THE CLAIRVOYANT
(a.k.a. THE EVIL MIND)
Gainsborough Pictures/Gaumont-British Picture Corp, UK, 1934, Not Rated
Hallmark Entertainment
CREW
Maurice Elvey Director
Charles Bennett Screenwriter
Glen MacWilliams Cinematographer

Background:

Every once in a while, I'll try to do something to lift my spirits and find entertainment to distract my mind from the care of everyday busyness.

And this year it seems, I'm rediscovering the experience of what I used to do as a child - watch movies from my favorite periods in cinema history.

While I was barely in my pre-school years in the early and mid-fifties, the new medium of television was beginning to catch on and television stations plunged into the rich reservoirs of film archives from the early 1920's and 1930's.

New York City, whence I hailed, particularly had a phenomenal treasure house. And what a gold mine that was - the Golden Age of Hollywood - before Hollywood began to corrode into, for the most part, a septic tank of digitalized special effect extravaganzas of little substance.

This 1934 British film, "The Clairvoyant" (a.k.a. The Evil Mind) first of all is British. This is an instant plus for me! Secondly, it features two of my favorite actors - Claude Rains and Fay Wray. That made it all the more worth while as far as I was concerned, and I proceeded to bid on it from eBay. There seems to be something happening in the auction business concerning Fay Wray movies, but I won this particular bid and several others.

This movie will not be considered a classic but it could very well be close to it. In it's genre, which I believe would be considered a thriller action drama, it perhaps failed to influence later versions but that doesn't mean it cannot stand alone as a semi-masterpiece.

At the very least the movie is entertaining. It retains your attention, and is anywhere from moderate to fast paced as was the case with most of the movies of that period.

It also has a touch of class and being British, great attention is given to detail to story line and characterization. The viewer can somehow relate both to the main story line and to the visual aspects such as the feelings being conveyed to the audience by the actors.

I'd like to diffuse some future comments if any. if this movie is a cliche, then it was the first cliche of it's kind and set the standard for other, perhaps inferior renditions to follow. I hear some reviewers of film say of the early films, "this film is dated and is archaic".

Is a Michaelangelo "archaic" because it was created during the Renaissance period? Of course not. The style, costumes, make up, lighting and scenery are of the period in which the movie was created. Period.

WELL, ENOUGH OF MY NOT TOO HUMBLE OPINIONS... AND ON WITH THE SHOW!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE PLOT:

From the beginning, this little unsung British suspense thriller directed by Maurice Elvey, sets the stage for what is to follow in the later tradition of the widely acclaimed Alfred Hitchcock films.

Sadly, Elvey never seemed to approach the stature of Hitchcock and is for the most part, forgotten in cinema history with the one exception of this magnificent film.

And what a pity that was.

A second rate British music-hall mind reading act goes sour and a charlatan is exposed to the gullible audience for what he is - a fraud. Yet, this revelation strangely triggers off a series of events which prove this "clairvoyant" is quite for real, very accurate and it seems is unable to stop the stream of horrific predictions or "prophecies" which are fulfilled - much to the mind reader's own amazement and utter revelation of his own impending doom.

THE ACTORS AND CHARACTERIZATIONS:

CLAUDE RAINS (as Maximus):
The lead in this 1934 movie falls on one of the finest character actors of this period - Claude Rains. Smooth and silky, this man who went on to star in other unforgettable films such as "The Invisible Man" with Gloria Stewart, "The Wolf Man" with Lon Chaney Jr. and the infamous French Inspector Louie in "Casablanca" with Bogart and Bergman, to name just a few, proves at an early age to be able to handle films as no other actor can.

"THE CLAIRVOYANT" is an unjustly obscure British picture from early in Rains' career that gives him a chance to shine in the lead role.

He exalts everything that is finesse, sophistication, and class all with a down to earth style as few others can compare. One gets the impression that he is "class" personified but somehow, one is aware that it's an act. A very well crafted act.

His style is emotion pure. Yet, it is controlled and manipulated emotion playing on the audience's emotions as the story unfolds before them. In all cinema history, this exquisite British actor and his masterful delivery of the mother tongue, brings him into the same league as with Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone. Elegance, style, and passion are all their's.

As the "Great Maximus", he has no "greatness" in any real sense. He and his family seem to be very likable people. His father, mother, and his young, beautiful wife Rene, form part of his "clarivoyant" act and they all seem to be just hard working people trying to earn a little less than an honest living.

Nothing malicious is implied, they are only making the audience believe something exists when it doesn't. Well, that's theatre, n'es pas? And to their horror, this semi fraudulent performance backfires one night at an evening show.

We gradually observe Claude Rains develop his character first from a second rate music hall entertainer into one in which his usual light-hearted and carefree mindset slowly realizes that he's into something he cannot control. This further reaches a climax when he must decide if he is to hold on to his "destiny" as an internationally known seer or to what brings him true happiness - but he cannot and will not have both.

FAY WRAY (as Rene, wife of Maximus):
Following her legendary performance as Ann Darrow in the unforgettable action classic, "King Kong", it seems this beautiful and talented actress left the United States to perhaps escape the big ape for a while. In England she made several movies of which one was "The Clarivoyant", filmed at the most distinguished Gainsborough Studios.

Not wearing her famous blonde wig any more, blue-eyed, reddish brown hair brunette (though photographed black), Fay Wray, portrayed another character quite unlike that of her most famous role.

As Rene, assistant to "Maximus the Great", Wray is simply extraordinary and outstanding as his side-kick, trusted confident, and fun-loving wife. One could almost say they were brother and sister having a field day at the county fair!

In this film, the audience sees a relationship they perhaps wished they had between husband and wife. While not a typical romantic chemistry existing between the two actors, (both are approximately the same size in stature), they do convey trust and deep seated love between themselves. It works. No sensual chemistry needed here.

Fay Wray even shows a most surprising gift for light comedy in a scene in which she is temporarily locked out of the theatre while her husband the great mind reader, approaches his cue for her phoney fed line. Her inability to be where she needed to be in order to say what she needed to say on cue, is what actually precipitates his being exposed as a phoney.

Her very poignant portrayal of the faithful wife and self-sacrificing companion can no better be seen as light comedy evolves into intense drama. She will easily bring you to join her in tears as she implores another woman, her nemesis Christine, to do her best to help save her husband from his dilema - in order to save his mind from insanity and his life from imprisonment. Fay Wray is at her best from one range to another of dramatic expression.

JANE BAXTER, (Christine Shaw, the other woman):
This characterization is perhaps the most disappointing in the entire film. She is just as lovely as Fay Wray and presumably just as talented but in this role, she falls far short of what she may have been indeed capable of portraying.

In "The Clarivoyant", Claude Rains can only prophecize in the presence of this "other woman". She is a medium which initiates his "visions" and he is her "channel". I remember I once had two abcess teeth - simultaneously. I looked exactly as she did throughout the entire picture. Except that her very sad, painfully depressing countenance was remenicent of a stomach ache instead.

That is the one emotion she manages to convey and there it stays! But she does hold one card which Rene does not. She is the "mind-mate" of Maximus. As he himself articulates to Rene on one occasion, "Christine understands me and what I go through as a clarivoyant." Oh yeah, sure.

Have you ever heard that one before? "Well, my wife just doesn't understand me like you do....."

In other words, the woman whose presence grants him real extra-sensory ability is not his wife. What else is there to understand girls?

Had the roles been reversed, I'm sure Wray would have handled the character of the other woman to it's max, but under Jane Baxter this characterization fails to deliver. The character of Christine Shaw could have stood more development.

THE SCREEN PLAY:
This film was written by Charles Bennett, better known for writing the screen adaptations for several of Alfred Hitchcock's finest movies, including "The 39 Steps", "Foreign Correspondent", and both versions of "The Man Who Knew Too Much". It starts out almost like a typical romantic English "teacup" comedy, and then, in the second half, takes a darker, more sinister direction. It becomes a foreboding of something terrible to come.

The pace of the movie is brisk, not too fast, but just right. It gradually transitions from one "prophecy" to another, ever reaching towards a crescendo and a disasterous climax - but not at an almost brutally intense and unbearable tempo as in, let's say, The Most Dangerous Game (1932-33). http://www.epinions.com/content_173148704388

From within the mind of Maximus itself, Bennet sustained an evolution. That is an evolution from a simple, not too ambitious, performer to the mind of a man all too aware of the responsibility and danger of uncontrolled power and all it brings. The pressures of fame, power, and destiny are well developed in this film - quite exceptionally.

No where is this expert use of tempo more observed than in the quickly paced series of prophecies which occur, each plunging Maximus into deeper depression and closer to insanity.

First came the vision of the impending train wreck from which he, his family, and a mysterious "other woman" emerge shaken but safely. Then, quickly, there comes the winning of a horse race by default despite the fact that his predicted horse came in second. This is followed by the most tragic vision of the death of his own mother. In a futile attempt to stop the fleeing Rene and restore her marriage to her son, the poor woman falls to her death down a flight of steps.

Then, equally tragic, comes his "prophecy" that there is about to occur a horrible mine shaft catastrophe. He rushed to warn the miners of the impending disaster; but his warning unheeded; he then finds himself being charged for manslaughter for the equivalent of crying "fire" in a crowded theatre.

THE SETS AND MOODS:

Whether representing a pier with a passenager ship or a crowded theatre, whoever was the set designer (credits were not available), no expense was seemingly spared and Cedric Gibbons should have taken notes. At the height of the Depression, you just know there had to be budget problems for this mini-spectacle. But sheer talent, lighting, play on shadows and the use of very little obvious special effects leaves the viewer wondering - "are you sure this was a budget production?"

The sets and lighting of the media room at a Derby race; the train wreck itself; a mob's attack on a London's fog-filled street right opposite Scotland Yard's offices; the heightened intensity of court room drama all are surpassed only by the mine shaft tragedy. And this was not a easy thing to accomplish.

I remember few films (of yesterday or today) where more detail and diligence is given to present a set as realistically as this one.

As a matter of fact, I just don't understand how this film has been so
totally ignored. It is an unsung semi-classic in so many ways, (such as The Most Dangerous Game), and well deserves to be viewed by enduring audiences.

THE ONLY FLAW OBSERVED:

The Family's love and devotion to one another - was too lovely and not very realistic. Especially the relationship between Maximus, Rene, and her mother-in-law. What devotion to each other! What fun-loving people enjoying each other's company! Everything was too "perfect" and I thought there should have been a little friction in the family at the very least. But even this could be over looked as the rest of the movie was a delight and I plan to view it again tonight.

There is an impending hurricane bearing down on South Florida and tonight I plan to hook up my Ibook laptop and "go for it" while the light holds up. This is entertainment well worth digging into again and enjoying thoroughly - even by the light of a hurricane lamp. God Bless You all for taking the time to read this lengthy review.

But don't cheat yourselves. Get a copy of this jewel and engross yourselves soon. And enjoy another moment when The Movies Were Golden!





Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12