The Hypnotist (1957)

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Director:

Montgomery Tully

Writers:

Falkland L. Cary (play)
Montgomery Tully (writer)

Release Date:

7 February 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

MURDER BY REMOTE CONTROL!

Plot:

A test pilot is injured in a plane crash, following which his fiancee takes him to a psychiatrist. The...

Plot Keywords:

Psychiatrist | Pilot | Murder | Hypnosis | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Paul Carpenter	...	Valentine 'Val' Neal
Patricia Roc	...	Mary Foster
Roland Culver	...	Dr. Francis Pelham
William Hartnell	...	Inspector Ross
Gordon Needham	...	Detective Sergeant Davis
Edgar Driver	...	Atkins, the porter
Tom Tann	...	Wang, the houseboy
Ellen Pollock	...	Miss Barbara Barton
Robert Sansom	...	Senior Test Flight Official
Martin Wyldeck	...	Dr. Bradford
John Serret	...	Dr. Martin
Oliver Johnston	...	Dr. Kenyon
Kay Callard	...	Jazz Club Blond
Tim Fitzgerald	...	Val as a boy
Mary Jones	...	Val's Mother

Also Known As:

Scotland Yard Dragnet (USA)

Runtime:

73 min | UK:89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18755)

Company:

Merton Park Studios

"You're the nicest person I know. You're the only person I know!"

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Aka Scotland Yard Dragnet (a slight oxymoron as it features neither a police dragnet nor, till the final part of the film, anyone from Scotland Yard.)

Val Neal (Paul Carpenter) is a pilot who ejects after a test-flight goes wrong. "He'll break his neck at that speed" exclaims some bod at ground control. We see, potentially, a dead man floating on a parachute, lord of the flies style. Carpenter isn't dead though (it's just his acting – bum tish!) although he suffers fits; blackouts which he's unaware of. These are hilarious to watch - all phoney hyperventilation and swooping orchestral soundtrack. This is all consistent with a general bemusement about mental illness. When his fiancé (Pat Roc) is informed that his illness is psychosomatic, she replies: "What does that mean?" Pat brings in her uncle (Roland Culver), a sort of psychiatrist/ hypnotist, to treat Carpenter; although his treatment appears to involve having Wang the houseboy serve up cigars and fortified wine in the smoke-filled library.

Pretty soon we realise that something's amiss – not so much with the patient but with sinister Dr Culver; his intimate questions reveal a less than wholesome interest in his niece. Thrown into the mix is annoying bitch Miss Barbara Barton – "she writes lurid love stories and sells them by the hundred thousand" – who Culver strangles before offering Carpenter up to the cops (she's the doc's ex wife).

In the meantime, Carpenter has wondered off round London, still hypnotised, and ended up in the Downbeat Club. It's all coke (no, not that kind) and coffees here but he still manages to get himself picked up – by a character billed only as Jazz Club Blond.

All in all, this film does for hypnotism what Reefer Madness did for marijuana.