Night Tide

I had long been interested in checking out this low-budget fantasy; as soon as I learned of writer/director Harrington’s passing, I ordered it and another horror title of his – RUBY (1977). I was afraid that the 1999 Image/Milestone DVD (in a snap case!) would have gone OOP by this time, but I got lucky. Anyway, I loved the film: it was Harrington’s first feature-length effort (and the best that I’ve watched from him); of his remaining work, I’m most interested in the psychological thriller GAMES (1967) – which has never been shown in my neck of the woods and, regrettably, is still M.I.A. on DVD – though I should be getting to his sci-fi concoction QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966) fairly soon.

While watching NIGHT TIDE, I was reminded of other arty (though small-scale and independently-produced) cult horror items from that creative era – such as DEMENTIA (1953), CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962) and INCUBUS (1965). Richard Valley perceptively remarks in the DVD liner notes that the film presents what is probably cinema’s only wicked mermaid: the aquatic legend at the core of the narrative – with the compulsion it places on the girl concerned to kill her current lover, and the intermittent appearance of a mysterious older member of the ‘species’ (who greets her in a foreign tongue) – is clearly influenced by CAT PEOPLE (1942), the Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur classic (incidentally, lead Dennis Hopper is seen here following the so-called ‘Water Witch’ played by Cameron, an eccentric figure with artistic and occult leanings popular around this time – could this be an inversion of the celebrated night-time stalking scene on New York streets from CAT PEOPLE?). However, the film can also be defined Hitchcockian – sharing its enigmatic female lead with VERTIGO (1958) and featuring a PSYCHO (1960)-ish explanatory ending.

The cast is interesting: it’s refreshing to see Hopper playing wholesome, rather than one of his trademark psychotics; Linda Lawson is quite striking as the mermaid girl; Gavin Muir is imposing in an ambiguous role (originally intended for Peter Lorre!); and Luana Anders likable in the small but touching part of ‘the other woman’. Thanks to its dreamy cinematography by Vilis Lapenieks (though an uncredited Floyd Crosby did the studio interiors), the evocative carnival/sea-side setting (partly filmed at Venice Beach, which I visited a number of times while in L.A. in late 2005) and a fine score by David Raksin, the film is turned into a hypnotic mood piece. Especially effective are the quirky scene early on in which seagulls are compulsively attracted to Lawson’s bizarrely-decorated apartment (thus anticipating Hitchcock’s own THE BIRDS [1963]!); the hero’s nightmares which see Lawson metamorphose first into an octopus and then into Cameron herself; the scene in which Hopper finds Lawson mysteriously tied to the pier; and the suspenseful climax (following the girl’s ‘inexplicable’ underwater attack on Hopper, the latter confronts Muir at his tent and is shown Lawson’s drowned body, while being threatened with a gun – then we cut away and, on resuming the scene, find that Muir has been disarmed).

A quotation from Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee”, in which the title is mentioned, concludes the film; incidentally, Roger Corman (director of several cinematic adaptations of the author’s work) helped raise finance for it – and Harrington himself twice filmed “The Fall Of The House Of Usher” as a short subject, made at a distance of some 60 years from one another! By the way, while NIGHT TIDE was first shown at the 1961 Venice Film Festival, it wasn’t officially released in the U.S. until 1963; as if to make up for this, Harrington proudly states that the film has often been revived over the years – chiefly through the copy he personally donated to Henri Langlois of the Cinematheque Francaise!

The accompanying Audio Commentary is something of a letdown, being a laidback conversation between star and director (who have remained friends): however, both tend to be sketchy about several of the details pertaining to the shooting – and, too often, lazily resort to merely pointing out the locations used for any given scene!

Finally, both the “DVD Drive-in” and “DVD Savant” reviews mention Harrington’s early short work as being in a similar vein to his debut feature; one wonders whether this will ever be more readily available, particularly now that the director’s gone.

Sailor on shore-leave meets and falls for a mysterious woman who works as a carnival mermaid on the California coast. Is she a neurotic or actually a descendant of the Sirens? Moody mystery isn't quite the thriller it was advertised as. It has a straightforward narrative and very few actual surprises, but there are surreal bits, a great beatnik party on the beach, terrific black-and-white cinematography, and handsome, pre-hippie Dennis Hopper at his most grounded and friendly (and polite!). The film hopes to absorb its audience by means of atmosphere and little red herrings, not big shocks. I admired the film, but it's not to every taste. **1/2 from ****

This film excels both as a good narrative (though it borrows heavily from "Cat People"), but also on a deeper, symbolic level. While Dennis Hopper had small roles before this, "Night Tide" casts him as a lead, and he fares well. Reviewer Rick McGrath says, "Hopper's acting in Night Tide is, I think, ultimately suspect. It's fun to see him so young, so cute in his tight navy suit, but he plays Johnny Drake as a bumbling, nervous, fidgety, slightly stupid loner ... so much so he often seems dislocated from the action and his co-stars." I don't know that I agree. Surely he comes across as nervous and shy at times, but bumbling? Clearly his character was designed to be young and inexperienced -- this is necessary for the scene in which he confronts Captain Murdock (Gavin Muir) in his home and is told tales of the Sirens and is shown a dismembered Arab hand. A hardened sailor wouldn't be so spongelike for forbidden knowledge.

McGrath refers to this film as "a psychosexual tale of freudian camp and hilarity". I think it's deeper than that. Yes, there's more sexuality than is presented on screen, but I don't accept the absurd premises of McGrath, who goes so far as to say one scene involving a dock is "phallic". No way. Is the film campy and hilarious? To a point, sure. It's the early 1960s and the budget is low. But the writer and director, Curtis Harrington, seems to have a vision and executes it with finesse. The opening scene clues us in that Harrington is a man who cares about visuals, and we are reminded of this again alter on when we see Mora close up in the sideshow mermaid tank. He frames shots to reveal not just an object, but an emotion.

The casual viewer may overlook the literary and occult themes present in this short film, but I think the flower that is "Night Tide" cannot fully bloom without this understanding. As revealed in the closing credits, the film takes its name from a verse in Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee":

"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling - my darling - my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea."

The poem highlight's Poe's love of a woman so strong it stretches beyond death, and also happens to be the last complete poem he ever wrote, in essence his "last words". The macabre nature of the poem underscores the hidden darkness of "Night Tide" that may not be apparent to all viewers.

Captain Murdock is a man with a rich sense of literature and philology. He is clearly familiar with Greek legends, as he relates the tale of the Sirens briefly to Drake. Presumably he is also the one who named Mora after finding her on a Greek island (assuming her origin is truthful). The name "Mora" is likely a variation of the Greek name "Moira", one of the Fates of legend. Her name translates roughly to "fate", "destiny" or "doom", a fitting moniker for a woman who is the death of her lovers. Murdock also paraphrases a notable line from Shakespeare's Hamlet:

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

As an aside, it is worth noting that Harrington named his main character "Drake", a male duck, which may be symbolic of Johnny's being torn between land and sea, as ducks are comfortable equally with both. This is clear from his career as a Navy man who spends his time on the ocean, but seems more at home on the shore. And, of course, it parallels his love of Mora, the creature of the sea, with the relative safety of the land where she is unable to lure him to a watery grave.

Most viewers will miss the occult connection, as it is not made overtly clear in the film. The only sign we have to go off of is Murdock's address in Venice, 777 Saabek Lane. "777" may be familiar to Biblical scholars as one of the numbers of perfection -- 7, the number of God himself, combined with 3, the unity of the trinity. It is alluded by this address that Murdock is a man of knowledge and power, both mysterious and esoteric. But also, this is a number associated with Aleister Crowley, the famed English occultist. This is no mere coincidence, as Crowley has a connection to this film.

His connection comes through the woman who plays the "water witch" that speaks the odd language, Marjorie Elizabeth Cameron (1922-1995). Cameron was the wife of rocket scientist Jack Parsons, a friend of Alesiter Crowley who was hand-chosen to lead California's Agape Lodge in 1942. Parsons, incidentally, was also a magick partner with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Cameron came to be involved with "Night Tide" as she had partied with co-star Dennis Hopper in the 1950s, and worked with Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger in 1954's "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" -- Anger was another Crowley devotee, who also knew Manson Family member Bobby Beausoleil. He later associated with Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. To say that Cameron, Hopper and Harrington had connections to Crowley and the occult would be a mere truism, and that occult symbolism figures into "Night Tide" should not be considered a stretch.

(Review considered too long by IMDb... see Killer Reviews for complete write-up.)

Though it is a small production, it is interesting in the way it deals with the myth and mystery of the sea and its lore. We are purposely given sketchy information about the carnival mermaid who may in fact be a siren luring the lonely sailor nearly to his doom.

A very young Hopper plays the sailor, and Lawson is sufficiently enchanting to make us believe that she is more than just a girl wearing a fake fishtail. The film has a TWILIGHT ZONE quality to it, leaving the viewer wondering at the end.

Don't get me wrong... I don't think this is a great achievement in film making.

I stumbled across this movie on late night TV, back in the early days of UHF, when, at 13 or 14, it was very exciting to me to have new channels that were so low budget that they showed things that, in the light of mainstream, 3 channel, VHF programming, seemed very much like they were being beamed in from another galaxy.

Through the lens of adolescent angst that I saw it through, this is a movie about unbearable loneliness, brilliantly captured by Dennis Hopper, whose only way out of his loneliness is through a beautiful woman from another world that he can't fully understand.

Like Kabuki theater on Darvon, he moves through the shadows of this overfiltered dreamworld of seaside 1960. The real monster is loneliness, and unlike most horror movies, the monster wins this one.

The setting, the off season seaside resort (and it could have been any, not just Venice Beach) was perfect, being there by oneself is possibly the loneliest experience one could have, hinting at a livelier, fun=filled world that, because of time, is unattainable.

It represents to me, maybe the first "indie" film I saw and recognized as one, "indie" in the original sense of a movie that was not made to be a box office hit, but because someone HAD to make a movie about something they felt strongly about, or had an artistic vision that had to be shared. Many of the earlier examples of these movies found their way onto UHF, because they were cheap to rent. But they got me hooked, and as soon as I could drive, sought out the art theaters in nearby towns that showed what was then called "underground" cinema, Kenneth Anger, John Waters (pre-flamingoes) I am Curious (Yellow and Blue.) These films are not as enchanting to me now, but then, none of them ever lived up to Night Tide for me.

For sentimental reasons, this has always been, and will always be, one of my very favorite movies.