Review of Crescendo (1970) by Allan C — 01 Nov 2015

Interesting though flawed horror chamber piece. Stefanie Powers plays an American grad student who travels to France to research deceased composer by staying with her family. The film never leaves the family compound and includes a drug addict wheelchair bound son, evil nurses, menacing bodyguards, and a domineering patriarch.

Oh, and there's an evil twin brother of the composer too, who's locked up in the attic. I was fascinated to see a young Joss Ackland, who I'm used to seeing as an older guy. But most of interest to me is that this film was originally pitched to Hammer Studios by Michael Reeves, who made the fascinating "Wtichfinder General.

" I'm a huge fan of Reeves, even if he only made one great film, but he's kind of like James Dean, where he died young just at the start of what should have been a great career. Reeves wrote the original screenplay, although his script was significantly change by the time this film reached the screen and he doesn't even receive a story credit.

Still, you can tell there are seeds of something better just below the surface.