Starring - Turhan Bey (The Mummy's Tomb, Babylon 5), Lynn Bari (Earthbound, China Girl), and Cathy O'Donnell (Perry Mason, Ben-Hur)
Release Date - 1948
Genre - Horror/Mystery
Tagline - "In his eyes...the threat of terror! In his hands... the power to destroy!"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
Over the course of the last week or so I've been fortunate to review some older horror releases. Typically, I review a lot of newer indie releases plus the rerelease of 70s and 80s genre titles from companies like Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow Video, Severin Films, and so on. It's not often that I get films much older than that but I've recently received some films from the 40s through the 60s thanks to Warner Bros. and The Film Detective. I've enjoyed my time in these forgotten decades and the films have been very entertaining even if I didn't care for the movie itself. I see each movie as an experience and seeing some of these older releases really is like opening a time capsule. Sometime back The Film Detective released the 1948 mystery horror film The Amazing Mr. X on blu. I had never seen this one before so I reached out to MVD for a review copy. Like always, I want to thank MVD and The Film Detective for sending this release over!
The film follows a window and her sister who is coping with the death of her husband. She is reluctant to date again and one night she thinks she hears her late husband's voice on the ocean breeze. When she goes out to investigate she meets a spiritualist who seems to know about her late husband. He cons her into a séance and other rackets to gain money from her. However, his gimmick is uncovered when the husband appears revealing he had faked his death. He blackmails the spiritualist to continue his con but soon his widow and her sister uncover both plots before getting the police involved.
The Amazing Mr. X had the look and feel I was really looking for. It's not often I get a classic horror film in with amazing atmosphere, tension, and that amazing score that has lost since been forgotten. However, the movie tries to overcomplicate things which doesn't work well in my opinion. It was a bit chaotic, messy, and underwhelming at times but it did have a few eerie moments that I enjoyed. The acting in this one is very enjoyable. The characters are very cliched but the cast does a fantastic job with what they were given. With that being said, there was several occasions where I was getting the characters mixed up with one another. It's not often that something like this happens but I do see it from time to time with old black and white films with generic characters. The story for this one has some great ideas that has the potential to be a chilling film that fit with the time. The 30s and 40s saw the rise in spiritualism during the wealthy and elite with a hotbed in L.A. It makes sense that a few genre films popped up with this being the basis for them. However, the chaotic spree of the story and the lack of memorable characters makes it difficult to follow. Finally, the film is moody and atmospheric but don't expect to find any blood and gore. The film is reliant on the story itself to get to the viewer instead of the deaths. Overall, The Amazing Mr. X is a dropped ball especially for it's time. The story could have been more welcoming of spiritualism and less like a petty crime film. I wanted to love it but I couldn't bring myself to it. The blu looks good and collectors will want to check it out but this is one film I cannot recommend.
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