60's British Horror Part Thirteen

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

(1965)

Dir - Otto Preminger

Overall: GOOD

A psychological thriller adaptation of the novel of the same name by Merriam Modell, Bunny Lake is Missing is loaded with details and unveiled with painstaking patience by director Otto Preminger, even if Preminger himself basically dismissed it as insufficient fluff.  In typical murder, (or in this case, kidnapping), mysteries, red herrings are a vital component and each suspect that we meet here is given both credible excuses to be innocent as well as questionable eccentricities or shadiness to be guilty of at least something unwholesome.  Martina Hunt as an isolated old lady listening to tape recordings of children's nightmares, Noël Coward prattling on about his "melodious voice" that women find irresistible as he is aggressively harassing Carol Lynley's understandably troubled mother whose daughter has gone missing, and of course her brother played by Keir Dullea who seems up to no good long before such things are blatantly confirmed.  As the diligent, quick-witted police inspector, Laurence Olivier is in typically fine form as he pursues sly, intimate tactics to cross every T and dot ever I in his investigation.  Preminger utilizes long, elaborate takes to keep the viewer on edge, soaking in disturbing and somber specifics, particularly so during the final act.

 

THE DEADLY BEES

(1966)

Dir - Freddie Francis

Overall: MEH

A dopey nature horror work from Amicus Productions, The Deadly Bees crumbles under its lazy special effects and talky, uninteresting script.  Robert Bloch's initial screenplay had both Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff in mind, the latter reprising his role from a 1955 television episode of The Elgin Hour called "Sting of Death" which was based off of Gerald Heard's same novel A Taste for Honey.  Both Lee and Karloff were unavailable, (i.e. too expensive), so Bloch's treatment was reworked by Anthony Marriott and director Francis and the results have one or two familiar British horror faces, but no scene-stealing star power to carry the drab material through.  As the title would suggest, there are indeed killer bees who spring to violent action due to some asshole putting a certain fragrance on things in order to do away with his enemies, even though several other people also get attacked anyway which was apparently just an egregious oversight on said bad guy's part.  The super-imposed bees look ridiculous on screen and they only show up a small handful of times compared to how much other time is spent watching character's go about their petty, low stakes drama.

DOCTOR FAUSTUS

(1967)

Dir - Richard Burton/Nevill Coghill

Overall: GOOD

The lone directorial effort from Richard Burton and Oxford scholar Nevill Coghill, Doctor Faustus is a wonderfully pretentious cinematic adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's 16th century play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.  Itself a reworking of the often interpreted German legend of Faust, this one brings together Burton with the Oxford University Dramatic Society, whom along with Coghill, had done a production of the play the previous year.  An obvious vanity project for Burton, the noted thespian chews through what is essentially a ninety-three minute monologue, with A-list wife Elizabeth Taylor irregularly appearing as a dialog-less/usually painted up Helen of Troy.  Because the story itself is both so familiar and simplistic in its cautionary, tragic agenda of doomed vanity and avarice, the heavy, early modern English vernacular is less intimidating that it would otherwise be, which is further helped by a superb production design all around.  Colorful and elaborate sets, simple special effects, and soft focus lighting create a consistently engaging presentation of baroque macabreness which makes the whole thing excessive in a befitting way to the material; material which is anything but subtle.