No comments at all?

Well, I just saw it, and I thought that it was, within certain limits, an excellent and riveting film. And this despite the fact that you can predict most of the plot twists rather easily before they are actually revealed. I especially appreciate the fact that they did not make Raymond a likable character outright; that way, we can see how thoroughly damaged he is as a person, from the very beginning.

Of course, the device with the cards, and the hypnosis in general, feels very gimmicky, but there's really no working around that. They could not possibly have done a better job with it than they did, and if you're willing to look beyond the implausibility of it, the effect is deeply rewarding.

The murders are deeply chilling. The moment when Raymond walks over the corpse of his wife with his upper body outside the shot is particularly brilliant. It encapsulates all that is good about the film still: how could somebody make another human being do something like this?


A

Sidenotes/Observations:

It seems they were going a certain way with Leigh's character but then decided not to. There is no doubt in my mind that any person watching the film will feel the same way that I did, which is to suspect her of being some kind of spy or agent. It's as if the director just dropped that plot element as we move toward the end, with her becoming more and more 'normal'. But the way the meeting between her and Sinatra's character is set up is simply too odd for a film of this kind.

Lansbury did a marvellous job. What a bitch Sinatra did very well too. I'm not as enthusiastic about Laurence Harvey, although he did fine enough.

I also can't say I'm impressed by the way the other men in the group of soldiers are totally cut off from the plot after the black guy sends Raymond a letter. They are in on this too, and it makes no sense for the film not to show us how they too are being consulted, etc.

An edgy, vicious satire.