TORMENTED
US, 1960, 75 minutes, Black-and-white.
Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders, Juli Reding, Joe Turkel, Lillian Adams.
Directed by Bert I. Gordon.
This is a curiosity item from 1960. It was directed by Bert I. Gordon, who directed quite a number of small budget features but who specialised in photography and, as in this film, experimentation with special visual effects.
Tormented has echoes of film noir, part it is also a ghost story.
The focus is on a musician, Tom Stewart, played by Richard Carlson who usually has a presence of integrity rather than criminal. The film offers the pleasures of some jazz music throughout. Tom Stewart is about to marry and the ceremony will take place on an island. On the island is a lighthouse, about to be pulled down, but figuring strongly in this story. Tom is visited by an old flame, a singer, Vi (Juli Reding). She is possessive, refuses to let him go, threatens his marriage. In the confrontation between them, a railing comes loose on the lighthouse parapet, Vi falls over, reaching out for Tom to hold her. He doesn’t.
The rest of the film, Tom is haunted by Vi’s presence, seeing her floating dead in the water, bringing her to shore only to find that he is clutching seaweed. Her voice is heard. At one stage, her floating head appears (a bit too ludicrous to be frightening). Tom is haunted And his fiancee can’t understand his mood, the man who brought Vi to the island becomes suspicious at her disappearance, asks Tom for money and then realises he can blackmail him. Tom knocks him out and disposes of the body – but this is witnessed by the fiancées young sister, played by the director’s daughter, Susan Gordon, who is torn between her liking for Tom and her reaction to his behaviour.
During the wedding ceremony, Vi’s presence is felt, flowing up the aisle, the successive bunches of flowers wilting, including the bride’s bouquet.
There is a finale, as might be expected, a meeting between the little girl and Tom, his intending to kill her – and his falling over the parapet of the lighthouse.
An oddity which is a curious pastime from the 1960s.
