The Strange Awakening

Recently read the book Puzzle For Fiends and was interested to see how this adaptation compared. The scene has been switched from southern California to the south of France, but the rich suffocating decor of the Friend's mansion is accurately conveyed and for a low-budget movie, veteran Wilfred Arnold's sets are notable. One of the characters describes the rest of the Friend family as fiends at one point, a play on words which accounts somewhat for the alternative title. Casting is excellent, but the script ignores the rivalry between the glamorous duo of Selena and Marnie and the question of who is the most devious, accounting for a considerable amount of tension in the book. And for such a wordy film the full significance of the importance of the poem reading before the hellfire cult leader for example, is not adequately put over. It's watchable, but the audience, the cast, and the art director deserved something amounting to more.

The idea behind "Female Fiends" is pretty good, but unfortunately it's not nearly as good as it could be because of poor writing. Good idea--poorly written. That's pretty much the film.

Lex Barker plays a man who awakens to find he has no idea who he is. He's told that he's the rich heir to an estate and his memory lapse and injuries (he's in a cast) are the result of an accident. However, it's pretty obvious to the viewer that this is not true. But why?! Why would a bunch of people suddenly try to convince a guy he's a member of their family?! After a bit, Barker is suspicious and begins to dig. It's a nice idea--but it resolved almost immediately after Barker begins to dig!! The film is 68 minutes long and should have been at least 80 minutes. It seems quick--rushed even. And, as a result, it's only a time-passer and no more. Sad...as the idea was pretty good. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't do much with the idea.

With films like this to his credit, it's surprising the name Montgomery Tully isn't better known. On the evidence of this and several others of his movies (Master Spy and Out of the Fog), Tully deserves to be ranked just marginally higher than the notorious Edward D. Wood. There's one important difference, though. Wood's films were so bad they're hilarious. Tully's are just bad.

Tully specialised in the cheap 'quota quickies' that did so much to damage the reputation of the British film industry, and Strange Awakening serves to illustrate exactly how that damage was done. It's dull, predictable, stagy, wordy, badly scripted and poorly realised in just about every department.

The film begins in France (oops, there goes the budget) where a man (Lex Barker) is saying his farewells to a woman in a preposterous hat (Monica Grey). Driving back from the airfield, Barker gives a lift to a hitchhiker (Richard Molinas) who subsequently attempts to steal his car. A struggle ensues and Barker rolls downhill, bumping his head on a tree and knocking himself out (this needs to be seen to be believed).

When he comes to, Barker's character is suffering from amnesia. He is in a luxurious house, where several women and a doctor (Peter Dyneley) are on hand to fill in the gaps in his missing memory. Barker is, it would appear, missing heir Gordy Friend, a well-known lush whose poet father is a leading figure in a temperance-styled society. Friend senior having recently died, 'Gordy' is required to sign a document and recite a piece of his father's intolerant verse in order to complete the transfer of the Friend estate. Ah, if only it were that simple...

To add further plot detail would be at the risk of 'spoiling' the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it (though it could be argued that Tully did a good enough job of spoiling the film himself, which consists mostly of protracted exposition and tortured plot contrivances). Whatever the merits of Hugh Wheeler's original novel (and I suspect they are few), Strange Awakening does not impress as a movie and would probably have been better left in out-of-print obscurity. Still, it's not likely to be bothering the TV schedules or DVD labels anytime soon, so you're unlikely to find your sleep disturbed by this turkey.

If you watch the trailer on the Network disc you will save yourselves about 77 minutes of boredom.There is so little action.When it does come it is filmed at night.Now that was fine if you were watching it in a cinema,but watching it on tv means you are peering at the screen.In any event the plot is a variation on a very old chestnut.

Peter Chance (Lex Barker) picks up the wrong hitchhiker, winding up in an accident. Upon awakening, he suffers from amnesia.

Somehow, he's now a zillionaire named Peter Friend. He's "married" to Selena (Carole Matthews) and lives in a huge mansion with his other "family" members. Peter thinks the whole setup is fishy, but everyone else keeps trying to convince him otherwise.

THE STRANGE AWAKENING is a conspiratorial suspense thriller. Barker is good in his confused role, and the twisty finale is satisfying. Is it the best movie of its type ever made? Well, no. It is enjoyable enough though...