Marée nocturne

Sailor on shore-leave meets and falls for a mysterious woman who works as a carnival mermaid on the California coast. Is she a neurotic or actually a descendant of the Sirens? Moody mystery isn't quite the thriller it was advertised as. It has a straightforward narrative and very few actual surprises, but there are surreal bits, a great beatnik party on the beach, terrific black-and-white cinematography, and handsome, pre-hippie Dennis Hopper at his most grounded and friendly (and polite!). The film hopes to absorb its audience by means of atmosphere and little red herrings, not big shocks. I admired the film, but it's not to every taste. **1/2 from ****

Released one year prior to the atmospheric, surreal horror classic "Carnival of Souls," "Night Tide" is a similarly bizarre film that radiates an odd effect. Johnny (a young Dennis Hopper) falls in love with Mora (Linda Lawson), a sideshow performer who might also be a mermaid with a penchant for murdering her lovers. The performances are adequate and realistic, with Hopper conveying a proper balance of lovestruck awe and confusion; Lawson is fittingly remote and enigmatic. Writer-director Curtis Harrington builds a fair amount of suspense and limits the action to several effective dream sequences, thereby retaining a surreal mood. Not as wild as Jack Hill's "Spider Baby," nor as subtly brilliant as "Carnival of Souls," "Night Tide" is a diverting in-between that's worth a look.

No need to repeat the plot or dwell on consensus points. A few remarks about the movie's significance might be helpful, however. Harrington's quirky little film was part of a larger independent effort in the early 1960's to break away from studio domination and commercial conformity. The movement came along in the wake of John Cassavetes' groundbreaking Shadows (1960), and also at a time when European films from Fellini, Bergman and the French New Wave, et al, were expanding audience perceptions. Shadows proved that audiences were ready for a more daring product than what Hollywood of the 50's was producing. Perhaps more importantly, Shadows showed that a quality feature-length film could be done on a small budget ($40,000), with a non-union crew, get commercially distributed, and be reviewed in major publications (Night Tide, I recall, managed a good review in mainstream Newsweek). One or more of these factors had long prevented emergence of an independent film movement outside studio bounds. But by the early 60's, times had changed.

Night Tide remains an oddity, sort of a blending of Shadows and Roger Corman with the ghost of Val Lewton hovering in the background. The ending is unfortunate, something of a loss of nerve given Harrington's overall imaginative approach. What impressed me then, and still does, is the director's visual style. Most every frame amounts to a well-composed visual treat, even when taking in the flat side of Santa Monica's ocean front. It's a measured, near- lyrical style, well suited at capturing the poetical side of horror a la Lewton—a dimension sorely missing from today's bloodfests. Anyway, the movie shows considerable promise; I'm just sorry Harrington slipped into obscurity, never developing into the career I think his talent deserved. Meanwhile, the movie furnishes a look-see into what was then a fresh movement in film-making.

Don't get me wrong... I don't think this is a great achievement in film making.

I stumbled across this movie on late night TV, back in the early days of UHF, when, at 13 or 14, it was very exciting to me to have new channels that were so low budget that they showed things that, in the light of mainstream, 3 channel, VHF programming, seemed very much like they were being beamed in from another galaxy.

Through the lens of adolescent angst that I saw it through, this is a movie about unbearable loneliness, brilliantly captured by Dennis Hopper, whose only way out of his loneliness is through a beautiful woman from another world that he can't fully understand.

Like Kabuki theater on Darvon, he moves through the shadows of this overfiltered dreamworld of seaside 1960. The real monster is loneliness, and unlike most horror movies, the monster wins this one.

The setting, the off season seaside resort (and it could have been any, not just Venice Beach) was perfect, being there by oneself is possibly the loneliest experience one could have, hinting at a livelier, fun=filled world that, because of time, is unattainable.

It represents to me, maybe the first "indie" film I saw and recognized as one, "indie" in the original sense of a movie that was not made to be a box office hit, but because someone HAD to make a movie about something they felt strongly about, or had an artistic vision that had to be shared. Many of the earlier examples of these movies found their way onto UHF, because they were cheap to rent. But they got me hooked, and as soon as I could drive, sought out the art theaters in nearby towns that showed what was then called "underground" cinema, Kenneth Anger, John Waters (pre-flamingoes) I am Curious (Yellow and Blue.) These films are not as enchanting to me now, but then, none of them ever lived up to Night Tide for me.

For sentimental reasons, this has always been, and will always be, one of my very favorite movies.

Fascinating study with great location and innocent performance by Dennis Hopper who looks about sixteen years old, but is actually in his late 20's. Linda Lawson is lovely and mysterious and it's always great to see Luanna Anders. I hope this film has some kind of cult following because it's so strange.

A 7 out of 10. Best performance = Dennis Hopper. This is on DVD now and fairly easy to find. If you're a Hopper fan, this is a must-see. Great black and white cinematography and eery feel the entire film that is unexplainable. This should definitely have a higher rating by IMDb voters (in my opinion).