THE EYES OF CHARLES SAND
US, 1972, 75 minutes, Colour.
Peter Haskell, Joan Bennett, Barbara Rush, Sharon Farrell, Bradford Dillman, Adam West.
Directed by Reza Badiyi.
The Eyes of Charles Sand is a conventional E.S.P. telemovie. It has quite exciting ingredients, but generally are conventionally presented. One of the main interests is that it gives Barbara Rush a chance to do the savage insane hysterics of the Bette Davis- Joan Crawford variety. The director made the feature film, the remake of Trader Horn with Rod Taylor.
1. An entertaining horror telemovie? Adaptation of ESP and occult themes for home viewing?
2. The conventions of the occult thriller of the seventies? The techniques for showing the eerier aspects of the occult? The consequent horror and violence? How conventional this presentation, how different?
3. Colour photography, California locations, homes? The special effects for the ESP?
4. How plausible and credible the plot? The particular power, its being inherited in a family? The indications of the uncle dying, the aunt ringing, Charles Sand inheriting the power? The way the power van visualized, his capacity for seeing, especially danger? The repercussions on him? His acting on the power and his involvement in the murderous family difficulties?
5. The character of Charles Sand - conventional American, doing his work, coping with his power? The influence of his aunt and her style and the memory of his uncle? A credible hero for this kind of film?
6. The heroine and her difficulties - death, suicide, murder? The background of drugs, hallucinations? Charles Sand helping her, rescuing her? The contrast with her sister and her elegant style, her husband? The irony of the villainy of the sister and the plans of the brother-in-law? How well delineated wore these three characters, or were they merely presented an melodramatic types for the plot situations? Comment on the effectiveness of the suspense sequences, the chases around the house, the finding the collar and the truth about murders? The demented sister and her violence, the death of her husband. of the young man that they had paid to act for then? The violence of her own death? (the effectiveness of Barbara Rush's Grand Guignol style - in the Bette Davis tradition - the hysterical laughing sequences, the cool calculated sequences with the young man and the bet, her husband? The mad demented knife-flashing sequences?)
7. The melodramatic crises - the atmosphere of suspense, danger, death?
8. A satisfactory resolution?
9. How well did the film treat the occult, ESP etc.? Realistically, or as devices for this kind of thriller? Appropriate entertainment for television viewing?
