Der Fall X701/Frozen Alive (1964)

It’s often difficult to judge other places because you’re often doing so by comparing it to where you live.  If you live in the south, you may see northern states as being cold in the winter.  Living in Florida, I might be envious of states that don’t get hurricanes as often, but other states have natural disasters of their own.  I don’t know that I could give up life in a major city.  The pace of a rural area wouldn’t appeal to me.

Likewise, when I judge movies of the past, I’m doing so against movies that have been released within my lifetime.   I’ve grown accustomed to a certain duration and pacing.  If I see a movie billed as a drama, I expect it to last a little over two hours.  When I saw the description of Frozen Alive, I expected one thing.  When I watched it, I got something completely different.

The back of the box described a movie where a scientist freezes his own body and ends up the prime suspect in the murder of his wife.  I expected the wife to die early in the movie and the scientist to have to spend a lot of the movie’s 64 minutes explaining how he was conveniently frozen at the time.  Instead, the movie is mostly setup.

Dr. Frank Overton is the scientist and he’s been working in cryogenics.  He and his partner, Dr. Helen Wieland, have had great success with chimpanzees.  They even win an award for $25,000 each.  Those that oversee their research aren’t that crazy about trying it on humans, but that is why they are doing this.  The hope is that one day, it can be used for surgical purposes.  If not now, then when will they test it?

Eventually, Dr. Overton decides to try it on himself.  He doesn’t wait for approval.  He doesn’t even tell his wife.  He just goes into the lab and has himself put into suspended animation.  That’s when his wife dies.  Unfortunately, things don’t look good for him.  The police go to the lab and are told about the experiment.  They may not like it, but they’ll have to wait for the good doctor to be revived.  By the time that Dr. Overton is conscious, his name has already been cleared.  (Most of the descriptions I’ve read for this movie, including the one on the back of the box, either state or imply that the doctor will have to defend himself.  This isn’t the case at all.)

The movie was somewhat difficult to follow, mostly because the audio was hard to hear at times.  I could follow the basic story, which is that Dr. Overton is usually working (with a beautiful woman, no less) and Mrs. Overton is usually cheating on him.  It’s not a happy marriage, which makes Dr. Overton a good suspect.

I’m used to the suspect having to defend himself and that defense usually makes up the bulk of the movie.  Here, the bulk of the movie is spent on the unhappy marriage and the work of trying to freeze people.  The actual suspicion part is maybe the last 15-20 minutes of the 64-minute running time.

Here’s the thing, though: The movie was released in 1964.  I find it hard to believe that such a basic movie of such poor quality was made so recently.  I get that crappy movies are made all the time, but this looks like something closer to the movies of a decade or two prior.   With this movie, it’s difficult to tell how much of it was the fault of the original production and how much of it is transfer quality.  Some of the movies I’ve been watching tend to have mostly third- or fourth-generation copies available.  A good transfer may not have been an option.

This is a movie that I’d recommend missing if you’re given the option.  This isn’t even the kind of movie I’d sit through to make fun of.  It’s just bad.  Apparently, there’s an 81-minut cut of the movie.  I don’t think the extra time would help.  It would just be another 17 minutes of waiting for the movie to end.

IMDb page

Blackmail (1929)

It’s usually difficult for me to say that I like a director. With some, their work tends to be similar enough that I can expect certain things from the movie. In other cases, their work may be so varied that it’s hard to tell much of anything about a movie of theirs. Alfred Hitchcock is difficult to pin down for a variety of reasons. I know a few of his works, like North by Northwest. The problem is that his work dates back to the 1920s. His earlier works were made in Great Britain and developed with what was then new technology. While Blackmail was being shot, sound became available for movies. Thus, Blackmail became Hitchcock’s first movie with sound.

The movie starts with Detective Frank Webber and Alice White going on a date. After arguing about what to do afterward, he storms out, leaving her to meet Mr. Crewe. While walking Alice home, Crewe talks Alice into going up to his studio. The two have fun until Crewe tries to kiss Alice. She refuses; he persists and tries to rape Alice, who kills him with a bread knife. She then collects any evidence of her being there and leaves.

Even though it was self defense, she walks around town all night before going home. The next morning, Frank is assigned to the murder of Crewe. He soon realizes that his girlfriend is the prime suspect. He hides what evidence she left behind and goes to confront Alice. After a few minutes, a man named Tracy arrives. He, too, can implicate Alice.

Tracy plays coy. He hints that he might want something, but draws it out for as long as he can. When Tracy realizes that he might not have the upper hand, he runs. After a chase, Tracy ends up taking the fall in more ways than one. Alice feels guilty, but Frank talks her out of confessing, as there’s no need.

The movie is almost 90 years old. I’d say it’s hard to believe, but it’s not really. If you’re coming off TV shows like CSI and Law & Order, Blackmail will seem very simple. Frank and Tracy each have a piece of evidence implicating Alice. Since both pieces of evidence were taken from the scene, I’m not sure how valuable they’ll be. It’s even stated that it would primarily be Tracy’s word against Alice’s. Still, I’m used to seeing the police and prosecutors having to worry about testing and whatnot.

Even the plot seemed a little thin. Frank and Alice’s date seemed a little drawn out. Even Alice’s time with Crewe seemed to take a little too long. The movie is 89 minutes; I spent a lot of those minutes wondering when the action would begin. Most of it is that I’m used to 2-hour movies that are heavy on dialogue and action. Since this was planned as a silent film, the writing style was considerably different.

If you’re looking for a first Hitchcock movie to watch, I’m not sure that this would be a good place to start, especially for a younger viewer. I think it would be too distracting comparing Blackmail to a modern movie. There was one scene where Alice and Crewe were walking up stairs. It seemed fairly obvious that it was a set designed solely for that shot. It’s strange to think how far technology has come, both forensically and theatrically.

IMDb page