*** (out of ****)
[This review is in reference to the original theatrical cut not director Francis Ford Coppola's more recent re-edit]
A woman goes to a pond with a bunch of dolls she has tied on a string, that she has poured acid on. She takes off all of her clothes and dives in. When she gets to the bottom of the water she sees a perfectly preserved body of a little girl.
According to director Francis Ford Coppola this was the scenario he described to Roger Corman as part of a movie that would eventually become "Dementia 13" (1963), Coppola's feature-length directorial debut.
With Corman's approval now all Coppola had to do was come up with a story. With such humble beginnings, it would be conveniently easy for the general public and the sheep ("movie critics") to look down upon "Dementia 13" as a cheap exploitative movie - something akin to the theatrics of William Castle. Note the "D-13" test advertised on the movie's poster. But to merely view the movie as such is to purposely ignore everything else the movie has to offer.
The movie's opening sequence of a married couple (Luana Anders and Peter Read) bickering out in the middle of a lake in a row boat introduces themes of murder, greed, deceit and social class as the privileged John (Read) has a heart attack but not before we are informed his mother plans on leaving her fortune to charity. Louise (Anders) believes there's still a chance to convince the mother to change her will. But with John's death she stands to inherit nothing. Her plan is to dispose of John's body and hide his death from the family.
Louise, an American, is visiting John's family in Ireland as they commemorate the death of the mother's youngest child, Kathleen. Louise will inform the family John had to go away on business for a few days as she will stay behind. This, she believes, will allow her the needed time to warm up to her mother-in-law. If it sounds like I've given away the entire movie, rest assured. What I have described all occurs within the first 10 minutes of the movie.
With her cover-up of John's absence seemingly not meeting much resistance Louise begins to exploit her mother-in-law's grief, claiming she hears whispers of a child's voice calling out for its mother. Naturally the mother-in-law, Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) interprets this as her daughter trying to contact her. This presents the timeless theme of calling out those that try to capitalize on our fears and grief (i.e. televangelists and politicians).
But Louise soon becomes a woman who knows too much as events leads us to Coppola's first envisioned scenario as she must avoid being on the receiving end of an ax swinging murderer. What secrets are the Haloran family concealing? And who will be safe from the chopping block?
From it's opening sequence to it's ending Coppola combines a melting pot of inspirations ranging from "A Place in the Sun" (1951), Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Edgar Allan Poe to Alfred Hitchcock and "Psycho" (1960) and even Corman's own Poe adaptations.
Despite the movie's small budget and Coppola's lack of proficiency in the horror genre he does display a knack for this type of genre filmmaking. Notice how in the first scene Coppola creates an eerie tone with a less than minimal set and production design comprise of nothing more than a boat, water, a radio and a pitch black background. Coppola foreshadows later plot revelations concerning the importance of water. This scene is followed by the movie's title sequence which also emphasizes water. The credits are played over an effective score by Ronald Stein, who had scored prior Corman movies.
As mentioned Coppola is drawing inspiration from many sources and the young filmmaker is able to visually reference different movies and styles. Take for example his clever nod to Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" (1941) - Welles directorial debut as well. As Louise begins to devise her plan to bring Lady Haloran into her confidence by her manipulating methods, she searches the deceased Kathleen's room. She finds a wind-up toy baby doll which begins moving over pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. Both movies use the jig-saw as a metaphor for trying to assemble an individual's mysterious life and death. While the baby toy is a reference to Kathleen. Coppola does even more foreshadowing as Louise next encounters another wind-up toy. This time of an animal chopping wood with a ax.
And notice how Coppola draws comparisons to Hitchcock's "Pyscho" in the scene with Louise by the pond with the dolls. She is wearing black clothes and as she removes them is left in white underwear. The same device Hitchcock used for Janet Leigh with black signifying evil and white for purity. When Leigh meets her end she is in a shower as here Louise is by a pond - again the emphasis on water. When the ax murderer first attacks we never see his blade touch a body. The same device Hitchcock used in the shower scene. Coppola keeps on-scene violence to a minimal while still creating suspense.
Luana Anders gives the movie's best performance as a kind of Hitchcock blonde. She plays both sympathetic and villainous - hence the black and white. Her character is sharp and quick on her feet and really makes the screen come to life when she is on it.
At a mere 24 years old Coppola explores themes in "Dementia 13" he wouldn't tackle the same way again. Louise's disillusionment with her life could be compared to Coppola's "Rain People" (1969). A family dealing with murder and secrets can bring to mind "The Godfather" (1972). The guilt associated with the possibility of being responsible for a person's death was explored in "The Conversation" (1974).
"Dementia 13" may not be the greatest of directorial debuts or anywhere near Coppola's best but there is an amazing display of talent and knowledge of film history shown here. The movie is suspenseful and well acted and hardly as exploitive as one may think.
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