathan. Turns
out, those two are in mad love and
the idea of administering just a
bit too much poison to the Doc is
on the tips of their tongues. The
two sadistic lovers finally make
a decision. Jonathan injects an
overdose of poison into Hitchcock
and the good doctor parts from this
world. All seems to go according
to plan, since Margaret will inherit
her husband’s estate and one
third of his fortune. However, neither
of them expect Hitchcock to return...in
more ways than one.
Although I wouldn’t object
to shaving a few moments from the
95 minute runtime, I was definitely
surprised by how much I enjoyed
The Ghost. For a straightforward
ghostly-shocker-romance, it certainly
managed to avoid the pitfalls of
other films of this nature (i.e.
hammy acting, filler dialogue, and
a refusal to exploit) and kept me
intrigued throughout. You’ll
find plenty of devious doings, heaps
of atmosphere, and even a little
blood for kicks. The acting was
convincing and likable, despite
the sometimes awkward dubbing. I
also really enjoyed the fact that
the entire film takes place inside
the mansion, or looking out from
the mansion...tension, tension,
tension. An excellent and well conceived
film.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t
find the same allure in Dead
Eyes Of London, a german
“krimi” from the pen
of Edgar Wallace. Essentially a
remake of 1941’s The
Human Monster, with ten times
the characters and key plot changes,
this film turned out to be somewhat
of a disappointment. Unlike my previous
experiences with the krimi genre,
I found Dead Eyes to be slow and muddling, with moments
of inspiration few and far between.
As the film unspools, a large Tor
Johnson-looking creep is committing
a series of murders around London.
All of the victims are older men
with no families, found drowned
in the river with a piece of braille
paper in their coat pockets. Larry
Holt, the inspector assigned to
the case, calls in braille expert
Nora Warren to assist with the evidence.
They soon begin to suspect “Blind
Jack,” the previously mentioned
Tor look alike, and Mr. Judd, the
insurance salesman who holds policies
with all of the victims. Tons of
characters are introduced (including
the slimy Klaus Kinski), lots of
them die, and plot twists abound.
100 minutes later, there’s
the expected twist and showdown,
capped off with a dopey knee slapper
ending.
Despite the surprisingly strong
lurking/killing scenes and some
very effective photography, including
a baffling shot from inside a man’s
mouth, I couldn’t find a whole
lot to enjoy while watching this
film. The dialogue and frequent
character introductions proved to
be more confusing than interesting.
As a result, a good looking film
with a promising plot line slowly
crept itself into a sprawling blunder.
I actually felt spent and tired
after it was all over -- not a good
thing.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Both films are presented in impressive
widescreen prints. Imperfections
are at a minimum, with only the
slightest emulsion lines and scratching
popping up on both prints. The
Ghost seems to have a bit
of an edge, with bright colors and
less scratching, but both are crisp
and satisfying. I noticed some compression
artifacts during darker scenes in
The Ghost, but Dead
Eyes was pixel-free. Very
nice. As for the audio...
While both films are presented in
clear mono, I detected something
odd during Dead Eyes Of London.
After closer inspection with headphones,
I could clearly hear additional
sound effects during some scenes
-- background chatter at a casino
and crickets during several nighttime
shots. Why was this so apparent?
The added sound effects are in stereo,
and therefore fairly obvious. Since
I don’t have any other versions
of the film to inspect, I can assume
that these sound effects are either
original and just mixed differently
or completely new. Whatever the
case, they seemed pretty noticeable
to me.
EXTRAS
Sparse. We’ve got a beat up
trailer for each film (which shows
you just how nice the prints presented
on this disc look) and a brief still
gallery for “Dead Eyes,”
which features behind the scenes
photos and a couple of lobby cards.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’re a fan of either
of these films, you’ll most
likely want to pick up this disc
for the presentation alone. New
to both? Choose accordingly. |
Hitchcock ponders
Bloody gold, duh
Scare you
La Barbara
Braille expert
J. Waters is in the building
Time for go to bed
Skull smoke? Anyone?
|
