Review: Night Tide

Dennis Hopper is a sailor on leave hanging around Venice Beach when he catches sight of pretty Linda Lawson in a jazz bar. He awkwardly tries to chat her up, but after a strange woman (The singularly named Cameron, an occultist in real-life apparently) speaking a foreign language approaches them (in a scene right out of “Cat People”), Lawson excuses herself and leaves abruptly. Hopper follows after her and after talking a bit, she agrees to see him again the next day for breakfast. Turns out she’s part of a carny attraction pretending to be a mermaid. However, after chatting to some locals (including Luana Anders), Hopper learns that there are sinister rumours about Lawson, including the deaths of two previous suitors. Lawson herself, meanwhile, tells him something even crazier…she’s a REAL mermaid! Gavin Muir plays the drunken ‘Captain’ who runs the mermaid sideshow gimmick, claiming to have rescued the orphan as a young girl from Mykonos.

 

Moody, but not entirely successful oddity from 1961 that has admirable elements, but doesn’t add up to a satisfying whole. Written and directed by debutant Curtis Harrington (who went on to direct “What’s the Matter With Helen?”, and “Killer Bees”), this one has undeniably interesting mood, atmosphere, and lovely cinematography (predominantly) by ace cameraman Floyd Crosby (“Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “Comedy of Terrors”). It’s nice, noir-ish stuff with interesting beachside scenery, at times it felt like a Val Lewton chiller. In fact, I felt like I was watching “Cat People” crossed with “The She Creature”, but less horror-oriented (It’s more quietly eerie mood piece than creature feature, aside from one brief nightmare sequence and a title taken from Edgar Allen Poe).

 

It’s just that the performances are mostly negligible, and the story is a bit lacking in, well…stuff. It plays like an episode of “The Twilight Zone” uncomfortably stretched to feature length (Indeed, Harrington based it on a short story he wrote). It’s an interesting idea for a film, it just hasn’t had much meat added to its bones to entirely get it up to snuff. The look is the most cinematic thing about it.

 

The AIP-esque music score by David Raksin (“Laura”, “The Bad and the Beautiful”) is awfully cheap-sounding, and inappropriately jazzy. Most of the acting is seriously stiff, even Hopper at times, though he shows a somewhat interesting sensitivity on occasion as well. I’m pretty sure he was stoned throughout filming, it certainly seems that way for the most part. Linda Lawson fares best as the maybe-sorta-kinda mermaid, though her disappearing accent after 45 minutes is just weird. What the hell happened there?

 

It’s not a good film, but it makes for an interesting curio, if you’re somewhat patient and forgiving. This one’s definitely got something…it just doesn’t quite add up to a worthwhile film on the whole outside of pure curiosity. Although Harrington later claimed Crosby shot most of the film, the credits still list Vilis Lapenieks (“Cisco Pike”, “Planet of Blood”) as sole cinematographer here.

 

Rating: C+