The POWER

   Film (1968). Galaxy/MGM. Prod George PAL. Dir Pal, Byron HASKIN, starring George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Nehemiah Persoff, Michael Rennie. Screenplay John Gay, based on The Power (1956) by Frank M. ROBINSON. 109 mins. Colour.

   Without the spectacular special effects of Pal's earlier sf films, TP concentrates instead on suspenseful plotting and the clever investing of apparently ordinary situations with a sense of menace, coming-with considerable success - as close to film noir as Pal ever approached. It tells of a MUTANT supermind VILLAIN, masquerading as an ordinary human, who is eliminating, piecemeal, a group of scientists who suspect his existence. One (Hamilton) survives not only murder attempts but also efforts to make him a non-person, all records of his past being deleted one by one. The reason for his survival, as he himself finally learns, is that he too is a mutant: everybody's favorite cliche in pulp-sf yarns about PSI POWERS. The film ends with a battle of wills between the two superminds - a literally heart-stopping event. The interesting script and taut direction led critic John BAXTER to call it "one of the finest of all sf films". It is certainly, aside from WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953), Pal's best sf production.

   PN/JB