TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS

 

This is a 1973 British anthology horror film directed by Freddie Francis.....but it does not come from Amicus. World Film Services was so impressed with THE CREEPING FLESH that they allowed Francis to develop this project from a script by Jennifer Jayne, an actress who had worked for the director in a few of his other features. (For this movie Jayne was billed on-screen as Jay Fairbank.) 

The film features four tales, and the opening linking segment takes place at a mysterious clinic. A VIP (Jack Hawkins, dubbed by Charles Gray) arrives at the clinic to investigate the findings of a doctor (Donald Pleasence) who is working to verify the "reality" of truth. The doctor shows the VIP four different patients, and tells the reasons why they have been committed. 

The first tale is "Mr. Tiger". A young boy (Russell Lewis) is stuck with very argumentative parents (Georgia Brown & Donald Houston). The boy's only friend is a tiger, which only he can see....but the animal soon makes its presence known quite firmly. The next story is "Penny Farthing", which concerns an antique dealer (Peter McEnery) who receives an inheritance from an aunt that includes a penny farthing cycle and a framed picture of a ancestor called Uncle Albert. The portrait exerts a strange power over the dealer, forcing him to mount the penny farthing and go back in time when Uncle Albert was a young man. The dealer and his girlfriend (Suzy Kendall) try to fight this power. 

The third tale is "Mel". The leading character in this one (Michael Jayston) finds an unusual-looking tree in the forest, and proceeds to bring it into his ultra-modern home and set it up in his living room. His high-class wife (Joan Collins) isn't thrilled with the idea, especially since the tree has a bit of a resemblance to a human female. The wife grows jealous over the tree....but the hunk of wood isn't impressed with her, either. 

The final story "Luau", won't gain any accolades from Pacific Islander groups. A Hawaiian author (Michael Petrovitch) is charged by his dying mother to complete a pagan sacrificial ceremony in order to prevent his family from being cursed. The author's agent (Kim Novak) happens to have a teenage daughter (Mary Tamm) who is technically still a maiden, so......

I recently obtained a cheap DVD of TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS. I had never seen it, mainly due to the fact that I had never read anything positive about it. In tone and style it feels very much like one of the Amicus anthologies, and it has a fine cast, but none of the stories is all that noteworthy. The ending of each tale is very predictable, and the characters in them are not memorable. 

The one notable part of TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS is the tree segment. What makes the segment work is the idea that Joan Collins--one of the most blatant man-eaters in movies and TV--has to compete with a tree. That very idea is ridiculous, and Collins plays it as if she can't believe it either. At one point in the tale there's a dream sequence in which Collins is trapped in an expressionistic forest, as all sorts of branches and limbs reach out to attack her. The sequence is enlivened by some colored lighting effects, and it has a very Mario Bava-type of feel to it. What makes the sequence stand out even more is that, from my understanding, it is the tree that is having the dream! Unfortunately very little in the rest of the film stands out. 

In his book THE MEN WHO MADE THE MONSTERS, Paul Jensen included a chapter on Freddie Francis. In that chapter, Jensen states that Francis didn't even think that TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS was a horror film when he was making it, and that he also thought the movie was more of a dark comedy. According to Jensen, Francis added some retakes after the producers thought it didn't have enough of a horror element. TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS isn't all that scary--the viewer knows basically how each story is going to end--and it doesn't come off as comedic, sardonic, or ironic. (If those were the vibes Francis was reaching for, he missed by a mile.) 

The overall acting does veer toward hammy at times (was that part of the dark comedic element?). Seeing Kim Novak in a film like this is certainly unique (her role was originally going to be played by Rita Hayworth), but, like all the other characters in this movie, her part is underdeveloped. 

The linking story gets rather confusing at the end--there's even a suggestion that the stories didn't actually happen. Donald Pleasence does just enough to put over the idea that his doctor is probably crazier than his patients. 

I've no doubt that someday TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS will get the super-duper home video 4K treatment, with loads of extras trying to convince that this is an overlooked classic (there's plenty of other Golden Age of British Horror features that already have). Freddie Francis had already made a couple of the best British horror anthologies when he helmed this, but a lackluster air hangs over the entire proceedings. TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS is mainly for those who have the need to see every English Gothic film, and those who are fans of either Freddie Francis or Kim Novak.