Four Sided Triangle

Early Hammer film before they hit upon the idea that horror was the way of the future. This one is a sci-fi effort about two young scientific geniuses who invent a duplicating machine; they both are in love with the same girl but she is in love with just one of them, so the other lovesick boffin asks her if he could make a duplicate of her. That'll save the day and make everybody happy, right? Wrong! This love triangle plus duplicate is the four sided triangle of the title. I suppose the sci-fi is more of a maguffin that allows the story to explore human emotional elements. Its not a bad effort really.

Now here's a film that should appeal to anyone who's ever found him/herself in the unwanted third of a classic love triangle. What to do if you're that unfortunate third wheel? Well, if you're Dr. Leggat, in "Four Sided Triangle" (1953), and you've just perfected your revolutionary duplicating device, you put your gal in it, make yourself a knockoff copy and hope for the best. But things go a tad awry in this very clever tale... I've gotta tell you, I really did enjoy this movie. With its small cast of characters, beautiful B&W photography, imaginative camera angles and laboratory setting, it almost suggested a British variant of an old "Outer Limits" episode. But this is in truth a Hammer film--their first sci-fi outing--and directed wonderfully by Terence Fisher, who would go on to many more successes for this legendary studio. The film is very well written--almost, dare I say it, literately written--extremely well acted and tightly scripted. Yes, it was cheaply made, but somehow everything still looks fine, particularly the impressive lab equipment, and the DVD here is as crisp and clean looking as can be. This cautionary tale on cloning turns out to be a real little gem, and deserves a wide audience. The Maltin book inexplicably gives it a "BOMB" rating, but "DVD Delirium," another wonderful film guide, sings its praises. In this case, I think the Maltin book has got it all wrong. See for yourself...

Bill and Robin are scientists, and rivals for the affection of Lena (played by Barbara Payton-- being the love interest of two men is basically the same role she played in "Bride of the Gorilla"- 1951). It's amazing what two scientists can do, in a barn they bought and converted into a workshop, and with only £2,000 for research funds. They create a machine called a "Duplicator," a.k.a. a "Reproducer," with 2 identical pods, (much like would be used in "The Fly"- 1958). This can "convert energy into matter" (more on that next paragraph). At first they make an exact replica of a watch, then another small object. The plot thickens: Robin marries Lena. Even though Bill could create copies of anything in the world-- gold, rubies, rare drugs, radium-- Bill only wants to create another Lena. The Duplicator has only worked on inanimate objects; Bill modifies it so it can make perfect duplicates of small animals. Oddly enough, Lena agrees to be duplicated. So now we have Lena, and her duplicate Helen. But, since Helen is a perfect copy, she too is in love with Robin! What will the lovesick Bill do now? A hokey, no-budget movie, typical of 1950s flicks with pseudo-science and trite plots. It's curious that even though inventor Bill can be a genius at science, he is a knucklehead at love.

The theme of this movie reminds me of lyrics to the song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits-- "Money for nothin' and your chicks for free." The Duplicator seems to create things: effortlessly, cost-free, and out of thin air, sort of like Barbara Eden did in "I Dream of Jeannie." Oh, they say that the matter "is created from energy." According to Einstein's equation, "E equals m c-squared" you can convert matter into energy (a lot of energy). In an atomic explosion, about one gram of matter (Uranium-235) will turn into the energy of 18-kilotons of TNT. This works both ways. You could theoretically convert energy into matter-- but then, it would take the energy of an 18-kiloton atomic bomb to produce one gram of matter! So it would take about the energy of 450 atomic bombs to create one pound of matter. Since Helen weighs over 100 pounds, you would need the energy of 45,000 atomic bombs to create that much matter. Wouldn't it be easier for Bill to try a dating service?

Years after it first came out in the United Kingdom I remember seeing Four Sided Triangle on a double bill in America. It was one of those films I never forgot. I didn't know at the time it came from the celebrated British company Hammer Pictures which gave us usually a more gory type of science fiction.

When cloning was finally achieved I remember that this was the first film I remember discussing the possibility which was fact in this film. For all the science fiction involved at heart Four Sided Triangle is a romantic and tragic film which begins in childhood of the protagonists.

Children who grow up to be Barbara Payton, John Van Eyssen, and Stephen Murray are seen and its plain early on that Murray will be the odd man out in this group. Payton is the object of their affections, Van Eyssen is the son of the local squire and Murray the abused son of the town drunk. Fortunately for him the town doctor James Hayter takes an interest in Murray and Hayter narrates the film in flashback and it is through his eyes we see what unfolds.

Both Van Eyssen and Murray go to college and study science and they perfect a 'duplicating' machine that can just duplicate inanimate things out of air. Good possibilities there. But Murray who pines for Payton wants to go further. She's married Van Eyssen, no fool she as he's got money and position. But Murray with the help of a reluctant Hayter experiments on living matter and then goes for the ultimate experiment. Amazingly enough Payton agrees to be duplicated.

I can't go any further, but I'm sure your mind boggles with all kinds of alternative endings. The two Paytons are named Lena and Helen and I will say there is something that Murray forgot in all his experimentation.

Four Sided Triangle while done on the cheap is a sensitively made film with good performances from the cast and will make you think about the issues of cloning.

**CAUTION: HUGE SPOILERS** In a rural English community, two friends called Bill (STEPHEN MURRAY) and Robin (JOHN VAN EYSSEN) invent a 'reproducer', a piece of scientific equipment which can recreate any object. They are aided in their work by Dr Harvey (JAMES HAYTER), the local GP and a close friend of theirs since they were children. During the celebrations of their fantastic discovery, Robin announces that he is to marry Lena (BARBARA PAYTON), a beautiful woman who both friends have fancied since they were children. Devastated, Bill decides to use the reproducer to create a clone of Lena for himself. However, as the clone is an exact replica, she shares the same thoughts and feelings as the real Lena.

FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE is an absurd but nevertheless enjoyable science-fiction melodrama. Along with STOLEN FACE (see my review), it is one of the very few films from this chapter in the history of Hammer and Terence Fisher to indicate the direction that the company would take when they became Britain's best horror studio. Both pictures share the same theme of a well to do man perverting his skills in order to win the affections of the woman he loves. For example, in STOLEN FACE, Dr Philip Ritter used his knowledge of plastic surgery to recreate the face of concert pianist Alice Brent on a deformed petty criminal because he couldn't marry Alice because she was already spoken for. The very same reason why Bill in FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE felt compelled to use his scientific invention to duplicate Lena. Also both Dr Ritter and Bill were so obsessed in their love for women that they were both unable to see that disastrous consequences could result. Both characters from these two early movies are comparable to Baron Frankenstein in Fisher's THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Even though Frankentein was more concerned with bringing the dead back to life than with his love life, he also was too oblivious to the certain doom that faced him when his creature became a criminal lunatic and he intended his creature to be perfect very much as Bill and Ritter intended theirs to be. FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE must also be the only b-picture in cinema history to have the courage of it's own lunatic convictions. This is thanks largely to Terence Fisher who opts to emphasize the causes and consequences of the characters' actions and the moral outcome as well. For instance at the end of the film the screen is filled with a biblical quote "You can either have joy or power you shall not have both". This follows the climax where Bill and one of the Lena's perish in a fire. However, one of them survived and the only way to judge between the clone and the real Lena was by a scar on the back of the latter's neck. Robin is overjoyed when its the real Lena, his wife, who has survived. This is the significance of Fisher's biblical quote. Robin had been tempted by power, but once the machine was destroyed in the blaze, his one opportunity for power was lost but he still had his wife and therefore he had joy but not power. This very much sets the standards for Fisher's skill as a director, whereas most of his films from this period such as MASK OF DUST or SPACEWAYS have nothing to commend them at all. In his best films for Hammer, he had that ability to take a ridiculous storyline and give it conviction by placing attention solely on his characters and the consequences and morality of what could happen if such things did occur in the world. The cast sensibly play it straight and all are suited to their roles with James Hayter shining as Dr Harvey who aids the men in their experiments but at the same time warns them of the dangers they face. John Van Eyssen who was later the head of Columbia Pictures would appear as Jonathan Harker in Fisher's classic Dracula (1958).