Directed by:
Jack GoldScreenplay:
John BrileyCinematography:
Arthur IbbetsonComposer:
Michael J. LewisCast:
Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, Lee Remick, Harry Andrews, Alan Badel, Marie-Christine Barrault, Jeremy Brett, Michael Hordern, Gordon Jackson, Michael Byrne (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Detective Brunel (Lino Ventura) investigates a mysterious series of disasters. The events begin happening shortly after writer John Morlar (Richard Burton) is hit over the head by an unknown intruder and rendered comatose. Slowly, Brunel begins to connect the strange things that are happening with the deranged dreams of the comatose Morlar. He gets the final clue from Morlar's psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfield (Lee Remick), who holds the key to Morlar's past. Once it is discovered that Morlar has the ability to think horrible thoughts and make them come true, Brunel and Zonfield must hurry to a London cathedral, where the Queen is scheduled to make an appearance - but Morlar is thinking about the cathedral, and it is crumbling fast. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
Old school. When you show a statue in the first scene, it’s obvious that in the next scene someone is going to get hit over the head with it. A horrifying jigsaw puzzle where each piece has its place and the resulting picture of ruin is soul-destroying. Richard Burton’s presence gives the key scenes the right timbre, making revelation of the victim’s past all the more powerful. Lino Ventura came across a little like a French De Niro (maybe because of the dubbing) and the role of Brunel fitted him like a glove. Most of today’s would-be mystery hybrids come nowhere near it. This was superb.
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After a second viewing, it definitely deserves five stars. The Medusa Touch is an incredibly escalating film that creeps stealthily from the chilling beginning, hissing like a snake, occasionally sticking out its imaginary horns (yes, I know a snake doesn't have horns), but only attacking you with all its force in the final 20 minutes. The thrilling experience of Burton's and Ventura's performance is underlined by the essentially brilliant music, Gold's direction caters to it all and makes it TRULY one of the most thrilling films of all time.
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This movie is pleasantly sinister and mysterious at the start, and then, towards the end it is very chilling and pessimistic. Richard Burton and Lino Ventura are both great and propel this forward, and they pretty much do not share any dialog on screen in the entire movie. While watching this, it is quite possible to predict where the whole thing is heading, but the entire conclusion is the most sound, astonishing, and surprising point of the movie. For the overall thickly horror atmosphere, I felt like putting it on again the day after, so why not incline towards giving this a higher rating?
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So this might be the inspiration for Shyamalan’s masterful Unbreakable. In terms of screenplay and direction, The Medusa Touch is not only an excellently escalated thriller, but also intelligent, chilling, atmospheric, disturbing and pessimistic. And thanks to Lino Ventura operating in London, it also has a nice pan-European feel. By the way, doesn’t this actor kind of look like a muscly version of Robert de Niro? :-)
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A hugely impressive mystery that relies not only on excellent performances and music, but more importantly on thoughtful direction that gradually builds up to a chilling finale that slams the door of accumulated depression and distress in your face, leaving the freaked-out viewer in the same room with characters. The clever structure of the plot and the gradual revelation and explanation of various motifs leaves no time to breathe thanks to masterfully executed time transitions, and Jack Gold manages to keep his characteristic authorial signature despite the constant work with expectations and genre duality. Plus Richard Burton in perhaps his most iconic role, and certainly his scariest. 90%
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