IN SAYING
EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?
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IN SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |
| HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN (TV) (director: Curtis Harrington; screenwriter: teleplay by Henry Farrell/from the novel by Henry Farrell; cinematographer: Fleet Southcott; editor: Richard Farrell); music: Laurence Rosenthal; cast: Anthony Perkins (Allan Colleigh), Julie Harris (Katherine Colleigh), Joan Hackett (Olive), Kent Smith (Raymond), Robert H. Harris (Dr. Ellins), Molly Dodd (Inmate), Billy Bowles (Harold Dennis), Trent Dolan (Eric), Jeannette Howe (Katherine - Child), Kenneth Lawrence (Allan as a child); Runtime: 74; MPAA Rating: PG; producer: George Edwards; Tango; 1970) |
| "The made-for-TV movie
starred Anthony Perkins, in his only TV movie, with
him effectively playing another over-the-top psycho
role."
Reviewed
by Dennis Schwartz Warning:
spoiler in review. Psychological
thriller directed by Curtis Harrington ("Night
Tide"/"Ruby"/"What's The Matter With Helen?") from a teleplay by Henry
Farrell, who based it on his novel. The made-for-TV movie
starred Anthony Perkins, in his only TV movie, with
him effectively playing another over-the-top psycho
role. In this Perkins is Allan Colleigh, who is so guilt-ridden
that he caused the house fire that killed his
celebrated professor father and disfigured his sister
Katherine (Julie
Harris), dad's
favorite, that he becomes semi-blind from psychosomatic
causes and
spends 8 months in the state mental hospital. Released
to the custody of his sister, the disturbed Allan
suspects that the new student boarder in the house,
Harold Dennis, is in reality sis's old boyfriend
Eric and he's haunting him with strange voices trying
to drive him to suicide or to be deemed too crazy to
live on the outside. Allan's former girlfiend Olive
(Joan Hackett) looks after him and he relates his
troublesome suspicions to her, which she finds hard to
believe. Just before Allan is sent back to the mental
hospital for acting weird, sis reveals she can't
forgive her brother for killing her beloved brainy dad
and tries to burn down the house with Allan trapped in
a locked room. Though Perkins is perfect
for the part, the story is too weak and the production
lacks suspense to be much more than a disturbing look
at someone
with a fragile psyche who is also a paranoid and
a creep. The eerie atmosphere is established
when
the filmmaker shows
things blurred as the Perkins character sees it, so
that we never clearly see the boarder and are not sure
until the end if Allan is a complete nut job or if sis
harbors revenge to get even with him for killing her
beloved dad. REVIEWED ON 8/12/2011 GRADE: C+ Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |