MANIAC (1963)

MANIAC (1963). Director: Michael Carreras. 

Jeff Farrell (Kerwin Mathews, of 7th Voyage of Sinbad fame), is vacationing in France when he comes across an inn run by a pretty young woman, Annette (Liliane Brousse), and her stepmother, Eve (Nadia Gray). Jeff romances both but winds up falling for Eve, who tells him how her husband Georges (Donald Houston of The Flaw) was institutionalized after taking a blow torch to the man who raped his daughter four years before (this is detailed in the prologue). Eve has fallen in love with Jeff and hopes to free the hopefully cured Georges so he can get his life and daughter back, at least, while she goes off with her new love, Jeff. Jeff agrees to help Eve break her husband out of prison, but things go awry when Georges apparently murders the asylum employee who aids him in his escape. Now what do they do? Maniac holds the attention but it has absolutely no style or atmosphere and veteran cinematographer Wilkie Cooper's work is unimpressive. Just about everything about the movie is unconvincing, including the mostly flat acting (especially from Mathews and Gray, who generate little heat) and especially the twist ending, which comes as a surprise but seems to make everything a bit pointless. Jimmy Sangster's [Fear in the Night]  typically convoluted screenplay is not one of his better ones. Like other films, the title was supposed to create an identification with Psycho, but this is nowhere in the same league as Hitchcock's thriller.

Verdict: Watch once and then forget it! **1/4. 

OSS 117 -- PANIC IN BANGKOK

Kerwin Mathews 

OSS 117 -- PANIC IN BANGKOK (aka Shadow of Evil aka /Banco a Bangkok pour OSS 117/1964). Director:  Andre Hunebelle.

Operative Hubert Bonisseur (Kerwin Mathews of The Boy Who Cried Werewolf) -- a lover boy with a real line -- is assigned to replace a murdered agent who was investigating a series of plague outbreaks in Thailand. In Bangkok Hubert works with a man named Leacock (Henri Virlojeux) and gains an enthusiastic and helpful assistant in Sonsak (Akom Mokramond). After interviewing Professor Hogby (Jacques Hilling) and his pretty blond secretary, Eva (Dominique Wilms), Hubert set his sights on a charismatic character named Dr. Sinn (Robert Hossein) -- or rather Sinn's lovely sister, Lila (Pier Angeli). Hubert is unaware that Eva is Sinn's lover. Sooner or later, Hubert hopes to uncover exactly who is unleashing the deadly plague -- and why.

Robert Hossein as Dr. Sinn

Well, with one character named "Dr. Sinn" you may not be too surprised at the identity of the villain in this, but you may be surprised that OSS 117 is as (modestly) entertaining as it is. Mathews makes an effective leading man, and Hossein is equally good as his adversary, A group called the Elected People have decided to wipe out most of the world's population and start over again, or something like that. There's a nifty fight scene in a hotel, some nice photography and music, and the Bangkok settings are well chosen. However, while the movie holds the attention it utterly lacks the big scale action and excitement of the best of the Bond films, so some viewers may find this a snooze. OSS 117 was a character in French spy novels, and after the success of Dr. No, OSS 117 is Unleashed  -- also starring Kerwin Mathews -- was released. with Panic in Bangkok being the sequel. Since then there has been a whole series of foreign eurospy OSS 117 movies from the sixties until today with the part being played by John Gavin, Frederick Stafford and others. Kerwin Mathews and Pier Angeli reteamed for Octaman. (In French with subtitles.)  

Verdict: So-so spy film with Mathews making like a lower-key Bond. **1/2. 

THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF (1973)

Kerwin Mathews and Scott Sealey

THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF (1973). Director: Nathan Juran.

A divorced and somwhat chauvinistic father, Robert Bridgestone (Kerwin Mathews) and his young son, Richie (Scott Sealey), take off for a cabin in the mountains for a vacation. While there Robert saves his son from an attack by a strange person who bites Robert on the arm. Richie is convinced that the person who attacked them was a werewolf, and later that his own father has become one himself. A series of gruesome dismemberment murders in the area have the police stymied, but no one will believe Richie. 

Mathews begins his transformation

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf is the last film directed by Nathan Juran, who worked with star Kerwin Mathews on two fantasy adventure pictures, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jack the Giant Killer. The premise of this film is a good one, but not enough is done with it. A big problem is the fact that while Mathews made a fine swashbuckling hero in the aforementioned movies, in this his acting is insufficient. Little Scott Sealey gives an earnest performance and is a likable youngster, but he doesn't quite hit the mark, either. Elaine Devry is more than acceptable as the boy's mother, and there are some flavorful character performances sprinkled throughout. 

Kerwin Mathews and Elaine Devry

The movie has uneven scoring and missed opportunities, although there are some exciting action sequences, such as when the werewolf attacks a trailer and some other people and causes a great deal of havoc. A psychiatrist who accepts the werewolf explanation much too easily (even if he's right!) is savagely murdered, but unfortunately the shrill, annoying head of a hippie commune is spared that fate. The make up by Tom Burnam is good even if one might question the werewolf's pompadour. 

Verdict: A boy and his werewolf. **1/2.