Escapement
Entry updated 22 April 2024. Tagged: Film.
UK film (1958; vt The Dream Machine; vt The Electronic Monster). Amalgamated Productions. Directed by Montgomery Tully and, for the dream sequences, David Paltenghi. Written by Charles Eric Maine, based on his novel Escapement (1956; vt The Man Who Couldn't Sleep 1958), with additional dialogue by J MacLaren Ross. Cast includes Kay Callard, Rod Cameron, Larry Cross, Meredith Edwards, Peter Illing, John McCarthy and Mary Murphy. 72 minutes. Black and white.
When Hollywood film star Claude Denver (McCarthy) dies in a car crash near the Riviera, the insurance company sends Jeff Keenan (Cameron) to investigate. Brad Somers (Cross), a publicity agent for the actor's film studio, tells him Denver had attended a nearby psychiatric clinic (see Psychology) – and two other of its clients had also died recently. Interviewing the police doctor he's told it's likely Denver's death caused the crash, rather than the other way round.
At the d'Amercon clinic we see Dr. Philip Maxwell (Edwards) explaining the procedure to a new patient: "We simply take over the mind for a little and reshape it. We train it to accept new thoughts, emotions, new responses." (see Dream Hacking); he later calls this "electronic Hypnosis", applied via a headset that plays pre-recorded scenes into the unconscious patient. In these dreams the wearer experiences the emotions of the actors, clearing the mind of its stresses and fears. The clinic's tape library has hundreds of recordings and we watch the patient played one of them: a ballet of scantily clad men and woman. When Keenan tells Maxwell the treatment might be linked to former patients' deaths, the doctor is concerned, informing Paul Zakon (Illing), the German-accented, monocle-wearing owner of the clinic (see Clichés), that it might need to be closed down. After he finds Somers hanged – dismissed by the police as suicide – Keenan voices his suspicions to Ruth Vance (Murphy), an actress attending the clinic: she assures him Zakon is an idealist who funds Maxwell's research, adding that they are engaged: as Vance is his ex-fiancée, Keenan does not like this news. Meanwhile, Laura (Callard), Maxwell's wife, has been looking into the three patients who died and found they were given similar treatments.
Zakon discusses matters with his two assistants – one of whom was "in charge of experimental surgery at a Concentration Camp" (see World War Two) – concluding that Maxwell is still necessary for their plan, but – as he has skeletons in his closet – can be blackmailed; however, his wife possesses an inconvenient "stubborn integrity"; and indeed, Laura eventually confronts him and is murdered. Later Zakon explains his plans to Philip: wealthy patients are to be indoctrinated, Maxwell's Invention will wipe their minds clean, on to which dreams will be imposed – firstly nightmarish, then happier: "terror, confusion and darkness will be succeeded by ecstatic peace"; in the latter images of Zakon will predominate "as the symbol of benevolence and mercy" (we have a brief glimpse of this when at the studio making the films: it seems to involve someone wearing a Zakon mask). Vance, now doubting Zakon, breaks off their engagement: she is abducted and given the brainwashing treatment. Maxwell has confirmed that his invention can cause damage to brain cells, and – when he learns his wife is dead – helps Keenan free Vance, then has his revenge on Zakon by destroying his brain with the headset; he now wrecks the equipment, dying in the resulting fire. The film then quickly ends with the arrival of fire engines as Vance and Keenan drive off.
The idea of Technology which converts a filmed playlet into a dream where the sleeper shares the emotions of the participants is a good one that has much potential: sadly Escapement has little interest in engaging with it. All we see are a couple of ballet scenes with a lot of kissing, which might be intended to imply that the actual dreams would be more libidinous than UK censorship would allow (see Sex); the imaginative opportunities the nightmare playlets might offer are ignored. Instead this is a drab crime movie filled with dull conversations, until an unexciting bout of fisticuffs towards the end. Depressingly, the only woman displaying intelligence and character is murdered (see Feminism). [SP]
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