The Eyes of Annie Jones

A crime drama rather than the fantasy a synopsis suggests. I don't wish to go into too much detail discussing the plot since the murder that provides the narrative with its mainspring is the first thing you see before the credits have even started, and what makes the film worth watching is figuring out WHY the murder was committed rather than how by whom and what part Francesca Annis's clairvoyant powers take in it's exposure.

Although Richard Conte is technically the star, pride of place surely goes to Miss Annis, who evidently impressed someone at Fox while she was playing Elizabeth Taylor's handmaiden in 'Cleopatra' enough to entrust her with title role in this Lippert quickie (made at Shepperton by 'B' movie stalwart Reginald Le Borg) in which she plays a seventeen year old guttersnipe "born and raised in a Liverpool slum" who went into an orphanage at 12, boasts "I stopped playing dolls when I was six years old", is reviled as "a nasty child and a liar", whose first question when temporarily allowed out is to ask "Got a light?" and justifies her appalling table manners by stating "I've been hungry for years!"

The film stars Richard Conte, with support from a British cast.

Conte's sister has disappeared; in fact, she is murdered and buried before we see the opening credits, so some of the suspense is quickly gone. Conte's aunt just happens to know a 17-year-old named Annie Jones (Francesca Annis) who can "find things." Halfway through the film the audience is let in on pretty much everything, so there goes the rest of the suspense.

Everyone does their job competently, but it's interesting to see Conte constantly making sarcastic remarks. He also spends most of the film in a state of sexual arousal.

The Eyes of Annie Jones (1964)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

After a woman is murdered and her body hidden, another lady hires psychic Annie Jones (Francesca Annis) to try and find out who the killer is. Annie, a teenaged girl, isn't your typical psychic as she also has a sleepwalking problem, which might help with the case. THE EYES OF ANNIE JONES has a pretty weak story that one would have a hard time building a twenty-minute short around let alone a feature length film. Even at just 73-minutes this film really drags its feet with non-stop boring dialogue and an ending that is pretty disappointing as well. I'm really not sure what they were trying to do with this thing but perhaps they just wanted to make a film around this teenaged character in hopes that more films could follow. Whatever the reason, there's not enough story here to carry the picture and after a good opening sequence showing the murder, we're then treated to a bunch of scenes with people talking on and on about stuff that just isn't all that interesting. This includes the creepy David Wheeler (Richard Conte) and his attraction to the young girl. The Annie Jones character has some interesting things about her, including the sleepwalking, but nothing ever really comes to life. The performances are good for the most part with Conte and Joyce Carey doing a nice job. Annis was very much good in the role and she's certainly watchable but it's too bad she wasn't given more. Director Reginald Le Borg (THE BLACK SLEEP) can also take some of the blame as the film looks pretty flat and there's just no energy to be found in it.

The scenes which should be good are, in terms of suspense or supernatural but they are few and far between and the rest has the always good Richard Conte showing off how badly miscast he is here as a "stud" who has gotten himself into trouble with too many women. Yes Conte is a bit too old for the part but he's miscast anyway--typical of an American name being crammed into a story they don't fit into in an UK production.

I didn't know who Francesca Annis was as I watched this film but soon she stood out at the best thing in the movie and, looking her up, I had indeed seen her in much film work and she's still working.

The best non supernatural scene is sort of a Lolita scene with Conte--if all the sexual tension scenes worked like this one this would be a better movie.

Buxton Orr contributes a good score, but they should have let him score the dialogue scenes. He's an unusual modern composer and his choices of instruments is effective.

The direction is flat much of the time, though the séance type sequences work well, helped by Annis and by the music.

The main fault must be the script way way too much talking and the talk is either romantic bickering or police procedural---both movie killer filler.

The structure is one of suspense not mystery but the story is all talk and not enough actual suspence scenes--there is really one longish set piece scene which is a highlight. There needed to be more such scenes.

This would be a good 30 minute episode for Twilight Zone or Hitchcock's show and feels like a padded version of a TV idea. In fact the story source Henry Sleasar who did write for Hitchcock's TV series.

Final "chase" sequence is flatly and cheaply done.

So when it's good it's good but you should probably fast forward through any 3 plus minute long dialogue scene which far out number the supernatural ones.

The Eyes of Annie Jones is a quirky film, not strong on suspense but interesting in its own right. A woman is murdered in a small UK town and the body hidden. Her Aunt Helen requests the presence of the woman's brother and his wife, as she feels foul play is afoot. The Aunt then enlists the aid of a psychic yet troubled teenage orphan, Annie Jones, to help locate the missing woman. Conflict ensues.

Though described elsewhere as a whodunit, the murderer is revealed in the opening scene and the full motives well before the ending. The drama instead comes from the way in which the mystery is solved and through the interactions of the characters, often in oddly forced histrionics. Pacing is also an issue... slow and awkward throughout with stiff staging. This is offset some by the eerie score and the not always predictable story.

The cast is entirely English, save for the bizarrely miscast Richard Conte as David Wheeler, the ne'er-do-well brother of the murdered Geraldine. His New York personality is explained away through weak exposition, as he was shipped off by his father to America at an early age. Otherwise the acting is acceptable, though truly weird at times thanks to extreme character reverses and forced dialog. These moments, for me, were almost brilliantly surreal, though surely unintended.

Veteran actress Francesca Annis is the highlight of the film, as the psychic orphan Annie Jones. Her working class accent comes and goes at random, but her psycho-sexual intensity and erratic personality shifts make up for other failings. The paranormal occurrences are unfortunately few, and in particular the trance scenes seem lifted from another, better movie. But it's through her character that the film gains a creepy edge.

Overall a periodically intriguing B-movie curiosity. If you can get past the miscast lead, slow pace, weak dialog moments, unmotivated character shifts, etc., then worth a look.