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Physically, the charismatic and handsome Curtis (until he got into drugs and booze in the 70s) was nothing like Demara, a portly looking chap. The real Demara played a doctor in the horror film The Hypnotic Eye (1960) starring Jacques Bergerac and Allison Hayes. He has a scene tending to one of the women who disfigured herself on the order of the crazed hypnotist. Demara was a puzzling figure. He didn't do his impersonations for money or to harm anyone and the question still remains why he was compelled to become one of the most successful flim-flam man of the 20th century. Today with cameras, smart phones and social media, it would be impossible to fool so many institutions and people in person to the extent he did. The film was shot and lit well, and Mancini's score fluctuates between light and frothy and dark and dramatic. The use of black and white instead of color creates a distancing effect. No matter how dangerous and stupid Curtis's Demara behaves at different points in the film, his movie star charisma and the film's lighthearted approach to a possible sociopathic personality guarantees the audience enjoying his exploits and brushes aside the emotional damage he inflicted on the women he romanced. His attraction to the Catholic church is another puzzle the film does not investigate. The TV series The Pretender has a lead character who has even greater chamelonic powers than Fred.

The cinematography is great, as expected with Jack Cardiff directing. A lot of the shots are ingenious. The story, or lack of a story, is terrible. Denholm Elliot, usually an engaging actor, walks through the film in a sleepy state looking like he's waiting for direction. I can't blame him for that. Peter Lorre is his taxi driver, at least in closeups, and his wisecracking guide. The Cinerama filming is a real treat for me. I've seen several roadshow movies in Cinerama including Ice Station Zebra. Diana Dors has a way too short bikini cameo. The film should have been built around Dors in that bikini. Elizabeth Taylor, wife of the producer, pops up at the end.

The inspiration for this Jerry Gross exploitation movie was most likely the real life murders of 3 civil rights workers in 1964 Mississippi. In real life, the victims were male. In the 1965 film, the trio of two men, one white, one black and one attractive white girl played by Julie Ange are stopped and put through hell by a group of crazy redneck "law men." The guys are beaten mercilessly and the girl is raped in her jail cell by the sheriff (William C. Watson). Even though it's a crude, grisly exploitation movie, there's a true-to-life tone. I've been to Mississippi, one of the most backwards states in the USA, and found many of the smaller town folks were stupid, aggressive and racist, exactly as depicted in the movie. William Watson went on to a busy career in TV and films. Julie Ange and Arlene Farber (playing a very sexy "friend" of the sheriff) also starred in Gross' unbelievable epic of teenage angst, Teenage Mother.