Man Who Haunted Himself [VHS]

Man Who Haunted Himself [VHS]
by Basil Dearden

Man Who Haunted Himself [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Alastair Mackenzie (II), Hildegarde Neil, Hugh Mackenzie, Kevork Malikyan, Roger Moore
Director: Basil Dearden
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 90 minutes
Release Date: 1997-03-04
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Republic Pictures
Studio: Republic Pictures

VHS Movie Reviews of Man Who Haunted Himself [VHS]

Movie Review: The Best of Roger Moore
Summary: 4 Stars

Roger Moore is never recognised as a great, or even good actor. Sure he was an international superstar because of The Saint and then James Bond but in his career rarely did we ever get to see him put in a real acting performance - except in this film.

Made in 1970 after The Saint and a few years before Bond, this is a really good film, with genuine tension, an intriguing story and a brilliant performance from Roger Moore. He plays Harold Pelham a straight-laced business man who is a partner is a successful firm, has a lovely family and seems to have everything. However things start going wrong after a car accident. His life starts to unravel around him in a very strange way.

In this film we get more than the eyebrows being raised (although I spotted them once) Moore displays anger, frustration and ultimately fear and does the part as well as anybody could have done it. This film used to be on TV a lot, but these days it is rarely shown so its a worth buying.

The DVD is widescreen with an excellent commentary from Roger Moore, and its well worth getting.

Movie Review: More to Roge than meets the eye
Summary: 3 Stars

The Man Who Haunted Himself isn't a particularly good film, but it is an interesting one and boasts a mostly impressive performance from Roger Moore. While he's not entirely successful, he does get to demonstrate that he had a lot more genuine talent than he's ever given credit for: one beautifully underplayed scene in particular where his uptight businessman who may or may not be having a nervous breakdown and his wife talk around his impotence is probably the best thing he's ever done. And he limits to the eyebrow lift trademark to a single arch usage, though there is a hint at things to come with a prescient joke about industrial espionage ("It's not all James Bond On Her Majesty's Secret Service" quips Moore three years before landing the part).

Previously filmed as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, it's a classic doppelganger story, with Roge's bowler hatted city type having a nervous breakdown at the wheel of his car, crashing and briefly dying on the operating table only to become increasingly rattled that someone appears to be impersonating him in his absence. Not only that, but he seems to be doing a much better job of his life than he is. Is he going mad or is it part of a plot involving the takeover of his company? Or is he really haunting himself? For the first hour and some it works surprisingly well despite looking even more quaintly dated at times than most 70s films. Unfortunately things go downhill, as in so many other films, with the appearance of Freddie Jones in the last third, overacting to a degree unusual even for him as the kind of gurning, prop-fondling manic psychiatrist with an accent that stretches from Dublin to Fife who wears sunglasses in a darkened room (this may just have been down to then head of EMI Films Bryan Forbes, who also cast chronic overactor Aubrey Morris as a quack who wears sunglasses in a darkened room in the troubled Hammer film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb). Over enunciating and underlining every line several times and looking like a minor character from Monty Python's Flying Circus on day release, he tips the film over into unintentional comedy even more than the particularly ill-advised kipper tie that looks like it could feed a family of six that Moore wears in the last few scenes. The film does almost paint itself into a corner with its premise, with an ending that doesn't exactly disappoint but still isn't quite strong enough to entirely satisfy.

The has a pleasant audio commentary with Moore and Bryan Forbes, who as well as greenlighting the film did uncredited dialogue polish on the script. Among the facts thrown up is that in one of those truly horrible coincidences, director Basil Dearden died a few years later in a car crash at the exact spot they filmed the opening crash in the film. Haunting indeed...

Movie Review: Roger Moore's Best Film
Summary: 5 Stars

Based on an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" called "The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham", "The Man Who Haunted Himself" is a superior British thriller with more than a dash of the supernatural. Between 1970 and 1973, Roger Moore was between iconic images (The Saint and James Bond), it seems appropriate then that he should make a film that explores the nature of identity, the splitting of the personality and the rather gothic notion of the double. Doubling becomes a well used motif; his twin sons, his wife and mistress, his cars and business partner and rival add to this layering. Producer Michael Relph and director Basil Dearden (famed for their social problem films of the 1950's produced by Ealing Studios) concoct a tense, exciting film which hinges on a towering performance by Moore. Never the most versatile of actors, Moore nevertheless creates two distinct characters and in the distinctive nature of each Pelham, the true concern of the film shines through. One Pelham represents the new permissive generation (active sex life, fast cars, gambling), whilst the other represents a more repressed age, articulated nicely in his penchant for starched white shirts and is sexless marriage. The ultimate denouement of the film (which takes the film totally into the arena of horror) has the two Pelham's realising only one can exist, the ultimate answer although progressive is ultimately filled with a lament for an altogether more innocent age. The film does sound pretty poor on paper, but this is a genuine surprise, an edge of your seat supernatural thriller and one of British cinema's best kept secrets.

Movie Review: Moore please!
Summary: 5 Stars

If anyone had any doubts that Roger Moore could act, they were dispelled by this movie. The film was virtually ignored when it was first released, which now seems like a giant missed opportunity. The former Saint and future 007 is just brilliant in the role of a businessman on the verge of a major nervous breakdown. It is hugely refreshing to see him stop all the "man of action" nonsense and play a different kind of role. The other nice thing about the movie is that it is full of ensemble British actors doing what they do best -- acting bloody well! The script is well written and Basil Dearden's direction keeps the suspense brimming nicely. I remember this being shown on TV (the Monday night film on BBC1, a highlight of the week)in 1972 or so, just after Moore had finished with The Persuaders! and before he'd made Live and Let Die. It was a refreshing slice of entertainment and it has not lost its flavour -- if anything age has improved it. It's just a shame old Roger didn't do more work like this, but perhaps that makes it even more a thing to treasure. The DVD is worth the money for the commentry alone. My one criticism is about the R1 encoding. Why didn't the distributors negotiate for a Region 0 release? Currently this film is not available anywhere else but the US -- a nonsense as it is a piece of English film-making that now resides in a French-owned company's vaults! This movie should be accessible to fans wherever they live. The sooner the Region Encoding system is seen as the money-making Hollywood sham it is and is thoroughly discredited the better. That way some of the world's more precious artefacts, such as this film, will be more available to all.

Movie Review: Mildly entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars

This is a movie based on an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" called 'The Strange Case Of Mr. Pelham'. The Hitchcock version is better, by far. The movie expands the story by an extra forty minutes or so with unnecessary and boring details, but the premise is still the same. If you haven't seen the Hitchcock version, then you'll probably be mildly entertained by the movie, which isn't bad at all but doesn't compare well to the other.

On the positive side, the acting in this film is uniformly good, and Moore turns in a good performance as Pelham, really giving it his all. The British locations are well filmed, and the movie has a comfortable late-sixties style aura. However, it's often slow-moving and a bit boring at times. The Hitchcock TV version presented everything you needed to know in about 50 minutes and was a fine story as filmed; quite chilling in fact. But the movie stretches minor, unimportant details out to film length. The ending of the film is different and somewhat metaphysical, which is good, but unfortunately it's way too literal and even unintentionally humorous, which is bad. So, the original version has it beaten on all counts. When you attempt to remake Hitchcock, you'd better be sure your script is superb if you want success, but this one is just average.

One nice thing about the DVD is Roger Moore's film-length audio commentary. Somehow, they lured him out of retirement to make his comments and remembrances about making the film, and he has some interesting things to say. Odd that he didn't know (either then or now) that this was originally a "Hitchcock Presents" story! He had no idea, and was surprised to hear that. Ironically, one of his lines in the film mentions James Bond, and in fact that was to be his very next role.

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