Hysteria

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), as is well documented, inspired dozens if not hundreds of imitation psychodramas from virtually every studio on the globe. Hammer Films in England turned out several one-word, black-and-white psychological thrillers in the early 1960s. For the most part these were intelligent, well-made, but surprisingly sedate films from the studio that shocked the world box-office with their bloody takes on the classic horror titles, such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (1958). Former cinematographer Freddie Francis directed three of the Hammer psychological thrillers, Paranoiac (1963), Nightmare (1964), and Hysteria (1965), all of which were also written by Hammer mainstay Jimmy Sangster. Hysteria is probably the lesser of the three, although it offers some fine character studies, some pre-Blow-Up (1966) glimpses of the Swinging London fashion scene, an extended flashback sequence loaded with revelations, and a few unforeseen plot twists (hidden by predictable ones). As Hysteria opens, American Chris Smith (Robert Webber) wakes up in a London hospital following a devastating car crash. Now four months into his recovery, he suffers from amnesia and is being treated by Dr. Keller (Anthony Newlands) and his nurse Gina McConnell (Jennifer Jayne). Keller tells Smith that an anonymous benefactor has been paying for his medical treatment, and upon being discharged, Smith finds that he has a luxury apartment to stay in as well. The apartment building is otherwise empty, however, so the arguing voices that Smith hears through the wall may be specters, or perhaps the hallucinations that Dr. Keller warned him about. Smith has a torn photo of a model found on him at the crash site and investigates the girl. He also hires a private investigator named Hemmings (Maurice Denham) to discover the identities of his benefactor and the woman in the picture. Smith's own detective work leads to a London photographer, Marcus Allan (Peter Woodthorpe), who tells him that the model he seeks was murdered – by stabbing - in a shower. At the apartment building Smith encounters the wealthy Denise (Lelia Goldoni), who claims to be his benefactor. She says that her late husband decreed that Smith be given anything he requires, although she does not know the reason. Smith's possible hallucinations continue as he sees a murder victim in a shower in the still-under-construction apartment next to his. By 1965 the psycho drama genre was losing box-office steam; in America it had been well played-out by such offerings as Robert Aldrich's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), and by William Castle's Homicidal (1961) and Strait-Jacket (1964). Hysteria received scant critical notice, at least in the U.S. Howard Thompson, writing in the New York Times said that Hysteria "...has been slung together with such bland lethargy that a fairly workable plot is all but snuffed out of focus." He calls the film "mediocre" but admits that the twists aren't entirely predictable, saying "it's easy enough to guess half of the whodunit denouement. Just try for the whole answer." Of the cast, Thomson writes that "[Robert Webber's] entanglement in a gory murder involves a sinuous brunette, a gentle-spoken doctor, a rather frayed detective and a spunky nurse. And by a small miracle Maurice Denham and Jennifer Jayne, as the last two, manage to be excellent. But it's not nearly enough to save Hysteria." Director Freddie Francis continued to make horror films well into the 1970s, often for Hammer's chief rival, Amicus Productions. Here, Francis turned out several very entertaining anthology movies, such as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Torture Garden (1967), and Tales from the Crypt (1972). Beginning in 1980 Francis returned to cinematography, first with The Elephant Man (1980), directed by David Lynch. He won his second Oscar® for cinematography for Glory (1989); his first had been for Sons and Lovers (1960) almost 30 years previous. Producer: Jimmy Sangster Director: Freddie Francis Screenplay: Jimmy Sangster Music: Don Banks Cinematography: John Wilcox Supervising Editor: James Needs Production Design: Don Weeks Cast: Robert Webber (Chris Smith), Anthony Newlands (Dr. Keller), Jennifer Jayne (Gina McConnell), Maurice Denham (Hemmings), Lelia Goldoni (Denise James), Peter Woodthorpe (Marcus Allan). BW-85m. by John M. Miller