Fiend Without a Face (The Criterion Collection)

Fiend Without a Face (The Criterion Collection)
by Arthur Crabtree

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Movie Reviews of Fiend Without a Face (The Criterion Collection)

Movie Review: Fiendish 50's Fun !!
Summary: 5 Stars

This was a film that gave me childhood nightmares after I first watched it one Saturday night on Chiller Theater in the early 60's. I didn't realize then, that this little low-budget film from the 50's was considered one of the best of the 50's british sci-fi's and compares to the best of the Quartermas films and easily out gores them. The Quartermas films (which were re-makes of the British t.v. series) starred Brian Donleavy and gave the fledgling Hammer Films its first taste of success. Hammer would later abandon science fiction for gothic horror and even greater success. Other independent British film-makers meanwhile were producing science fiction and horror films. Several were copy-cats of American films. The American, 'Beast from 20,000 Fathoms' was turned into the British film, 'The Giant Behemoth' a few years later. Giant Ants thrilled Americans in the classic THEM !, so why not use that idea in a low budget British film called 'The Cosmic Monsters' (with F. Troops Forest Tucker). Just as a flood of low budget horror films produced by AIP, Corman, Bert I Gordon (no relation) and others were being made, producer Richard Gordon was able to make a few films with Boris Karloff. First he made The Haunted Strangler and later he would make Corridors of Blood. He would then make a couple films with another American actor named Marshall Thompson. Thompson had appeared in several films including IT! The Terror from Beyond Space a low budget sci-fi creature feature which wound up being a major inspiration for Alien. Producer Gordon would make Fiend Without A Face and later First Man Into Space with Thompson.

The script for Fiend .... is by Herbert J. Leder and is based on Amelia Reynolds Long's story The Thought Monster, published in the famed pulp horror magazine WEIRD TALES way back in 1930.

Fiend Without A Face was produced by the British Richard Gordon, filmed mostly in England, set in Canada (close to the American Border), starred an American actor (Marshal Thompson), and wound up being distributed by MGM .

I won't spoil the film except to tell you the finale is a rather gory, gross-out which still packs a bit of a punch after all these years. The romantic aspects of the film are down-played and there is a wonderful subtext throughout the film for those who need a little more substance to savor.

There is a very familiar scene in the film where windows are boarded up against an onslaught of the crawling, leaping, flying creatures. You'll know exactly where George Romero got the idea for several of his most effective shots in Night of the Living Dead.

The finale' remains an impressive blend of effective camera work and revolting sound effects. Obviously the stop motion animation effects are quite primitive next to what is possible with CGI (Computers) today, but I still enjoy the other-worldly feel these type of Willis O'Brien/ Ray Harryhausen school of effects bring to the film. The special effects were the combined work of three people. Peter Neilson directed some second unit special effects set-ups in Canada , while Baron Von Nordhoff and K.L. Ruppell executed the stop motion animation work. For it's day it was state of the art and I'm sure grossed out the audiences of its day every bit as much (perhaps even more) then something like Hannibal grosses out audiences today. Critics in the late 50's in fact complained that the film was too gruesome and unpleasant!

The film is much better than your average 50's creature feature for several reasons. First, none of the acting is wooden or overly phony. Second, the brief romantic sub-plot does not side-track the film at all. It's handled in a far less corny and cliche'd manner than usual. The script is also better than you'd expect and has a minimum of corn-ball lines. Even the explanations of how these creatures came into existence is handled quite well. Oh there are dated elements to the film to be sure. The low budget of the film is also obvious in several ways. The military base security isn't very impressive for instance. The final solution is also amusingly naive but forgiveable when you take into the account the film was made in 1958-a time when the space age had barely begun and the real dangers of atomic radiation were still being discovered.

The film is a very economical 74 minutes long. It adheres to a well known formula but it remains a very effective film bereft of most of the flaws that plague low budget creature features of the 1950's. It's dated, but the script, acting, direction and effects are effective enough to entertain modern audiences. The director was Arthur Crabtree who began his career as a cinematographer and made films such as The Madonna of the Seven Moons (1944) and Horrors of the Black Museum (1959). Fiend with a Face isn't a film you watch and enjoy because of its high camp value but because it's still a suspenseful well done film.

It might seem rather remarkable that a low budget creature feature would get the full Criterion red carpet treatment--but it shouldn't. This is one of the finest examples of an effective and for its day quite controversial film that was imported from England. Suspend your disbelief, don't expect 1990's effects and have a wonderful time. You might even find the film is effective enough to give you a few chills. Really !!

Christopher Jarmick,is the author of The Glass Coccon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller.

Summary of Fiend Without a Face (The Criterion Collection)