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Escapement

Escapement (1958) Movie Poster
UK  •    •  80m  •    •  Directed by: Montgomery Tully, David Paltenghi.  •  Starring: Rod Cameron, Mary Murphy, Meredith Edwards, Peter Illing, Carl Jaffe, Kay Callard, Carl Duering, Roberta Huby, Felix Felton, Larry Cross, Carlo Borelli, John McCarthy, Jacques Cey..
       Jeff Keenan, insurance investigator, checks out the car-crash death of film star Clark Denver in the south of France. He learns that Denver, and two other victims of recent suspicious deaths, all knew the lovely Verna Berteaux... and all had been patients at a private psychiatric clinic, being treated by electronically induced dream therapy. But the deaths are only a byproduct of a sinister plot; and Zakon, owner of the clinic, is due to marry Jeff's old flame Ruth...

Review:

Image from: Escapement (1958)
Image from: Escapement (1958)
Image from: Escapement (1958)
Image from: Escapement (1958)
Image from: Escapement (1958)
"Escapement" was a disappointment to watch because it didn't live up to its original story source, its actors or its director. The story ideas have originality. The source novel from which it is drawn was original and could have been made into a fine movie. The actors here include good ones like Rod Cameron, Mary Murphy and Peter Illing. The director, Montgomery Tully, has done good work. But they were working with a low budget and a terrible script. The result is a badly edited movie that plays like a comic book.

A movie actor has crashed his car in southern France. Rod Cameron, insurance investigator, is sent to look into it. He discovers that the actor had been treated at a nearby clinic. He runs into an old flame, Mary Murphy, who is engaged to the mogul behind the clinic, Peter Illing. This whole romance angle and the relationships are executed in such a crude and undeveloped way that they lack credibility. In no time at all, Murphy is dumping Illing in favor of Cameron again.

The clinic treats its patients with infused dreams, but long-term treatments harm the brain and cause thrombosis. The actor was not the only death. The people in the clinic include an ex-Nazi doctor, but also two conscientious doctors. The whole mystery, such as it is, is made known very early in the movie. The French police and doctor doing the autopsy of the movie actor conveniently remain disengaged from suspicion about the clinic.

The unmotivated or badly motivated or badly connected activities of all concerned disengage us.


Review by msroz from the Internet Movie Database.