TORMENTED

Richard Carlson and Lugene Sanders

TORMENTED (1960). Director: Bert I. Gordon. Colorized.  

Artist Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson) wants to marry into a wealthy family and has gotten engaged to Meg Hubbard (Lugene Sanders). But what to do about his girlfriend, Vi (Juli Reding of Why Must I Die?), who objects to his plans and tries to blackmail him? Fortunately for him the railing gives way on the balcony outside of an abandoned lighthouse where they have secret rendezvous, and Vi finds herself falling to the rocks below. Tom could have reached out and saved her, but chooses not to. Soon Tom is seeing images of the dead woman and hearing her voice everywhere he goes. Her ghost is determined to keep him from going through with the wedding plans ... 

Carlson at the lighthouse

Bert Gordon didn't just direct movies about big people and creatures, but also helmed a few thrillers of varying types. While the premise may not be terribly original, Tormented has a good plot, more than decent performances -- Carlson is especially good -- and is quite entertaining. One especially good sequence has Carlson's blind landlady (Lillian Adams) trying to communicate with the ghost -- which she definitely believes in -- in the aforementioned spooky lighthouse. A bit with the ghost's disembodied head showing up isn't quite as effective. This was the last credit (of four) for Hubbard, who is not classically beautiful but is nevertheless appealing and talented. Susan Gordon, who plays her younger sister, was the director's daughter, and is fine. Another notable cast member is Joe Turkel, who plays a sleazy blackmailer. As usual, the contributions of composer Albert Glasser and cinematographer Ernest Laszlo are not to be discounted. 

Verdict: No giant monsters but the flick is still fun. ***. 

WHY MUST I DIE?

Debra Paget cornered by lady convicts

WHY MUST I DIE? (1960). Director: Roy Del Ruth.

Lois King (Terry Moore of Postmark for Danger) tries to make a new life for herself after blowing off her boyfriend, Eddie (Lionel Ames), and father, Red (Fred Sherman), both of whom are crooks. She winds up singing at a tony nightclub owned by Kenny Randell (Phil Harvey of The Land Unknown) and the two begin a romance. Unfortunately, just when things are looking up Eddie and his new girlfriend, the hardboiled safecracker Dottie Manson (Debra Paget), re-enter Lois' life. Lois has to give them information that will enable them to rob the nightclub, but a tragedy results from this. Lois and Dottie wind up in the same penal institution where one of them is on death row and the other hides a guilty secret. 

Phil Harvey and Terry Moore

Why Must I Die?, which also makes a plea against capital punishment, was clearly modeled on I Want to Live, released two years earlier. It's absorbing enough, but low-budget and second-rate, although it was photographed by no less than Ernest Haller. Terry Moore, who also produced the picture, is okay in the lead role but she hardly has the acting chops of Susan Hayward, star of I Want to Live, and overacts quite a bit when she's called upon to get hysterical. That is not the case with Debra Paget, who steals the movie from Moore with her intense and dynamic portrayal of the hard-as-nails Dottie. She's terrific and utterly loathsome.

Lionel Ames and Debra Paget

Other cast members in Why Must I Die? include Robert Shayne (of The Rebel Set) as another club owner who falls for Lois; Bert Freed as her lawyer, Adler; Sid Melton as an agent; Juli Reding as the sexy Mitzi, who also canoodles with Eddie; and Jackie Joseph (of Little Shop of Horrors) as another club employee who is having a fling with Kenny, for shame. Eddie's deadly fall off of a fire escape is well-handled as is the ending in the prison, which has a certain amount of minor power. Parts of Dick LaSalle's musical score remind one of Vertigo. 

Verdict: Paget makes her mark! **1/4.