"The Power" is the about the best motion picture of the entire 1960's, & certainly plays better than about anything since. I can only rate 1958's "Vertigo" higher. Watching a classic like "The Power" makes one recognize just how tepid and weak are the films churned out since then then. "The Power" is typical Sixties, total Sixties!
Some reviewers invoke the later movie "Scanners", claiming a kinship to "The Power"; but don't be fooled. "Scanners" was a cheapo, 70's style exploitation film complete with such techno "touches" as exploding heads. "The Power" works on much more subtle (and effective) level. It is the epitome of 1960's cool & sophistication. What makes it so compelling is that undefinable Sixties feel -- in everything from the quality of film used, the use of lighting, the cinematography... but also the styles shown -- from clothes to hairstyles, cars to offices & buildings. Also the old time actors used, familiar faces to any movie-goer of the period, and the straightforward, no-nonsense script. It's the same Sixties feel that TV's "The Invaders" has, as well as pics like "Fantastic Voyage".
The sets of "The Power" are uniformly good, especially the offices & labs where the Astrophysics team, lead by Professor Jim Tanner (George Hamilton), work. The team consists of Tanner, Prof Lansing (Suzanne Pleshette), Prof Van Zandt, head of the Astrophysics Dept (Richard Carlson), Prof Hallson (Arthur O'Connell), Prof Melnicker (Nehemiah Persoff), and Prof Scott (Earl Holliman). Sitting in with them is government official Arthur Nordlund (Michael Rennie).
The centrifuge in the basement is both cool and provides an exciting moment in the film, as Tanner and Professor Lansing try vainly to stop it before it kills Hallson. The offices of the scientists are very interesting, in that they appear to be laid out in a cluster, with windows into each others' offices. Thus Tanner can discuss each member of the team, while we see them at work, through the windows.
The scene where Hallson is terrorized by The Power is excellent and chilling -- he's about to leave his office, when suddenly the door he'd entered through a moment before has disappeared! Confused, he goes back to retrieve a chair so he can peer out the high window, but when he turns back even the window is gone & there's only a blank wall! Then he starts feeling The Power crushing his heart...
Another good scene is where George Hamilton is walking around Downtown L.A., passing a novelty store, and sees one of those "drinking bird" novelty devices wink at him, then spit water! Next an army of toy soldiers march into place & shoot at him. Feeling the increasing burden of The Power, he staggers into a funhouse complete with distorted mirrors. Somehow he gets bumped onto a carousel which starts speeding up, imitating the centrifuge at the lab, scenes of which are interspersed with the dizzying carousel.
A true classic set piece is at a downtown hotel where a rowdy convention of salesmen is taking place, and first we see the crowded lobby where Tanner meets obnoxious Grover (Ken Murray). As there's no rooms available, Tanner, Lansing, and Melnicker join Grover at a swinging party in one of the suites, which goes on all night. First a live (hippie) rock band is playing, complete with blaring guitars, as the party-goers wildly dance, then later a hi-fi stereo is put to use. Totally Sixties! Again Tanner feels the weight of The Power bearing down on him, but it is Melnicker who pays the ultimate price of resisting it, suffering a fatal heart attack.
Another terrific scene is when Tanner, while investigating a lead in Hallson's home-town, is stranded in the desert, which turns out to be on an Air Force firing range. So not only is The Power trying to kill him, but missiles from fighter planes! Later in a Santa Monica apartment building he goes down an elevator shaft to rescue Michael Rennie, whom The Power is apparently bearing down on, causing a heart attack. The Power again tries to kill Tanner as he's driving towards L.A. Harbor, and there's a great chase with the unknown assailant after Tanner, which ends at a drawbridge. The movie's climax (or is it?) takes place in an auditorium at the research center, aptly called "The Babble Pit", where Tanner confronts the man he's convinced has The Power -- Prof Scott. Only Scott believes it's Tanner who's the man with The Power!
One highlight of the movie is when Tanner has the final showdown and endures the full might & fury of The Power, in a terrific montage. We see George Hamilton alternately freezing & burning, spinning & becoming a skeleton. That this sequence was done completely without CGI is a testament to the excellent visual effect team, which included Wah Chang of the old "Outer Limits". (In fact, director Byron Haskin has several "Outer Limits" episodes to his credit.) This sequence certainly proves that you don't need fancy computer graphics to make suspenseful & visually exciting special effects.
For the Sixties "The Power" truly had an all-star cast of competent & professional actors, including (aside from those already listed) Yvonne De Carlo, Gary Merrill, Barbara Nichols, Aldo Ray, & as a party-goer -- Miss Beverly Hills! While I've never been a big fan of George Hamilton, he pulls off the central role of Tanner well; he and Suzanne Pleshette make a good and convincing screen couple. "The Power" is easily Hamilton's best role, and probably Pleshette's best role, too (along w/ the 1970 classic TVM "Along Came a Spider").
Kudos to producer George Pal, director Byron Haskin, and of course to composer Miklos Rozsa, who provides a compelling score for the film. In retrospect, "The Power" was one of the "last hurrahs" of old-time cinema, before sleaze and plot ambiguity took over. "The Power" is MUST SEE cinema!
Some reviewers invoke the later movie "Scanners", claiming a kinship to "The Power"; but don't be fooled. "Scanners" was a cheapo, 70's style exploitation film complete with such techno "touches" as exploding heads. "The Power" works on much more subtle (and effective) level. It is the epitome of 1960's cool & sophistication. What makes it so compelling is that undefinable Sixties feel -- in everything from the quality of film used, the use of lighting, the cinematography... but also the styles shown -- from clothes to hairstyles, cars to offices & buildings. Also the old time actors used, familiar faces to any movie-goer of the period, and the straightforward, no-nonsense script. It's the same Sixties feel that TV's "The Invaders" has, as well as pics like "Fantastic Voyage".
The sets of "The Power" are uniformly good, especially the offices & labs where the Astrophysics team, lead by Professor Jim Tanner (George Hamilton), work. The team consists of Tanner, Prof Lansing (Suzanne Pleshette), Prof Van Zandt, head of the Astrophysics Dept (Richard Carlson), Prof Hallson (Arthur O'Connell), Prof Melnicker (Nehemiah Persoff), and Prof Scott (Earl Holliman). Sitting in with them is government official Arthur Nordlund (Michael Rennie).
The centrifuge in the basement is both cool and provides an exciting moment in the film, as Tanner and Professor Lansing try vainly to stop it before it kills Hallson. The offices of the scientists are very interesting, in that they appear to be laid out in a cluster, with windows into each others' offices. Thus Tanner can discuss each member of the team, while we see them at work, through the windows.
The scene where Hallson is terrorized by The Power is excellent and chilling -- he's about to leave his office, when suddenly the door he'd entered through a moment before has disappeared! Confused, he goes back to retrieve a chair so he can peer out the high window, but when he turns back even the window is gone & there's only a blank wall! Then he starts feeling The Power crushing his heart...
Another good scene is where George Hamilton is walking around Downtown L.A., passing a novelty store, and sees one of those "drinking bird" novelty devices wink at him, then spit water! Next an army of toy soldiers march into place & shoot at him. Feeling the increasing burden of The Power, he staggers into a funhouse complete with distorted mirrors. Somehow he gets bumped onto a carousel which starts speeding up, imitating the centrifuge at the lab, scenes of which are interspersed with the dizzying carousel.
A true classic set piece is at a downtown hotel where a rowdy convention of salesmen is taking place, and first we see the crowded lobby where Tanner meets obnoxious Grover (Ken Murray). As there's no rooms available, Tanner, Lansing, and Melnicker join Grover at a swinging party in one of the suites, which goes on all night. First a live (hippie) rock band is playing, complete with blaring guitars, as the party-goers wildly dance, then later a hi-fi stereo is put to use. Totally Sixties! Again Tanner feels the weight of The Power bearing down on him, but it is Melnicker who pays the ultimate price of resisting it, suffering a fatal heart attack.
Another terrific scene is when Tanner, while investigating a lead in Hallson's home-town, is stranded in the desert, which turns out to be on an Air Force firing range. So not only is The Power trying to kill him, but missiles from fighter planes! Later in a Santa Monica apartment building he goes down an elevator shaft to rescue Michael Rennie, whom The Power is apparently bearing down on, causing a heart attack. The Power again tries to kill Tanner as he's driving towards L.A. Harbor, and there's a great chase with the unknown assailant after Tanner, which ends at a drawbridge. The movie's climax (or is it?) takes place in an auditorium at the research center, aptly called "The Babble Pit", where Tanner confronts the man he's convinced has The Power -- Prof Scott. Only Scott believes it's Tanner who's the man with The Power!
One highlight of the movie is when Tanner has the final showdown and endures the full might & fury of The Power, in a terrific montage. We see George Hamilton alternately freezing & burning, spinning & becoming a skeleton. That this sequence was done completely without CGI is a testament to the excellent visual effect team, which included Wah Chang of the old "Outer Limits". (In fact, director Byron Haskin has several "Outer Limits" episodes to his credit.) This sequence certainly proves that you don't need fancy computer graphics to make suspenseful & visually exciting special effects.
For the Sixties "The Power" truly had an all-star cast of competent & professional actors, including (aside from those already listed) Yvonne De Carlo, Gary Merrill, Barbara Nichols, Aldo Ray, & as a party-goer -- Miss Beverly Hills! While I've never been a big fan of George Hamilton, he pulls off the central role of Tanner well; he and Suzanne Pleshette make a good and convincing screen couple. "The Power" is easily Hamilton's best role, and probably Pleshette's best role, too (along w/ the 1970 classic TVM "Along Came a Spider").
Kudos to producer George Pal, director Byron Haskin, and of course to composer Miklos Rozsa, who provides a compelling score for the film. In retrospect, "The Power" was one of the "last hurrahs" of old-time cinema, before sleaze and plot ambiguity took over. "The Power" is MUST SEE cinema!
