[http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0053931\/]<\/p>\n
Beau\u00adti\u00adful women dis\u00adfig\u00adure them\u00adselves under the hyp\u00adnot\u00adic con\u00adtrol of a suave stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtist and his sin\u00adis\u00adter assis\u00adtant. Part I (here) con\u00adsists of a descrip\u00adtion of and the his\u00adto\u00adry of the movie: sub\u00adse\u00adquent parts will include selec\u00adtions of the pro\u00admo\u00adtion\u00adal mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal and press images (from my exten\u00adsive col\u00adlec\u00adtion) gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded to pro\u00admote the movie.<\/p>\n
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Descrip\u00adtion:<\/em> Detec\u00adtive Dan Kennedy (Joe Par\u00adtridge<\/a>) is try\u00ading to fig\u00adure out why beau\u00adti\u00adful women are dis\u00adfig\u00adur\u00ading them\u00adselves with\u00adout real\u00adiz\u00ading why. He con\u00adsults police psy\u00adchi\u00ada\u00adtrist Dr. Phillip Hetch (Guy Prescott<\/a>) who is car\u00adry\u00ading on a dia\u00adtribe against stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtists, espe\u00adcial\u00adly the cur\u00adrent tar\u00adget of his wrath, the stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtist \u201cthe Great Desmond\u201d (Jacques Berg\u00ader\u00adac<\/a>). Their jobs coin\u00adcide when they and their friends Dodie (Mer\u00adry Anders<\/a>) and Mar\u00adcia (Mar\u00adcia Hen\u00adder\u00adson<\/a>) attend one of Desmond\u2019s per\u00adfor\u00admances, after which Dodie dis\u00adfig\u00adures her\u00adself with acid. Dan and Phillip can\u2019t explain the con\u00adnec\u00adtion, because they\u2019re sure they saw Dodie get into a cab and return home alone after the show. (What they didn\u2019t see was her leave the cab and walk back\u00adstage after they left.)<\/p>\n The next night, under the watch\u00adful gaze of Dan and Phillip, Mar\u00adcia attends anoth\u00ader of Desmond\u2019s per\u00adfor\u00admances, where she vol\u00adun\u00adteers to be brought up on stage to be hyp\u00adno\u00adtized; unbe\u00adknown to her, his assis\u00adtant Jus\u00adtine (Alli\u00adson Hayes<\/a>) picked her out specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly from the throng of eager vol\u00adun\u00adteers. When they meet lat\u00ader that evening, she tells Dan and Phillip that she had resist\u00aded being hyp\u00adno\u00adtized on stage. She also tells them that she was giv\u00aden a post-hyp\u00adnot\u00adic sug\u00adges\u00adtion to return to Desmond\u2019s dress\u00ading room lat\u00ader that night, much to their sur\u00adprise and dis\u00adgust, an appoint\u00adment she plans to keep.<\/p>\n Upon her arrival, Marcia\u2019s curios\u00adi\u00adty brings her to search through Desmond\u2019s dress\u00ading table and even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly to open the box that holds the Hyp\u00adnot\u00adic Eye, a strobe light in the shape of a large eye\u00adball. The bright flick\u00ader\u00ading light with\u00adin the Eye imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly cap\u00adtures her atten\u00adtion, and Desmond hyp\u00adno\u00adtizes her from off cam\u00adera, this time for real. Desmond takes advan\u00adtage of Marcia\u2019s com\u00adpli\u00adant hyp\u00adno\u00adtized state to escort her on an extend\u00aded date, fol\u00adlowed duti\u00adful\u00adly by Dan and Phillip. That date fea\u00adtured din\u00adner at a fan\u00adcy restau\u00adrant and lat\u00ader drinks and danc\u00ading in a smoky night\u00adclub called the Gas House, a pop\u00adu\u00adlar \u201cbeat\u201d night\u00adclub in Venice, Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia. (The own\u00ader, Eric \u201cBig Dad\u00addy\u201d Nord<\/a>, played the bon\u00adgo drum\u00admer dur\u00ading this scene and the poet who recit\u00aded his works was Lawrence Lip\u00adton<\/a>, some\u00adtimes called \u201cThe Poet Lau\u00adre\u00adate of the Beat\u00adniks\u201d and author of \u201cThe Holy Bar\u00adbar\u00adians\u201d<\/em>, a well received his\u00adto\u00adry of the Beat Generation.)<\/p>\n When Desmond returns Mar\u00adcia to her apart\u00adment, they engage in a brief moment of sub\u00addued pas\u00adsion, but Jus\u00adtine inter\u00adrupts them, hav\u00ading over\u00adheard Mar\u00adcia tell Desmond her address before they left the the\u00adater. Jus\u00adtine rein\u00adforces Marcia\u2019s hyp\u00adnot\u00adic trance as Desmond departs, leav\u00ading Mar\u00adcia under Justine\u2019s hyp\u00adnot\u00adic con\u00adtrol. Jus\u00adtine leads Mar\u00adcia into the bath\u00adroom, where she plans to have Mar\u00adcia scald her\u00adself in steam\u00ading hot water, under the hyp\u00adnot\u00adic guise of it being a sooth\u00ading show\u00ader. Only the for\u00adtu\u00adnate appear\u00adance of a wor\u00adried Dan pre\u00advents the tragedy, and Jus\u00adtine slips out the win\u00addow and escapes.<\/p>\n Based on their new evi\u00addence, Dan and Phillip re-inter\u00adview the dis\u00adfig\u00adured women: they all denied attend\u00ading Desmond\u2019s show, includ\u00ading Dodie, which is obvi\u00adous\u00adly false. Armed with this evi\u00addence, Dan and Phillip rush to Desmond\u2019s per\u00adfor\u00admance, in part because Mar\u00adcia is not answer\u00ading her phone. They real\u00adize that she has some\u00adhow suc\u00adcumbed to Desmond\u2019s hyp\u00adnot\u00adic pow\u00aders again and is in the audi\u00adence. Desmond begins to hyp\u00adno\u00adtize the audi\u00adence (and the movie audi\u00adence: this is the audi\u00adence par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpa\u00adtion part of the movie) through the use of a sug\u00adges\u00adtion test involv\u00ading an inflat\u00aded bal\u00adloon. When Dan bursts into the the\u00adater, Desmond tries to use the Hyp\u00adnot\u00adic Eye on him, but he shakes off the effect and attacks Desmond. At the same time, Jus\u00adtine is threat\u00aden\u00ading the entranced Mar\u00adcia. Con\u00adfront\u00aded, Jus\u00adtine rips off her mask, reveal\u00ading the scarred ugli\u00adness under\u00adneath, the source of her jeal\u00adousy. Dur\u00ading the fight, both she and Desmond fall to their deaths, end\u00ading their reign of terror.<\/p>\n\n His\u00adto\u00adry:<\/em> The ini\u00adtial con\u00adcept for the movie, and much of the movie\u2019s look, was the result of the screen\u00adwriter, William Read Wood\u00adfield<\/a>. A mag\u00ada\u00adzine and celebri\u00adty pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adph\u00ader, Wood\u00adfield began writ\u00ading scripts in Hol\u00adly\u00adwood for such ear\u00adly TV series as \u201cSeahunt\u201d<\/em> and \u201cDeath Val\u00adley Days\u201d<\/em> while con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00ading to work as a pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adph\u00ader. It was in the ear\u00adly pre-dawn hours while he was dri\u00adving back to Las Vegas from a pho\u00adto shoot on the set of the movie \u201cSpar\u00adta\u00adcus\u201d<\/em> in the Neva\u00adda desert that he encoun\u00adtered the well\u00e2\u20ac\u2018known phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon of \u201chigh\u00adway hyp\u00adno\u00adsis\u201d<\/a>. He thought he could use that imagery to cre\u00adate a movie that would hyp\u00adno\u00adtize the audi\u00adence into believ\u00ading they were see\u00ading the great\u00adest movie ever, a feat of illu\u00adsion and decep\u00adtion well suit\u00aded to some\u00adone who had been a child prodi\u00adgy as a stage magician.<\/p>\n The movie, as he described it to his agent, Charles Bloch<\/a>, would begin exact\u00adly as he had imag\u00adined it: a high\u00adway, with the white line pass\u00ading before the audi\u00adence. A nar\u00adra\u00adtor would put the audi\u00adence through a sim\u00adple sug\u00adgestibil\u00adi\u00adty test. Those in the audi\u00adence that didn\u2019t respond were invit\u00aded to leave, then the movie would begin to hyp\u00adno\u00adtize the rest of the audi\u00adence, telling them that they were see\u00ading the best movie they had ever seen, and to tell their friends about it lat\u00ader. Giv\u00aden the inter\u00adest about hyp\u00adno\u00adsis in the wake of the Bridey Mur\u00adphy phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon a few years ear\u00adli\u00ader, it just might have worked.<\/p>\n But when he pitched the movie to Allied Artists, the pro\u00adduc\u00aders were enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adtic about the idea, but they actu\u00adal\u00adly want\u00aded a movie. The idea was fine, but they want\u00aded some\u00adthing with a plot<\/em>. To get it, pro\u00adduc\u00ader Ben Schwab<\/a> paid Wood\u00adfield approx\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly $30,000 write a script based on the idea. Wood\u00adfield called the movie \u201cThe Scream\u00ading Sleep\u201d<\/em>, a slo\u00adgan that would even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly appear on the adver\u00adtis\u00ading material.<\/p>\n The idea of hyp\u00adno\u00adtiz\u00ading the audi\u00adence remained, although it have a William Cas\u00adtle-like twist, framed as part of the sto\u00adry line (and used in the movie pro\u00admo\u00adtions.) Each mem\u00adber of the audi\u00adence would be giv\u00aden a bal\u00adloon with the \u201chyp\u00adnot\u00adic eye\u201d logo upon entry. In the cli\u00admax, when Desmond instructs the audi\u00adence in the movie to blow up the bal\u00adloon and use it as part of a sug\u00adgestibil\u00adi\u00adty test, the audi\u00adence in the the\u00adater was to do like\u00adwise. Thus was born the \u201cHyp\u00adno-Mag\u00adic\u201d audi\u00adence par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpa\u00adtion routine.<\/p>\n To make the stage hyp\u00adno\u00adsis scenes more authen\u00adtic, the pro\u00adduc\u00aders hired famous stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtist Gil Boyne<\/a>. Boyne not only trained Berg\u00ader\u00adac on how to per\u00adform as a stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtist, he even went so far as to work with the actors who would be part of Desmond\u2019s stage and hyp\u00adno\u00adtize them into per\u00adform\u00ading the sug\u00adgest\u00aded stage hyp\u00adno\u00adsis scenes on film. Boyne also hyp\u00adno\u00adtized the actress\u00ades to go into trance on cue and would stand behind the cam\u00adera and trig\u00adger their trance on cue, so when Dodie or Mar\u00adcia are sup\u00adposed to be hyp\u00adno\u00adtized on film, most like\u00adly they are real\u00adly in a trance.<\/p>\n As a pub\u00adlic\u00adi\u00adty stunt, the pro\u00adduc\u00aders also got the not\u00aded ser\u00adi\u00adal impos\u00adtor Fer\u00addi\u00adnand Demara<\/a> to make a cameo appear\u00adance as the masked doc\u00adtor near the begin\u00adning of the movie. Mer\u00adry Anders was a per\u00adson\u00adal friend of actor Tony Cur\u00adtis, who was play\u00ading the lead in a movie based on Demara\u2019s career on a near\u00adby sound\u00adstage. Demara was also present dur\u00ading the film\u00ading, which result\u00aded in his being invit\u00aded to appear. Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly his real-life abil\u00adi\u00adty for imper\u00adson\u00adation did\u00adn\u2019t trans\u00adlate to on-film act\u00ading ability.<\/p>\n The movie was shot in approx\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly 12 days and cost $365,000, includ\u00ading the pay\u00adment to Wood\u00adfield for the script. Includ\u00aded was an exter\u00adnal (and extra\u00adne\u00adous, as even Wood\u00adfield now admits) scene shot at the Gas House, a pop\u00adu\u00adlar \u201cbeat\u201d night\u00adclub in Venice, Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia that was the loca\u00adtion for Desmond and Marcia\u2019s date.<\/p>\n Com\u00admen\u00adtary: <\/em>In the stereo\u00adtyp\u00adi\u00adcal hyp\u00adnot\u00adic hor\u00adror movie, the ter\u00adror comes from either the loss of life or the loss of con\u00adtrol. But here, the ter\u00adror is from the loss of beau\u00adty. But is that loss sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant\u00adly different?<\/p>\n In this movie, women muti\u00adlate their faces and bod\u00adies under hyp\u00adno\u00adsis. Just as their beau\u00adty (since only beau\u00adti\u00adful women were being tar\u00adget\u00aded by Jus\u00adtine) and there\u00adfor their phys\u00adi\u00adcal image was destroyed, so too was their self image and self worth, judg\u00ading from Dodie\u2019s severe depres\u00adsion and reluc\u00adtance to being seen. This reac\u00adtion is anoth\u00ader way of demon\u00adstrat\u00ading a loss of iden\u00adti\u00adty, and that loss is the same as exem\u00adpli\u00adfied by the loss of con\u00adtrol, because the loss of con\u00adtrol results in a loss of self as pow\u00ader\u00adful as dis\u00adfig\u00adure\u00adment would bring. While this may seem sex\u00adist, men, too, can react in much the same man\u00adner, although, for them, it more like\u00adly would be the result of a loss of a limb than disfigurement.<\/span><\/p>\n It should be not\u00aded that the loss of beau\u00adty is derived from a loss of con\u00adtrol on the part of the vic\u00adtims: their sur\u00adren\u00adder\u00ading to the hyp\u00adnot\u00adic pow\u00ader was what made them fol\u00adlow Justine\u2019s sug\u00adges\u00adtions that led to their disfigurement.<\/p>\n And the vic\u00adtims are not the only ones suf\u00adfer\u00ading from a loss of con\u00adtrol in this movie. Desmond demon\u00adstrates guilt over his com\u00adplic\u00adi\u00adty in Justine\u2019s crimes, and he could stop her at any time by sim\u00adply not pro\u00advid\u00ading her with any more vic\u00adtims, but he stops short when giv\u00aden the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty with Mar\u00adcia. Based on his on-stage rela\u00adtion\u00adship with Jus\u00adtine, he should be able to con\u00adtrol her actions, but, instead, he has no con\u00adtrol over her in his off-stage rela\u00adtion\u00adship with her. Giv\u00aden his atti\u00adtude, it is pos\u00adsi\u00adble that he is coop\u00ader\u00adat\u00ading with Justine\u2019s plot out of a sense of guilt, as though he were the cause of Justine\u2019s dis\u00adfig\u00adure\u00adment. That ques\u00adtion is left unan\u00adswered, an point that should have been addressed in the movie, because, with\u00adout it, Justine\u2019s actions lack any attempt at sym\u00adpa\u00adthy and are sim\u00adply seen as resent\u00adful jeal\u00adousy: lack\u00ading that ratio\u00adnale, Jus\u00adtine seems as out of con\u00adtrol as Desmond, verg\u00ading on the psychotic.<\/p>\n [amtap amazon:asin=B0047DKLBO]<\/p>\n Rec\u00adom\u00admen\u00adda\u00adtion:<\/em> As a lost trea\u00adsure only now legit\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly avail\u00adable on DVD, it is worth seek\u00ading out if only for the Gil Boyne con\u00adnec\u00adtion and influ\u00adence, but its hype and his\u00adto\u00adry also rec\u00adom\u00admend it to any\u00adone with a seri\u00adous inter\u00adest in hyp\u00adno\u00adsis and the way it gets rep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded in the movies.<\/p>\n Ref\u00ader\u00adences:<\/em><\/p>\n\n