La guerre des cerveaux

George Pal's/Byron Haskin's version of "The Power" (based on the good novel by Frank Robinson, not the baseball player) is actually pretty entertaining and thrilling despite the relatively poor production values - quite a bit of 1960s cheesiness - but still the cast of stalwarts gives it all and it is probably the best George Pal film after 1960's "The Time Machine." Acting kudos go to Michael Rennie, Aldo Ray (!!!) and even, who would have thought it, star George Hamilton. This is one of those films whose concept far exceeds its execution but I still feel somewhat generous as I remembered it fondly from my youth and seeing it about 30 years later found out that it held up pretty well.

And a great score by Miklos Rozsa too.

This thriller from director Byron Haskin and producer George Pal is a fairly understated effort considering some of their other features were "The Naked Jungle" and "War of the Worlds." The terror here is implied and there are precious few special effect sequences. The story concerns super intelligence, telekinisis and the ability to kill with thoughts. As one reviewer stated earlier, it will remind you of "Scanners."

Miklos Rosza's eerie score is quite effective in enhancing the tension and paranoia through the use of a hammer dulcimer. This instrument actually appears onscreen twice during the film.

As with all of Pal's features the photography in "The Power" is outstanding although the film does suffer a bit when cropped for television. Try to catch it on TCM in letterbox.

There are a couple of clever animation sequences that will remind you of Pal's Puppetoon shorts from the '40s.

"The Power" is a taut psychological drama that commands your attention throughout.

Although the setting is scientific, and I've seen this described as science-fiction, "The Power" is arguably a very early rationalisation/update of the superhero genre. In this case the person with the superpowers is a supervillain, the power is telekinesis, and no lycra longjohns are entered into, as the makers try to keep it as downhome and believably creepy as possible, except when 'the power' is being exhibited.

Basically the official scientific committee for Somethingorother is kind of audited by government agent Michael Rennie to see what they're up to. One of them, played as a crackpot movie scientist by old pro Arthur O'Connell, is convinced that research suggests that someone has Ee-vill telekinetic powers. Despite Artie being a crackpot, what do you know, it turns out that he's right on the money, and furthermore, they determine it's someone right there in the room. Soon folks who were in that room start dying in numbers, and in imaginative and unpleasant ways. (There's a scene in a centrifuge that appears to have been knocked off for one of the Roger Moore James Bond movies later on - "Moonraker" from painful memory.)

The key to it all seems to be a shadowy figure who was once known as Adam Hart. George Hamilton sets out to find who Adam Hart was, and who or what he became. We end up with a major case of the creeps, because it's one of those paranoid whodunnit deals where the audience isn't allowed to trust anyone (kind of reminiscent of the Kurt Russell version of "The Thing" in that way) not even Hamilton, or his girlfriend Suzanne Pleshette.

Director Byron Haskin and the actors don't give us any cosy characters to like. Everyone's cold, aloof, frenzied, crazy, or pathologically self-interested. This aspect is a bit reminiscent of Freddie Francis's better English horror films of the 60s, although "The Power" has a more measured, restrained creepiness than his films.

In that sense, George Hamilton's limitations as a kissy-face type leading guy are used to the film's advantage. I've always found George Pal's stuff a little creepy even when it was ostensibly fun happy stuff for kids, and his Puppetooning here fits right in.

Only disappointment is a fairly conventional resolution by comparison to what's come before. Other than that, "The Power" is memorable, and a bit of a one-off.

This interesting sci fi film stars George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette, and features some former stars/near stars who had seen better days: Yvonne DeCarlo, Richard Carlson, Aldo Ray, and Gary Merrill (in a real stepdown from All About Eve). Among the older stars, Michael Rennie has a larger supporting role. The cast, a good budget, and an intriguing script make for an entertaining film about the attempt of one megamind to ferret out who's a threat to him among a group of scientists. One of them has telekinesis, and after the murder of the whistle-blower, played by Arthur O'Connell, Hamilton tries to find O'Connell's old friend, whose name was written on a piece of paper, suspecting him of somehow being involved.

This is a neat drama, all the more interesting in seeing the young stars, Hamilton and Pleshette, play against the older Hollywood types.

This story was first televised live during the summer of 1956 on one of the high quality drama series that flourished during the 1950's. Perhaps it was The United States Steel Hour. I was an eleven year old kid at the time and was fascinated with the basic plot. I have searched for information about the original teleplay, but have been unsuccessful. Does anyone out there have any info on the TV broadcast of this story?

Several years later, I read Frank M. Robinson's novel, from which the two movies were made and enjoyed the 1968 film version. It had a terrific musical score, featuring a zither-like instrument played with felt hammers. George Hamilton did a fine job in the lead role.