For the first half hour as Mcshane takes the slow lane ( three days!) to Cornwall via country lanes through the West Country and staying at odd hotels the thriller appears to be a promising romp. He is haunted by his past crime and has the feeling he is being followed for a secret he unwittingly holds. Sadly as soon as he switches to a more nautical mode of transport when he ( finally) reaches the Cornish coast the plot gets rather ludicrous and samey..the hunter in search of unlocking the secret is also the hunted.
8 Reviews
Watch it for Ian McShane
Leofwine_draca11 July 2016
HIGH TIDE was originally made as a four-part serial for the British TV series ARMCHAIR THRILLER. The series was well known as being an anthology of spooky, mysterious thrillers, and HIGH TIDE certainly fits that bill. It's nowadays been repackaged as a film version without the episode breaks. For what is clearly a low budget production, this is a pretty watchable effort that gets by on the atmosphere alone. From the opening sequence in which the frequent score plays you know you're in for something mildly unusual; the music openly rips off Bernard Herrman's PSYCHO theme in much the same way as RE-ANIMATOR did a few years later.
The storyline sees ex-con Ian McShane driving through the English countryside and looking for some peace and quiet. However, characters from his past refuse to leave him alone, so he takes refuge on a yacht where he must face his problems head on. There's not much substance to this production, but there's style to spare and the coastal locations are very well utilised. In some ways this reminded me of Bernard Cornwell's seafaring thrillers, albeit with less action.
McShane has always been a favourite actor of mine and HIGH TIDE gets by on his charisma alone; the choice of having him do a voice over is a fine one given that he has one of the most characterful voices of any modern actor. However, the mystery aspects of the narrative are solid too, especially the ethereal female figures who come into and go out of the story. Sure, the tale is light on action and only really gets going in the last twenty minutes, but when the journey to that point is so watchable then it doesn't really matter.
The storyline sees ex-con Ian McShane driving through the English countryside and looking for some peace and quiet. However, characters from his past refuse to leave him alone, so he takes refuge on a yacht where he must face his problems head on. There's not much substance to this production, but there's style to spare and the coastal locations are very well utilised. In some ways this reminded me of Bernard Cornwell's seafaring thrillers, albeit with less action.
McShane has always been a favourite actor of mine and HIGH TIDE gets by on his charisma alone; the choice of having him do a voice over is a fine one given that he has one of the most characterful voices of any modern actor. However, the mystery aspects of the narrative are solid too, especially the ethereal female figures who come into and go out of the story. Sure, the tale is light on action and only really gets going in the last twenty minutes, but when the journey to that point is so watchable then it doesn't really matter.
Bernard Herrmann's music
fcasnette9 July 2016
Just saw this on TV.
Amazed that almost the whole music score is a plagiarism of Hitchcock's Psycho score by the great Bernard Herrmann.
It sounds as if whole sections have just been lifted from the soundtrack album.
I'm amazed Southern Television got away with it, unless they paid a royalty.
Or maybe just thought they were too small and insignificant to anyone to find out?
All those violins were unmistakable.
Amazed that almost the whole music score is a plagiarism of Hitchcock's Psycho score by the great Bernard Herrmann.
It sounds as if whole sections have just been lifted from the soundtrack album.
I'm amazed Southern Television got away with it, unless they paid a royalty.
Or maybe just thought they were too small and insignificant to anyone to find out?
All those violins were unmistakable.
Disappointing
otterman6214 April 2020
This appeared on the Talking Pictures channel as a "Thriller Film" with no indication it was originally a 4 part TV show. I like Ian McShane, but this was very disappointing, it took nearly 2 hours for nothing much to happen. Maybe its been edited badly but some of the dialogue was very poor and quite disjointed and there were enough holes in the plot to drive a bus through. I'm sorry I wasted my time.
Psycho Note for Note
stantheman196126 October 2016
Just watched these episodes screened as a full movie, Wasn't impressed at all Ian McShane certainly the only standout performance really, and that was tepid at best,
Of course the main issue for me was that i only heard the start of the movies music from my kitchen so i walked into my lounge fully expecting to see Janet Leigh taking flight, Only to be confronted by this dross, How the hell did they manage to pretty much note for note lift this from Psycho!!!!
Bernard Herrmann will be turning in his grave
Beggars belief it really does
Of course the main issue for me was that i only heard the start of the movies music from my kitchen so i walked into my lounge fully expecting to see Janet Leigh taking flight, Only to be confronted by this dross, How the hell did they manage to pretty much note for note lift this from Psycho!!!!
Bernard Herrmann will be turning in his grave
Beggars belief it really does
A good watch, but feels odd in comparison to other episodes.
Sleepin_Dragon12 August 2018
High Tide is a good watch, The mini series kicks off with a very decent first episode, it has a great deal of suspense and intrigue, it poses questions that will have you wondering and pondering. As has been mentioned if you're a Hitchcock fan, then this should grab your attention. Ian McShane is excellent in it, giving a very sincere, credible performance. The music is fantastic throughout. I will just highlight the feel of the episode, produced by Southern, it has a very different feel (along with Dead Man's Kit,) it may bear the same opening credits, but it does feel odd compared to other episodes, totally different feel, which is no bad thing by any means.
An enjoyable watch, 8/10
An enjoyable watch, 8/10
The only mystery is the music
malcolmgsw13 November 2016
It is difficult to understand why Southern TV decided to use the score of Psycho and then credit the music to Richard Hartley.It sounds as if the music from the actual film was used and presumably a royalty paid to Universal.The problem in using one of the most famous film scores is that it totally distracts from this feeble attempt at film noir set in the mean streets of Yarmouth.Mind you that is probably what they were intending so awful is the story.It is difficult to understand why Talking Pictures decided that this made for TV effort was worthy of screen time.I would far rather watch a thirties quota quickie than this tripe.
Superb retro-feel thriller taking the viewer back to the great movies of the film noir era; plus excellently atmospheric original music. Fans of Hitchcock will delight!
SceneByScene4 July 2014
Largely characterised by the excellent incidental music, this 1980 episode of the 'Armchair Thriller' TV series is a wonderful homage to films of the B&W era. Not to mention a superbly put together drama in itself.
"High Tide" is a 4-part - feature length - drama, starring a well-cast Ian McShane as an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary events, that lead the character down a path he never expected.
Well scripted & evenly paced over the 4 episodes, this is one TV drama to be recommended.
There is also a strong musical motif that runs throughout the drama. It is so prevalent in its selected moments - and in its repetition through the story - that it almost becomes a character in itself!, especially as in its style the arrangement so neatly depicts the genre that this TV 'movie' is clearly emulating. It ultimately flatters the films of a bygone era . . .
Within minutes of the first episode of this TV drama, I was just struck how strongly the melody & arrangement/orchestration were reminiscent of old B&W and film noir scores. I then realised that the lilt of the music was uncannily like the score from Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Psycho'. One could almost say that it is, nearly to the note, close to a copy of Bernard Herrmann's famous motif from the 1960 Hitchcock film. Sweeping violins, haunting melody, and all! This instrumental score to this TV drama is thus a superb homage to films of a different time. Which it was no doubt intended to be, considering its inclusion in the canon of works until the TV title of 'Armchair Thriller'.
To call the incidental music a 'score' would perhaps be pushing it, to be honest, as there is hardly more than this leitmotif. Nonetheless the instrumental accompaniment to the story provides the correct amount of atmosphere. It proves to be an elevation to the compositions of the great scores of the films of the 1940s & 1950s - by composers such as Miklós Rózsa, Bernard Hermann, Richard Addinsell, Dimitri Tiomkin, et al. Films like 'Spellbound', 'Intermezzo', 'Brighton Rock' . . . and other movie works of the era of David O. Selznick and the like. A brush with the past, then. A welcome 'retrieval' - just by using Richard Hartley's soundtrack - of those past films of thrilling suspense and magnitude.
It is, over all, a perfectly applied score, and really adds to the strength of this feature-length drama. Composed by Richard Hartley, the soundtrack is accurately placed at certain moments within the storyline: used just enough, but never too much. It is well suited to the genre of this drama; an apposite 'backing track' to the story.
Richard Hartley's music fits neatly with the style of this TV drama: a true psychological melodrama.
With an intermittent narrative by Ian McShane's character, that is heard over the film-play, this old-style chronicling device just serves to strengthen the connection with 'private eye' movies & other film noir tales. A man caught up in a mystery, being chased, in an experience way beyond that of his ordinary life . . . key components in a 1940s' thriller film, if ever there was one.
The story also includes other elements of old B&W movies: an innocent man being in the wrong place at the wrong time, unknown assailants, being suddenly drawn into the life of strangers; not to mention: damsels in distress, murder, suspect hitchhikers, beautiful ladies married to protective older men, mysterious organisations, enigmatic women, paranoia as to who is really who & what they want of him . . . All shades of a true Hitchcockian drama, or of a storyline springing straight from the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel! A great story, bigger in style & scope than the TV medium it was made for . . . And Ian McShane - in a rarely seen gem from his pre-'Lovejoy' days - is super as the lead protagonist. Believable in the role as both strong yet innocent, the viewer believes he would go thus far in his wish to help . . .
It is TV that is well worth a watch, if you can catch a rerun of this rarity. It more than nods its respect to old film melodramas. And now over 30 years old itself, we found this treasure being rebroadcast here in the UK on the Freeview channel 'Movies4Men'.
A plot full of intrigue, accompanied by a score that provides its full quota of ambiance to the drama. What more could an evening of good TV offer?!
"High Tide" is a 4-part - feature length - drama, starring a well-cast Ian McShane as an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary events, that lead the character down a path he never expected.
Well scripted & evenly paced over the 4 episodes, this is one TV drama to be recommended.
There is also a strong musical motif that runs throughout the drama. It is so prevalent in its selected moments - and in its repetition through the story - that it almost becomes a character in itself!, especially as in its style the arrangement so neatly depicts the genre that this TV 'movie' is clearly emulating. It ultimately flatters the films of a bygone era . . .
Within minutes of the first episode of this TV drama, I was just struck how strongly the melody & arrangement/orchestration were reminiscent of old B&W and film noir scores. I then realised that the lilt of the music was uncannily like the score from Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Psycho'. One could almost say that it is, nearly to the note, close to a copy of Bernard Herrmann's famous motif from the 1960 Hitchcock film. Sweeping violins, haunting melody, and all! This instrumental score to this TV drama is thus a superb homage to films of a different time. Which it was no doubt intended to be, considering its inclusion in the canon of works until the TV title of 'Armchair Thriller'.
To call the incidental music a 'score' would perhaps be pushing it, to be honest, as there is hardly more than this leitmotif. Nonetheless the instrumental accompaniment to the story provides the correct amount of atmosphere. It proves to be an elevation to the compositions of the great scores of the films of the 1940s & 1950s - by composers such as Miklós Rózsa, Bernard Hermann, Richard Addinsell, Dimitri Tiomkin, et al. Films like 'Spellbound', 'Intermezzo', 'Brighton Rock' . . . and other movie works of the era of David O. Selznick and the like. A brush with the past, then. A welcome 'retrieval' - just by using Richard Hartley's soundtrack - of those past films of thrilling suspense and magnitude.
It is, over all, a perfectly applied score, and really adds to the strength of this feature-length drama. Composed by Richard Hartley, the soundtrack is accurately placed at certain moments within the storyline: used just enough, but never too much. It is well suited to the genre of this drama; an apposite 'backing track' to the story.
Richard Hartley's music fits neatly with the style of this TV drama: a true psychological melodrama.
With an intermittent narrative by Ian McShane's character, that is heard over the film-play, this old-style chronicling device just serves to strengthen the connection with 'private eye' movies & other film noir tales. A man caught up in a mystery, being chased, in an experience way beyond that of his ordinary life . . . key components in a 1940s' thriller film, if ever there was one.
The story also includes other elements of old B&W movies: an innocent man being in the wrong place at the wrong time, unknown assailants, being suddenly drawn into the life of strangers; not to mention: damsels in distress, murder, suspect hitchhikers, beautiful ladies married to protective older men, mysterious organisations, enigmatic women, paranoia as to who is really who & what they want of him . . . All shades of a true Hitchcockian drama, or of a storyline springing straight from the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel! A great story, bigger in style & scope than the TV medium it was made for . . . And Ian McShane - in a rarely seen gem from his pre-'Lovejoy' days - is super as the lead protagonist. Believable in the role as both strong yet innocent, the viewer believes he would go thus far in his wish to help . . .
It is TV that is well worth a watch, if you can catch a rerun of this rarity. It more than nods its respect to old film melodramas. And now over 30 years old itself, we found this treasure being rebroadcast here in the UK on the Freeview channel 'Movies4Men'.
A plot full of intrigue, accompanied by a score that provides its full quota of ambiance to the drama. What more could an evening of good TV offer?!
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
