Tormented (1960)

 Tormented (1960)

Bert I. Gordon, or "Mr. B.I.G.", is a director most noted for his big monster films.  With a career that spans from 1954-2014, he has mad a mark in the horror genre.  He was born  and raised in Wisconsin, and was living in Minnesota when his daughter Susan Gordon was born, she would go on to co-star as a child in a few of his films.  One of those films that his daughter had a starring role in was the 1960's Tormented.  Tormented unlike many of his films did not feature giant monsters, but instead was a ghost story.  The film follows Tom Stewart who is a jazz pianist living on a small island off the coast of Cape Cod.  Tom is engaged to marry Meg, the daughter of wealthy family, however his ex Vi tries to blackmail and manipulate Tom into being with her, threatening if she can't have him then no one will.  But when the railing on the lighthouse breaks, he doesn't attempt to save her, as she is dashed upon the rocks in the ocean below.   But then when a Beatnik sailor puts the pieces together and tries to blackmail him, well he has to keep the secret, but what can he do to keep the secret when his fiancé's sister Sandy witnesses what he did to the beatnik sailor?   Also is he being haunted by the ghost of Vi or by his own guilty conscious?

Tormented was written, produced, and directed by Bert I. Gordon.  Joe Steinberger co-produced and George Worthing Yates co-wrote the film.  The film was distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1960.  Torment has found itself featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 as well as part of the Elvira Movie Macabre collection.   It is a low budget horror film, that is also an effective ghost story, that has a moral lesson about being honest, and how dishonesty has a habit of having a snowball effect, of things just getting worse and worse.  Really the whole film could have been avoided if Tom had just told Meg about Vi and how Vi was a lover from his past who is trying to blackmail him...but where would the drama be in that?

Tormented stars Richard Carlson, Lugene Sanders as his fiancé Meg Hubbard,  Susan Gordon plays her little sister Sandy Hubbard, Juli Reding as Vi Mason, Vera Marsh plays Meg's mom, Harry Fleer plays her father Frank Hubbard (though Paul Frees did a voice over for the character of Frank Hubbard), Lillian Adams plays Mrs. Ellis the blind house keeper.   Joe Turkel played the beatnik sailor, he also played in Gordon's The Boy And The Pirates along with Susan Gordon, but he also played Lloyd the bartender in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, as well as appearing in Blade Runner.  Horror fans will recognize Richard Carlson as the hero from Universal Studio's Creature From The Black Lagoon, as well as films like It Came From Out Space.  The film has a great talented cast, with the strong male lead with Richard Carlson, the adorable and sweet Lugene Sanders, and the sexy sultry Juli Reding, and seriously there are few kids more adorable than little Susan Gordon.   

Okay, this is an odd thing to notice, but it seems like a large portion of the cast of this film are from the Midwest, specifically from Minnesota, which surely is purely coincidental, but director Bert I. Gordon was born in Kenosha WI, his daughter Susan Gordon was born in Saint Paul MN, Richard Carlson was born in Albert Lea MN, Gene Roth was born in Redfield SD, Vera Marsh(e) was born in Minneapolis MN, Harry Fleer was born in Quincy IL, and Lugene Sanders was born in Oklahoma City (not technically the Midwest but pretty close).   I just found this to be absolutely of no meaning, but very interesting. 

Tormented is an effective little supernatural horror film.  Some of the special effects are a little bit cheesy, but they work pretty well, and are kind of impressive for the time period.  The film has a beautiful setting, of a small beach community on a small island, where a small lighthouse overlooks the beach.   The film has some well written characters, though honestly Tom gets on my nerves a little bit, I just want to scream at him to stop fucking about and do the right thing, he didn't kill her, so why not report her accident, and why not just be honest with Meg that he has a past, and that past is over, especially now that Vi is dead, but no instead of being an adult about the whole thing he lets it snowball out of control, until there is no way out of the hole that he has dug for himself.  The characters are well written, and reasonably flushed out, and I do like the ending of the film a lot.   I don't think that this is by any means a must see film, however if you come across a copy of it it is definitely worth checking out.  I have only seen the US cut of the film, but I have heard that in some European cuts of the film, there is some brief nudity with the character of Vi, and I am curious as to how that is worked into the story, and how it might potentially complex the story of Tom and Vi a little more, depending on it's use, so if anyone has a copy of that cut that they wouldn't mind parting with, please contact me.    Overall I think it is a good film, and the actors are well cast and the characters are interesting.  I do think that young Susan Gordon might be my favourite actor in this film, she plays the character of Sandy so well and so convincingly.   So if you come across a copy pick it up, and check out this classic b-horror film from 1960.