Curse of the Faceless Man

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Edward L. Cahn; Produced by Robert E. Kent; Executive proucer: Edward Small, for United Artists release. Screenplay by Jerome Bixby; Photography by Kenneth Peach; Edited by Grant Wytock; Music by Gerald Fried. Starring: Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara, Luis Van Rooten, Gar Moore, Felix Locher and Jan Arvan.

A cheapie in which a mummified Pompeiian stiff comes back to life with the aid of a magical amulet and proceeds to knock the folks dead. Features embarrassingly exploitative white nightgown and big jugs action.

Indeed, the title character of this patently ridiculous schlock feature does not have a face. Incased in stone, he was a slave named Quintillus Aurelius in the days of ancient Rome, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and caused the destruction of the city of Pompeii. He's discovered in modern times by archaeologists, and goes about crushing the skulls of people unlucky enough to merely be in his way. What he really wants to do is reunite with the long ago noblewoman he loved, who's conveniently been reincarnated as the movies' leading lady, Tina Enright (Elaine Edwards).

There's nothing particularly special here, but undemanding fans of low budget genre fare could find enough to keep them interested. It's cheaply made like so many other movies of its kind, and devotes too much of its time to exposition. There's also some pretty silly but endearing narration, which was spoken by the great and prolific character actor of the period, Morris Ankrum. The characters are entertaining (bravo to Felix Locher as Dr. Emanuel; he really looks like he's having fun reeling off that exposition). Edwards is a hell of a screamer, and both she and Adele Mara are definitely pretty ladies. Luis Van Rooten as Dr. Carlo Fiorillo and Jan Arvan as the requisite police inspector are solid. Richard Anderson is a jut jawed, decent enough hero as Dr. Paul Mallon, but man, oh man, is Paul a stubborn dummy. He remains hard headed and skeptical for too long.

In the end, this is an okay update of Mummy type stories, if not too memorable overall. Writer Jerome Bixby, producer Robert E. Kent, and director Edward L. Cahn truly hit paydirt with a subsequent joint effort, "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", the movie that many people regard as the principal inspiration for "Alien".

Six out of 10.

Watching CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN transports me back to the days of "Chiller Theatre" on Saturday nights. The premise of a man saturated with Egyptian embalming fluid and then sealed in volcanic ash and preserved by the radiation from deep within the earth is certainly an unusual one. (Notice how they sneaked "radiation" into the plot once again?) It is also a movie you have to think about. Quintillus "sees" through a sort of ESP and recognises the reincarnation of the woman he loved. Alas Richard Anderson is a little too hard headed as the hero. Even after he sees Quintillus alive he refuses to believe his fiancee could have had a past life as the stone man's beloved. Gar Moore, who had worked with Roberto Rossellini in the late 1940's, does not have much to do apart from spount some scientific jargon and looked concerned. Bravo to Felix Locher as Dr. Emmanuel. Mr. Locher, real life father of actor Jon Hall (Charles Locher) did not begin acting until he was 76. Look for him also in HELL SHIP MUTINY and in his most famous film, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER. The Faceless Man is played by Bob Bryant who usually did westerns. The narrator sounds a lot like Morris Ankrum, could someone tell me if it is really him? The "Museo di Napoli" is actually Griffith Observatory and a stretch of beach in Venice, California not Europe, stands in for the Cove of the Blind Fisherman. Okay so it is not full of CGI and the plot is predictable. We watch B-movies to have fun, right? So let's watch it have fun like we did when we were kids.

"The Curse of the Faceless Man" is a rather inconsequential yet enjoyable horror film from the 1950s. It stars Richard Anderson of "The Six Million Dollar Man" fame.

The story begins with a body and a box of jewels being found in the ruins of Pompeii. This isn't that unusual. But the body itself is silly because it looks exactly like the ones they have on display there...but those are actually plaster casts of the bodies which had long disintegrated. Inexplicably, this is supposed to be an entire person....and looks exactly like one of the casts. However, it holds a secret...it's not quite dead! And, it has a murderous appetite if anyone comes between it and his beloved...much like in the old classic horror film "The Mummy".

So is it any good? Well, I must say that the costume looked really good. As far as the plot and dialog go, they are, of course, quite silly. But many folks (like me) like schlocky old 50s horror pictures...and it's well worth seeing and reasonably entertaining. Far from perfect, and with needless narration, it's worth seeing if you like this sort of nonsense.

Not the Kafkaesque tale of dealing with beaurocracy the title suggests but actually a moronically enjoyable quickie about a marauding mummy.

Scripted by sci-fi veteran Jerome Bixby with a nod to the recent Bridie Murphy case it boasts cool location work on the California coast masquerading as the Bay of Naples, a jangling score by Gerald Fried and Adele Mara as a formidable lady scientist whose eyebrows look permanently arched in astonishment. As well they might.