Monday, 8 March 2010

Man Who Haunted Himself
(1970)

60%

Ghost in the Machine

A good idea rather blandly executed. The alleged duality of man and self hauntings have been done better before – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Point Blank, Revolver, Jacob's Ladder, Ghost, et al. And Roger Moore simply is not a good enough actor to make this as compelling as it could have been – although he does better than one has come to expect of him. He is expected to play two riles and cannot find it in himself to provide sufficient character differentiation between them to make this completely convincing.

The other problem with this movie is that it cannot decide if it is a ghost story, a thriller, a morality tale or a psycho drama and so falls between each of these stools. This lack of focus enervates the fascinating subject matter.

Yet this film is well written, well acted and has an intriguing plot. It possesses a somewhat satisfying ending redolent of the emotional repression of those who refuse to face whom they are for fear of unleashing some unnameable beast.


Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

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No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



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The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



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