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Troy Donahue plays a most unusual role. In "My Blood Runs Cold", he plays Ben...a man obsessed with Julie (Joey Heatherton) and insists they knew each other in a previous life. The closest thing to proof is a locket with a portrait of Julie's great-great grandmother who apparently was the spitting image of her. But he insists they are destined to be together forever...which really creeps out Julie's father as well as her boyfriend. Inexplicably, Julie falls for Ben...and you can't help but think she's in for trouble as Ben is most likely psychologically imbalanced. Again....this is most unusual for Donahue as he usually played heartthrob roles that were a bit bland. Here, he's anything but bland!

So is it any good? Yes...but not great. One big problem I have about the story is that Julie comes from a rich family who is worried about Ben. Yet, they never have a private investigator look into who he is...had they even done a quick examination of his past, they would quickly learned the truth. A minor problem is that Julie is a really annoying character--impulsive and selfish. Heatherton's acting, especially at the end, was 'different'. So, worrying about her character's plight isn't very likely. Making her character more naive, less whiny and more likable would have helped the film. And, the ending was...well...a bit weak (that's putting it nicely!). Apart from these things, it's not bad and Donahue is a bit better than you'd expect. Worth watching mostly because it's different.

Plot—A polite but obscure young man gains entrée into a wealthy household by claiming he and the family's daughter are reincarnations of past lovers. He's got just enough family secrets to lend some credence to the outlandish claim.

For a psychological thriller (why else the title) the film never achieves needed menace. Frankly the role is outside actor Donahue's limited range. Here he comes across more as a blandly mixed up beach boy than anything psychopathic. Thus the narrative unfolds rather than rivets. Heatherton is okay as the object of Gunther's (Donahue) obsession; at the same time, I almost forgot my Gidget flashbacks during the beach scenes. Actually I was most impressed with the unknown Coaster as the buttoned-down attorney, Harry. His sudden turnabout in that showdown scene with Merrivale (Sullivan) is impressive. Harry goes from a passive yes-man to a razor sharp critic in a scene that is both well scripted and acted, and may very well be the film's best.

Too bad RKO of the late 40's didn't get the project first. For b&w photography, they would have known what to do with noir material like this. Here the narrative is unfortunately filmed in flat style, at the same time the direction remains largely impassive. Consider what Anthony Mann or John Brahm could have done with, say, the boyish Robert Walker of Strangers on a Train (1951) as Gunther. Perhaps that's not very fair. But considering the potential this film shows, some such comparison is irresistible. Anyway, Donahue's rather sad career again shows the hazards of Hollywood. After all, like many youngsters, his brief moment depended more on youthful good looks than on talent. Too bad he didn't transition into a post-Hollywood career or marriage as many of his peers managed to do. All in all, I prefer to remember him from A Summer Place (1959) rather than for this obscurity.

(In passing--The topic of reincarnation briefly seized public attention in 1956 when a Colorado housewife, under hypnosis, claimed to be a reincarnation of an Irish girl, Bridey Murphy, from a century earlier. Apparently, the housewife had the brogue down pat and was just convincing enough to invite serious attention. For a while, many folks were undergoing hypnosis to maybe investigate their own previous lives. Anyway, the fad soon died out, but, for better or worse, I'm reminded of it by this movie.)

There are a lot of things to enjoy about this film. When I first saw the low 5.6 rating, I figured that this must be in part due to several people who are comparing this film with Troy Donahue's romance drama films such as 'A Summer Place', 'Parrish', and 'Susan Slade'. Some of the reviews that focus less on this film help to prove my point about this.

Ben Gunther (Troy Donahue) has the seductive characteristics of a homme fatale who puts forth an over-the-top story that initially causes skepticism from Julie Merriday (Joey Heatherton), but this gradually takes a backseat to the hypnotic attraction she has for him. Some of the intimate scenes between Donahue, who slightly resembles Chris Hemsworth in some camera angles, and Heatherton are some of the sexiest I've seen in a film in a long time. Heatherton appears very comfortable in this genre that unfolds a mystery and I really enjoyed her natural style of acting. In the scenes where Ben (Donahue) is alone experiencing emotional and physical anguish, I couldn't help but think about art imitating life as this would have been near the end of Donahue's career with Warner Brothers, and appears to be a bit of a foreshadowing of him drinking more heavily, becoming bankrupt, and losing his home. Despite the eventual and unfortunate circumstances surrounding Donahue's real life, his chemistry with Heatherton is excellent here and you truly believe the attraction that the two have for each other in their scenes. This is particularly the case in the scene inside the boat where they kiss, and Heatherton slides her hands through Donahue's messy blond locks. Very hot!

The entire cast, in fact, has great character chemistry and what we learn about how the characters feel about each other, whether confidentially or through open confrontation, offers some nicely paced dramatic scenes. Actors Barry Sullivan (born 1912) and Jeanette Nolan (born 1911) are within a year apart from each other in real life and it was nice to see their roles as brother (Julian Merriday) and sister (Aunt Sarah). Oftentimes, in films throughout the 1940s to the 1960s, you had actresses in their 40s and older playing mothers of actors who were the same age as them in real life, so it was refreshing and believable to see these actors as sibling characters. I agree with all the other reviewers commenting on Jeanette Nolan giving a standout performance (interesting tidbit from the IMDb credits for Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' is that she is one of three uncredited actors of the voice of Norma Bates). There's a scene with her and Julian (Sullivan) where she comments on the rocky relationship between him and his ex-wife Marian, who is said to have left him due to his temperament, and is pushing his dysfunctional and alienating relationship with Julie in the same direction where he may lose her as well. The scene is one that provides context of the history of their family dynamic and nicely balances the narrative so that the supporting characters are also given multi-dimensional importance within the film.

For fans of Troy Donahue who've seen 'Susan Slade', you will likely recognize and enjoy the beautiful scenery and coastlines of the Monterrey Peninsula in California that were also seen in that film. For fans of the cinematography and location shooting found in film noir and neo noir, there is a very enjoyable chase sequence at a salt mine in nearby Marina, California, as well as some wonderful long shots and pans of the Santa Cruz Harbor (acting as the Merriday Marina that the Merriday family dedicates to the people of Dolphin Bay). The well-cast two blond leads along with their relaxed attire, Donahue's snug-fitted white pants (which almost appears to be a trademark if you've seen his other films), and the bright sunlight in many scenes give the film a relaxed viewing experience while also keeping you engaged with the narrative. The black and white format really allows the higher key lighting to show off the summery sunlight more so than if you had multiple saturated colours competing with one another in a colour film. To me, it all works well in black and white to emphasize an organic and picturesque coastal California lifestyle.

Overall, enjoy the film. Don't compare it to Troy Donahue's performances in the brightly coloured romantic dramas of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Enjoy those when you're in the mood for them. But when you're watching this film, don't try to take it too literally and cerebrally - just enjoy the experience.

If you go in with your expectations adjusted to the fact that the stars of this are Troy Donahue and Joey Heatherton, hardly renown for their thespic abilities, then you should enjoy this rather overwrought drama that wants to be a thriller but isn't very chilling at all.

Troy shows up out of the blue when heiress Joey almost runs him down and is transfixed from the beginning telling her she's the reincarnation of his long lost love, Joey's great, great grandmother. This gives her understandable pause until he shows her a locket of the woman that Joey is a dead ringer for, apparently they had bottle blonds in the 17th century! It doesn't get any more believable from that point on but if you like 60's potboilers this has its charms.

Jeanette Nolan as Joey's aunt who knows most if not all the secrets gives the best performance and her hairpieces have to be seen to be believed! One is so mountainous that it's bigger than her head!

A great deal of fun in an over the top ridiculous kind of way.

I put chiller in quotes, because this is just not thrilling or chilling in any way, It needs to be edited down (almost 2 hours for a thin plot), and the writing and the direction needed to be scaled back -- too much scenery chewing and yelling.

But there are some fun compensations.

The director, William Conrad, was better known as a radio actor, and the small parts of this movie are filled with veteran radio performers: Jeanette Nolan, Howard McNear, Ben Wright, Barry Sullivan, and even Conrad's voice turns up as the helicopter operator towards the end. If you listen to old radio shows, this is a bit of a treat.

The fashions are....well, Jeanette Nolan must be seen to be believed. Her hair is tortured into some demented structure in every scene. One dinner scene has her sporting a tower of hair that Marie Antoinette would have envied. Then there is the part where she has her hair in braids like a coronet, this is the scene where she stays up all night long to make sure that her niece is okay. Bright and early, the next morning, her hair is piled up like a castle battlement with curls and ruffles with an incongruous pony tail sticking straight out the back. When does the woman find the time to do her hair? Does she have a fully staffed beauty salon in her bedroom, or does the long suffering butler (the only servant we ever see) do the hot curler thing in addition to everything else? Her costumes are also flowing caftan like things made of satin. Who really dressed like this? Sorry to go on so much about the clothes and hair, but it was absolutely fascinating, in a bizarre way.