Warning: Mild spoilers below.
I was intrigued by the premise of this, as it's a fairly odd film, in which a professor and his wife have perfected a machine which allows them to hypnotise and then control someone. They lure Ian Ogilvy in to being their first test subject, and it allows them to control him even when he's not near them, and feel and see everything he experiences.
At first it's quite an interesting exploration of sixties life, with the elderly couple enjoying the thrill of living life through Ogilvy's eyes, but soon they become more and more obsessed with controlling him. At this point there's a nice bit of social commentary going on too (especially concerning the disenchantment of 'the youth' of the sixties, and how long such a golden age could possibly continue), but the second half becomes a disturbing horror flick as the wife suddenly becomes excited and obsessed by the ability to force Ogilvy to commit acts of violence. Her mind's stronger than her husband's it seems, and so he's unable to stop her - especially when she physically stops him from trying too.
The first half is a really quite enjoyable if slightly flimsy piece of cinema, but the second half is what makes it pretty unique, as it becomes much much more darker as the wife forces Ogilvy to kill time and time again. The interplay between Karloff and his wife is great, and the ending's fittingly neat too. Perhaps it's not quite the insight in to voyeurism / obsession that Michael Powell's Peeping Tom is, but it's certainly got a lot going for it with a sharp script, great acting (especially from Karloff) and some interesting imagery and choices of camera angles too.
So The Sorcerer's perhaps by no means a classic, but it's definitely an intriguing film, and it gets 7/10 from me.
I was intrigued by the premise of this, as it's a fairly odd film, in which a professor and his wife have perfected a machine which allows them to hypnotise and then control someone. They lure Ian Ogilvy in to being their first test subject, and it allows them to control him even when he's not near them, and feel and see everything he experiences.
At first it's quite an interesting exploration of sixties life, with the elderly couple enjoying the thrill of living life through Ogilvy's eyes, but soon they become more and more obsessed with controlling him. At this point there's a nice bit of social commentary going on too (especially concerning the disenchantment of 'the youth' of the sixties, and how long such a golden age could possibly continue), but the second half becomes a disturbing horror flick as the wife suddenly becomes excited and obsessed by the ability to force Ogilvy to commit acts of violence. Her mind's stronger than her husband's it seems, and so he's unable to stop her - especially when she physically stops him from trying too.
The first half is a really quite enjoyable if slightly flimsy piece of cinema, but the second half is what makes it pretty unique, as it becomes much much more darker as the wife forces Ogilvy to kill time and time again. The interplay between Karloff and his wife is great, and the ending's fittingly neat too. Perhaps it's not quite the insight in to voyeurism / obsession that Michael Powell's Peeping Tom is, but it's certainly got a lot going for it with a sharp script, great acting (especially from Karloff) and some interesting imagery and choices of camera angles too.
So The Sorcerer's perhaps by no means a classic, but it's definitely an intriguing film, and it gets 7/10 from me.