Yes! Yes! Pull my hair in anger! It makes me feel … alive!
Tormented (1960) suffers from a sloppy story. Whether Tom Stewart, supreme jazz pianist and the star attraction at an island wedding, is psychologically unstable, or if his former girlfriend, Vi, really is a supernatural critter from Hell, he’s in a helluva pickle – but we really can’t tell which is which, because we know virtually nothing about him. We end up watching Vi fall from the dilapidated light tower at which she requested they meet, and then wonder at his self-judgment that that his refusal to render aid in a crisis leaves him blameless. Did she deserve to be saved? Is he just a moral coward? Or was he distracted by his upcoming wedding to another woman?
And, apparently, Vi is fairly irritable as well, not to mention mildly monomaniacal. She might be dead, or a talking plastic head on his table – take your pick – but she still wants the pleasure of being married to him.
There might be an interesting story in there somewhere. The hopeful other bride, Meg, has a little sister who does fairly well at stealing scenes and typifying moral dilemmas. But the story’s really a mess, the special effects made me giggle, and my Arts Editor was cringing at this jazz musician’s efforts.
My advice is a little light sauce to get started, and try substituting your own lines for the characters’ lines. It’ll make this movie a little easier on the stomach.
And check out the actors’ bodies! In our print, at least, they all looked malformed, as if the film had been oddly stretched at some point.
Or you could get on with your life, instead.
