70'S FOCUS : TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS ... 1973 ..

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TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS
Starring
KIM NOVAK as Auriol Pageant

JOAN COLLINS as Bella Thompson

JACK HAWKINS as DR Nicholas

DONALD HUSTON as Sam Patterson

MICHAEL JAYSTON as Brian Thompson

SUZY KENDALL as Ann Patrick / Beatrice

PETER MCENERY as Timothy Patrick / Albert

DONALD PLEASENCE as DR R.C.Tremayne

GEORGIA BROWN as Fay Patterson

MARY TAMM as Ginny Pageant

FRANK FORSYTH as Uncle Albert

RUSSELL LEWIS as Paul Patterson

MICHAEL PETROVITCH as Kimo

Assistant Director - Peter Saunders

Director of Photography - Norman Warwick B.S.C

  Music by Bernard Ebbinghouse

    Art Director -  Roy Walker



    Screenplay by Jay Fairbank(Jennifer Jayne)



      Edited by Bernard Gribble

        Produced by Norman Priggen



          Directed by Freddie Francis



                 ------------



DON'T POINT THAT THING AT ME DEAR!









At his private clinic, DR Tremayne (Pleasence), has been monitoring four of his mental patients, each with a strange background. An old friend DR Nicholas (Hawkins), arrives to see how he is progressing and hears each of their tales!

"MR TIGER"

          Young Paul has an imaginary friend, who is eating the family out of house and home. When his parents decide to put a stop to the boys strange behaviour, little do they know, that they are next on the menu!



DARLINGS I AM THINKING OF BRANCHING OUT!



"PENNY FARTHING"



               Timothy Patrick (MCENERY) and his girlfriend Ann (Kendall), run an antique shop, when his aunt dies, she leaves him her antiques. But he soon finds hinself caught up in the past and under the influence of his late Uncle Albert (Forsyth), with fiery consequences!

"MEL"





     Brian Thompson (Jayston), lives in a woodland bungalow with his headstrong wife Bella (Joan). But Bella soon finds herself competing for Brian's affections, from a malevolent tree, he had just brought home! But when it comes to the crunch...Who will get the chop!!

"LUAU"



AURIOL DEMONSTRATES THE BAT STROKE!



      Auriol Pageant, a literary agent, agrees to let her latest star client Kimo, a south seas, American educated writer stay at her luxury home. But Kimo has a dark secret and takes an interest in her daughter Ginny. In the end, Auriol will get a cut of Kimo's profits... But it is a cut of Ginny, he wants!!

DR Nicholas listens to each tale, but fails to be impressed and poor demented Tremayne is taken away to join the other patients, leaving Nicholas alone to discover the true Tales That Witness Madness!!

 (1973)  PARAMOUNT  RATED 15  90 MINS  COLOUR

This was Joan's second venture into the portmanteau film and her second for director Freddie Francis. They had both worked together the previous year on the now classic "Tales From The Crypt". Joan's segment is one of the more memorable stories, if not the most ludicrous, as she has to compete with a tree, for her husbands affections! Although she has had to act with many wooden actors in her time, this had no comparison! The film was also notable for been the first film in three years for Hollywood legend Kim Novak. But she was not originally slated to star in the film, but another Hollywood great, Rita Hayworth. But she was in the latter stages of Alzheimer's and her behaviour on the set was erratic. Rita could not remember her lines, while on occasion prone to violent outbursts. She finally ran away from the Shepperton set, after only four days and went back to America. Kim Novak had stated that she had not made any films for a few years, as she had not been offered any good roles. One wonders why she decided to do this film, as it was hardly Oscar material! The film proved to be the final screen appearance of actor Jack Hawkins, who had been suffering with throat cancer. His voice was dubbed by actor Charles Gray, Hawkins sadly died before production finished on the film. Joan had appeared with Jack in her first big Hollywood release "Land Of The Pharaoh's". Donald Pleasence would go on to star with Joan in the 1975 shocker, "I Don't Want To Be Born", while Georgia Brown would co-star in "The Bawdy Adventures Of Tom Jones", where Joan played Black Bess. The film got mixed reviews, most of them not very good.





DARLING! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR TREE!







VILLAGE VOICE 



MY HUSBAND HAS BECOME A TREE SURGEON!



" In "Tales That Witness Madness", the humour lacks wit, the horror lacks poetry. Kim Novak's reappearance is easily eclipsed by Joan Collins, who still looks a knockout, two decades after "Land Of The Pharaoh's".

So although the film got bad reviews, Joan continued to stand out, even within a notable cast. Viewed in the context of the horror genre, it's certainly an enjoyable film. It was available on video many years ago, but sadly it still has to surface on DVD....





 (C) 2011  MARK MC MORROW