Ahh, mystery movies that have trains in them. I dig 'em! Well, this one has a train for only a few minutes, but it's an excellent setup for what follows. The wealthy and beautiful Lorrie Benson is, apparently, trying to commit suicide as the movie begins. Passed out in her car, and strategically parked in the crosshairs of a train crossing, she is saved from demise by the dashing Jim Grayam (Jeffrey Hunter) without a second to spare. It doesn't take long for that "funky smell" of things may not be as they seem to be apparent. Grayam, after learning who he saved, takes on a bit of a hard tone made clear when he crashes into the Benson mansion to deliver the passed out Mrs. Benson. There's irony when we find out Grayam works for a company owned by Mr. Benson. Does Grayam know something we do not? And, anyway, who exactly is this wealthy magnate named Cort Benson(Dana Andrews)? Around five minutes in and, folks, we have the makings of a good "hook".
Being just shy of eight years old I remember Anne Francis from seeing her in Honey West on TV. She was a female James Bond type swapping a lot of his mystique of refinement for stylish beauty and "groovy" coolness. How could she not always get her man when even a pre-teen youth could see she had that "it" factor. As Lorrie Benson here she commands the same attention but with a damaged vunerability. Grayam, already projecting well founded paranoia, finds Cort Benson's reaction to his heroic actions only ramps up his suspicions. There's going to be more to this than a heroic act.
Brainstorm, directed by William Conrad, is a story of a man who seemingly does a good deed only to become ensnared in something diabolically menacing he believes he can outwit. The man, Jim Grayam, is suddenly seen as deranged genius, the opposite of the up and coming scientist he was before his kind act. Not that his actions don't perpetuate his downfall, he in fact plans it. He's definitely losing his control unknown to him. What follows, though often stretching credibility, never quite goes so wholly in that way keeping the viewer fairly rapt. Hunter's acting goes a long way in selling his crushing path to a cruel ending. All in all, a solid take on the newer kind of noir films which were getting often too selacious or campy catering to the booming drive-in fare. This one keeps to a tried and true genre much more. It deserves a look as such.
Being just shy of eight years old I remember Anne Francis from seeing her in Honey West on TV. She was a female James Bond type swapping a lot of his mystique of refinement for stylish beauty and "groovy" coolness. How could she not always get her man when even a pre-teen youth could see she had that "it" factor. As Lorrie Benson here she commands the same attention but with a damaged vunerability. Grayam, already projecting well founded paranoia, finds Cort Benson's reaction to his heroic actions only ramps up his suspicions. There's going to be more to this than a heroic act.
Brainstorm, directed by William Conrad, is a story of a man who seemingly does a good deed only to become ensnared in something diabolically menacing he believes he can outwit. The man, Jim Grayam, is suddenly seen as deranged genius, the opposite of the up and coming scientist he was before his kind act. Not that his actions don't perpetuate his downfall, he in fact plans it. He's definitely losing his control unknown to him. What follows, though often stretching credibility, never quite goes so wholly in that way keeping the viewer fairly rapt. Hunter's acting goes a long way in selling his crushing path to a cruel ending. All in all, a solid take on the newer kind of noir films which were getting often too selacious or campy catering to the booming drive-in fare. This one keeps to a tried and true genre much more. It deserves a look as such.
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