I Watch Films: Tales That Witness Madness

 

Tales That Witness Madness

Dr Tremayne (Donald Pleasance) tells his colleague Dr Nicholas (Jack Hawkins) that he has a novel cure for the inmates at the psychiatric hospital. He then relates the case details to him, these making up the component segments of this Portmanteau horror film.

In Mr Tiger a boy has a tiger as an imaginary friend; his parents bicker and complain until Mr Tiger reveals himself. In Penny Farthing an antique store owner gets a penny farthing bicycle and a portrait of Uncle Albert. Under the gaze of the picture he rides the penny farthing and finds himself back in Edwardian times, courting a woman, to the consternation of his modern day (1973) girlfriend. In Mel, a man finds a piece of wood in the forest and decides to display it as found art, ignoring his wife, to her even greater consternation. And in Luau, a literary agent flatters a Hawaiian star by putting on traditional feast, a luau, but it is taken over by dark Polynesian rituals.

This ends with Dr Tremayne bringing out the items to the patients and a dispute with Dr Nicholas that goes a bit off the rails; a classic portmanteau confused conclusion. All in all a bit of a mixed bag.

Watch This: Some fun and bloody stories, none outstaying their welcome
Don’t Watch This: The best ideas are dealt with briefly, the lesser ones unenjoyable