Calendar: Wednesday

1960s Thrillers

"Do you know what the most frightening thing in the world is? It's fear." - Peeping Tom

Relative to other common film genres, the thriller appears distinct in that its definition derives almost purely from the response it elicits in the viewer, rather than by setting or plot conventions. Of course, the thriller and its sub-genres have developed an idiom through which filmmakers can easily communicate with the audience, but these films still are ultimately judged more by their effect than by their content. Consequently, bad thriller films are often very bad indeed, while a truly excellent thriller requires a great degree of talent, as well as patience, on the part of the director and actors. more

The wide popularity of Alfred Hitchcock solidified the thriller archetype, giving it the various psychological and political overtones that, alongside horror and sci-fi devices, are now recognized as its definitive elements. The popularity of Hitchcock’s films also created a commercial demand for similar creations, resulting in a period of great productivity in the 1960’s. Directors and screenwriters adopted past conventions, but also incorporated representations of the paranoia that arose from the political and social changes sweeping the U.S. and Great Britain in the 60’s.

Among the films in this series, two deal explicitly with the Cold War fears that dominated this period’s culture. The Ipcress File (5/14) represents a spy thriller grittier and more socially realist than the glitzy Bond franchise, albeit with the somewhat fantastic plot twist of brainwashing. These Are the Damned (5/21), another British film, begins as a seemingly superficial film about an American escaping a vicious British youth gang, but soon turns into a story of military conspiracies, nuclear-mutated children, and human engineering.

Seconds (4/23) also deals with the capacity for science to alter the human form, but develops the issue further, questioning the nature of the self and its place in modern society. This film, along with The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May, represents the third installment of director John Frankenheimer’s unofficial “paranoia trilogy”. However, aside from the mysterious corporate entity that oversees the events of the film’s plot, Seconds lacks the political imperative of these other films, focusing more on the consequences of an absence of self-confidence, rather than its causes.

Frankenheimer and cinematographer James Wong Howe used Seconds as a medium for a number of innovative techniques, as did the ever-innovative Orson Welles in his adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial (4/16). As with Othello, Welles was less concerned with textual preservation than with the construction of a visual atmosphere inspired by the original work. The resulting film is deeply disturbing, as is the superbly crafted Bunny Lake is Missing (5/7), to which noir-master Otto Preminger brought patient and confident direction. The story’s careful pacing renders it more frightening than many of the more frenetic films of the period. The plot centers on an American woman living in London, whose sanity is questioned by the various institutions of power and authority – police doctors, scholars – present in modern societies. Roman Polanksi’s Repulsion (5/28), which also features a young woman new to London, more directly challenges the protagonist’s selfperception, as Catherine Deneuve’s character experiences a nightmare without the comforts that objectivity provides the viewer.

The subversion of an individual’s confidence in his/her own ability to comprehend reality represents one form of paranoia commonly expressed in the thriller genre; other stories situate fully competent individuals in worlds of constant threat and uncertainty. In Cape Fear (4/2), Gregory Peck plays a man whose family is stalked and harassed by a vengeful ex-con. While this storyline seems scary enough, the heightened sense of terror arises from the impotence of the police and courts in protecting him. The aptly named Experiment in Terror (4/30) finds another individual in crisis, to whom the police and FBI can offer only limited assistance. In both films, the main character realizes the fragility of the law-enforcement institutions that presumably guarantee one’s safety. The result proves just as frightening as that produced by the self-subverting psycho-thrillers.

The Collector (5/4), in which a young girl is kidnapped and held in the British countryside by a socially defective butterfly collector, similarly demonstrates the vulnerability of the individual. The film unfolds almost entirely at the rural hideaway of Terence Stamp’s character, and consequently requires the skilful direction of William Wyler to elicit the anxiety that the genre demands. Peeping Tom (4/9) features a similar set-up, in which a young British man terrorizes vulnerable young women newly freed by the sexual revolution. However, director Michael Powell raises this film to the level of genre commentary. The stalker’s use of a 16mm camera to record his victims’ expressions of fear mimics the voyeuristic and cathartic desires that audiences have grown used to satiating through the ever-evolving exhibition of the extremes of human emotion that the moving image provides. AS close

Cape Fear
J. Lee Thompson, 1962 - 105 min.

This tightly crafted and violent thriller shocked audiences upon its initial release (British censors mandated 161 cuts in order to avoid an “X” rating), but has since become an iconic American thriller. The story follows ex-con Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) on his unblinking quest for revenge against the attorney who helped jail him (Gregory Peck). Peck was initially offered the role of Cady, but refused to play the villain. The change in casting resulted in a physical mismatch between Mitchum and the 6’3” Peck, a disparity masterfully compensated for by the pair’s superior and occasionally improvisational acting. 35mm.

Peeping Tom
Michael Powell, 1961 - 101 min.

This masterpiece from director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes) was suppressed upon release due to its intimate and graphic engagement with the voyeuristic impulses implicit in filmmaking. Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm) was tortured by his scientist-father during childhood. As an adult, he works in a British film studio, but spends his off-hours serially killing women and recording their expressions of fear with his 16mm camera. Predictably clobbered by critics, Powell’s film led to his own downfall, but also survives as a testament to his uniquely profound wisdom regarding the nature of cinema. 35mm.

The Trial
Orson Welles, 1962 - 119 min.

Welles’ adaptation of the Kafka novel may not be the most faithful, but as a film it represents a masterful and influential work. Tony Perkins (Norman Bates in Psycho) stars as the bureaucrat Joseph K, who is summoned to court for a mysterious crime. Welles himself plays K’s lawyer, while his direction achieves a sense of nearhysteria throughout the nightmarish story. As one of the most innovative films by one of the most innovative directors, The Trial is a must-see. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum writes: “Given the impact of screen size on what he’s doing, you can’t claim to have seen this if you’ve watched it only on video”. 35mm.

Seconds
John Frankenheimer, 1966 - 107 min.

Frankenheimer’s third installment in his unofficial “paranoia trilogy” (Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May), is a modern reworking of Faust, and his most disturbing film. Arthur Hamilton is a wealthy middle-aged man dissatisfied with life. Conveniently, he meets an agent of “the Company”, which offers individuals a new life. Following reconstructive surgery and the staging of his own death, Hamilton emerges as Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson), but finds that his new life is not what he’d hoped it would be. The film features excellent and experimental cinematography by James Wong Howe. 35mm.

Experiment in Terror
Blake Edwards, 1962 - 123 min.

After achieving fame and success with Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Blake Edwards directed this gritty, noirish thriller with sexual and racial undertones. Kelley Sherwood (Lee Remick) plays a bank teller who receives threatening visits and phone calls from the asthmatic Red Lynch. FBI agent John Ripley (Glenn Ford) attempts to foil Lynch’s plan to blackmail Sherwood into robbing her own bank, but the situation becomes complicated when Lynch kidnaps Sherwood’s baby sister. Enhanced by a Henry Mancini score, the film climaxes at Candlestick Park during a Giants-Dodgers night game. 35mm.

Bunny Lake is Missing
Otto Preminger, 1965 - 107 min.

Preminger meditates on the depth of human irrationality in a return to his film noir style of the 40s. Carol Lynley plays Ann Lake, an American woman living in London. When her daughter disappears during her first day of school, the school administration claims they have no records of her being registered. She alerts the police, but they can’t find any evidence that her daughter ever existed. The subject of the investigation gradually shifts from the missing child toward Ann’s own sanity and emotional insecurity. Laurence Olivier, Noel Coward, and Keir Dullea contribute to the success of this dark film. Archival 35mm.

The Ipcress File
Sidney J. Furie, 1965 - 109 min.

Likely the best adaptation of Len Deighton’s spy stories, this film features Michael Caine as British counter-espionage agent Harry Palmer, an ex-criminal, ex-army anti-James Bond coopted into the intelligence services to avoid jail time. When several top British scientists are kidnapped – then returned brainwashed and useless – the government sends Palmer to investigate. After enduring bureaucratic rivalries and struggles with the Americans, Palmer begins to realize that his superiors view him as expendable. This film represented a clear alternative to James Bond extravagance from Bond’s producer. 35mm.

These Are the Damned
Joseph Losey, 1963 - 96 min.

After being corrupted by distributors and television, Losey’s bizarre science fiction thriller was finally restored to its original and superior state. While vacationing on the South coast of England, Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey) is lured into a mugging by the attractive Joan (Shirley Ann Field). After her incestuous brother (Oliver Reed) and his gang beat up Wells, Joan attempts to escape with Wells on his boat. Fleeing, the two stumble upon a military base, where radioactive children who think they’re in a space ship are kept isolated in caves and bunkers. A unique and rare creation, this is not to be missed. 35mm.

Repulsion
Roman Polanski, 1965 - 105 min.

One of the most nightmarish works by a director known for leaving the viewer disturbed, Repulsion was Polanski’s first English-language film. Catherine Deneuve plays Carole Ledoux, a quiet Belgian working as a beautician and living with her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) in London. When Helen goes on vacation with her married lover (Ian Hendry), Carole’s isolation and sexual repression breed increasingly violent fantasies that spiral into madness. The first installment of Polanski’s “apartment trilogy” (Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant), Repulsion represents one of the director’s best uses of sound. Archival 35mm.

The Collector
William Wyler, 1965 - 119 min.

Terrence Stamp stars as the loner Freddie Clegg in this adaptation of a John Fowles novel by veteran director Wyler. Freddie enriches his otherwise meaningless life as a bank clerk by collecting butterflies, a hobby that fills him with a sense of power and control. After purchasing a house in the country, he decides to acquire a girlfriend, and begins converting the cellar into a human-sized collection jar. Samantha Eggars turns in a great performance as Stamp’s romantic interest, and Wyler, who made his name during the formative years of American cinema, demonstrates his mastery over the use of color. 35mm.