William Castle is often remembered for directing spooky films like House on Haunted Hill, in which stars such as Vincent Price were paired with movie theatre gimmicks. Simply wearing 3-D glasses wasn't enough, he went the extra mile to get the audience excited. But less is said about this release, an attempt at a more straightforward thriller, made a script by Psycho author Robert Bloch. It's a story full of atmosphere but features Barbara Stanwyck from Double Indemnity rather than a horror film regular. Of course it's still pretty hokey as a product of its time, but as a mystery tale there are some fairly striking moments that stand out even by today's standards. Let's take a closer look at this venture into fantastical dreams and waking nightmares.
The film starts as it means to go on with an appealingly abstract sequence that marries a lot of eyeballs and falling silhouettes with a great voice over narrative. What does this Twilight Zone style sequence all have to do with the actual plot? Well not all that much beyond the idea of dreams, but it's a great hook and a memorable introduction. The weird music on the other hand is less effective; it starts up any time something even remotely strange occurs in the film. Still, while it's not up to the standards of Saul Bass it's an appealing way of setting the tone; sinister and somewhat macabre and yet with a light touch. It does at least cover some groundwork by explaining a few central parts of the narrative.
Irene Trent (Barbara Stanwyck) lives under the tyranny of her blind husband Howard (Hayden Rourke) who keeps her trapped in his spooky mansion. She's only able to escape his obsessive personality in her dreams, where she finds herself in a fantasy romance with another man. But Howard feels deception from everyone around him and is determined to uncover what he thinks is the truth - after recording what she says in her sleep about this enigmatic lover. He may have lost his sight, but this only makes him compulsive in his search of the facts. As his lawyer Barry (Robert Taylor) explains; Irene never goes anywhere or sees anyone. How can such an affair exist? But Howard is having none of this and only becomes more determined.
His next step is to wire the whole place with microphones, but he's suddenly killed by an explosion in a strange laboratory he keeps in the attic. Is Irene free at last or is something strange going on? The police decide it was an accident, and one of the officers locks the room because it's apparently unsafe. An outsider deciding to close off a room in Irene's private home is one of many odd occurrences. Why is it still unsafe after the accident? What was Howard doing with all that equipment? Where is the body? Why does Irene own a hair salon with a fully furnished apartment in the back if she never goes anywhere? Not all of these elements get satisfactory answers which is unfortunate, but there are at least some fun scenes along the way as the mystery is untangled.
Barry soon gets together with Irene discuss all of this, as he suspects that she could have killed Howard herself. Perhaps he beat her with his walking stick once too often. But of course things are not as they seem, and soon her dream romance begins to transform into something more bizarre. For one thing her mystery man makes an appearance for the audience to see, and his idea of date night is more than a little odd. Sneaking out to enjoy a bottle of champagne is one thing, but suddenly arranging a wedding is more unusual. This extended dream sequence is the stand-out moment in the second act, in which Irene and Mr. Right are trapped in a chapel full of mannequins, before a rather crispy looking Howard decides to gatecrash the big occasion.
Purely as a mystery plot in which the rules of reality are suddenly pulled out from the leading lady between each scene, this has a lot of appeal. But under scrutiny things are less compelling, and like Psycho, there's a big annoying exposition dump in the last five minutes. The big mystery gets explained away in the end, but it's done without any kind of dramatic tact. A lot of things are brushed over far too quickly and the result is just another B-movie whodunnit rather than anything truly shocking. Which is a shame when the rest of the story was handled with such creativity, from the slow burn of the intrigue to the sudden leaps into dream land. If only the lab accident was a stronger part of the big reveal.
Irene is a good lead and Howard is a great antagonist, both in his regular abusive husband role and as an otherworldly presence later on. It would have been more interesting for their relationship to align in a way that meant the dream imagery had a deeper meaning. Instead the finale feels kind of rushed as Irene finds all the right clues and the other characters give out all the right information. Outside of the logistics involved in some of the unrealistic conspiracy elements I just expected more from the meat of the story. Perhaps this is an unfair appraisal and I'm the one that's being unrealistic, since this delivers in many other ways. Ultimately it's a moody and surprisingly unsettling tale of the unexpected. For anyone looking for a slightly offbeat chiller with some moments that will stick in your mind it's well worth a look.
3/5
