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Death is a Number [1951] Though seldom hilarious, this 1952 exercise by producer-director Robert
Henryson would have delighted Edward Wood by stretching stock footage
into a brief feature [50 minutes]. A staid Terence Alexander wittering
in a library about numerology is hardly a substitute for Criswell, though
this does make an odd early credit for the British character actor [The
Magic Christian, Vault of Horror]. The whole
slight story is constructed around newsreel snippets [WWI tanks, 1930s
motor racing, rapid-canoeing in Canada] with a lengthy section set in
a burned-out, haunted manor house that consists of still photographs
overlaid with narration and the occasional superimposed wafts of smoke
or flame. Actually, quite a bit of ingenuity is employed in these segments,
which revolve around a window that conveys a family curse on the Dupont/Bridgeman
clan, though it becomes obvious that nothing is going to happen on screen,
to the extent that the very few characters not only rarely meet for
dialogue exchanges but seldom manage to get on screen even alone and
silent. Alexander, made up to look elderly, illustrates his points by
resolving all manner of numbers and code-words to nine and putting [apparently
real] books and charts on screen, alleging that Sussex [which is a nine
word] is the most haunted spot in all England and that Bridgeman [Denis
Webb] dooms himself to suffer from a gypsy witch's curse [that only
nine generations more of the family will be allowed] by driving a race
car with the nine number. Pretty silly but too short to be truly dull. First Published In: Shock Cinema Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com
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