Jacques Tourneur, past master of film noir, psychological horror, Westerns, found himself confined to shlock features & tv gigs after directing his last worthy assignment, the remarkably fine ‘suggestive’ horror NIGHT OF THE DEMON/’57.* Not much could be done with this one, his final theatrical feature, typical low-rent American International Pictures fare: title from Edgar Allen Poe/plot lifted from Jules Verne (mostly MYSTERIOUS ISLAND), it opens with decent sea coast atmosphere as a body floats ashore and Tab Hunter’s investigator carts it to a nearby castle. Meeting a few odd folk (David Thomlinson & his pet rooster!, soon-to-be comatose Susan Hart, an unexplained goblin), he follows the ‘Gill Man,’ whatever it is, thru a secret passageway only to fall into the depths beneath, landing unharmed in an underwater city. Run by Vincent Price doing a Captain Nemo number, this waterlogged dictator currently panicked by imminent destruction bubbling up from a sea-floor volcano about to blow. (Underwater footage apparently taken from Ishirô Honda’s ATRAGON/’63. Not fully seen here, but easily found on-line and looking a good deal more fun.) Tourneur does what he can, but too much time goes to philosophical speechifying with Price standing in place on a single set. That seaquake can’t come soon enough.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: *Tourneur had so much to offer, so much talent on display, but after DEMON no one gave him a thought. Click here for more info and LINKing possibilities. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/11/night-of-demon-1957.html
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