Hysteria (1965)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hysteria |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1965 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Freddie Francis |
| script | Jimmy Sangster |
| production | Jimmy Sangster |
| music | Don Banks |
| camera | John Wilcox |
| cut | James Needs |
| occupation | |
| |
Hysteria is a British thriller from a 1965 production by Hammer Films. Directed by Freddie Francis, it stars Robert Webber , Anthony Newlands and Lelia Goldoni .
action
The American Chris Smith wakes up in one of the chief physician Dr. Keller-run English hospital and lost all his memories as a result of a serious car accident. After four months he is recovered to the point that he has no longer any physical symptoms, but Smith has not regained his memory. The fact that an unknown person took over all the hospital costs also turns out to be mysterious. Dr. Keller says that Chris can now be released as cured, but warns him of the fact that he could sometimes have hallucinations . Even outside the clinic, the unknown patron continues to hold his protective hand over Chris. He even provided the American with a luxurious apartment.
Chris, who fell in love with the pretty nurse Gina during his hospital stay, moves into the apartment and now wants to track down his own past. The only clue he used is a photo printed in a newspaper that Chris carried with him during his accident and shows a young woman. Smith hires private detective Hemmings to deal with his case. The identity of the young woman is quickly determined: It is the photo model Denise James, but she is said to be already dead. The photographer who took the picture, Marcus Allan, claims she was stabbed to death in the shower by a stranger six months ago. How can this be? Chris thinks he will meet her again and again in his search for his own past. Only he seems to see her, but not everyone else. Is this woman completely different or are these hallucinations that Dr. Keller had warned urgently? One evening the allegedly dead girl even turns up in Smith's apartment.
She says her name is Denise James and that she is the widow of the man who was responsible for the car accident and, as a result, Smith's amnesia. In fact, Mrs. James bears a striking resemblance to the allegedly dead woman in the newspaper photo. The alleged Denise James secretly drugs Chris, whereupon the American actually begins to hallucinate. He sees the bloody knife with which the shower murder is said to have been committed and discovers a woman's corpse in his own shower, which later miraculously disappears. Together with private investigator Hemmings, Smith plans to convict those who he believes have plotted against him. Finally, he can use a trick to the alleged Denise and the clinic doctor Dr. Unmask Keller as a murderous couple who came up with an ice-cold scheme to blame Chris Smith for a murder they carried out. However, the dead woman was not the model, but Dr. Keller's wife, and Denise James is none other than Dr. Keller's mistress. Now that Chris has regained his memory, he can take care of his new girlfriend Gina.
Production notes
Hysteria was created in 1964 and was shown for the first time in the USA in April 1965. The British premiere took place on June 27, 1965. The strip did not start in Germany.
Edward Carrick designed the film structures.
The film, one of Hammer Films' various excursions into the thriller genre, wasn't a huge box office success.
Reviews
Halliwell's Film Guide found the film to be a "complicated and rather unsympathetic" puzzle.
“This formula for amnesia patients is certainly not new either; Accordingly , Hysteria can not claim originality prices for itself. But the puzzle is presented in an exciting way, pointed to a few but interesting people, as usual, and there is actually a final turn that one would not necessarily have expected. "
Individual evidence
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 494
Web links
- Hysteria in the Internet Movie Database (English)