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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, February 10, 2018

Fiend Without A Face (1958)

Starring Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Kim Parker, Stanley Maxted, Terence Kilburn
Directed by Arthur Crabtree
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Tensions between the military at a Canadian air base using atomic power and the people of a provincial community nearby rise when an invisible killer strikes down victims in the community.

Like First Man Into Space, this is another British science fiction production in a North American setting, which was per IMDB, filmed entirely in the UK, but featuring non-Brits or others masking their accents in the cast.  It's also the superior film, with the eerie sound effects of the murderous creatures building great suspense until a rollicking climax when the creatures become visible.  Thompson was well-established as a dependable lead in these types of pictures by this time, and he's supported by a reputable cast, but the picture really hums along thanks to Crabtree's skilled direction and strong technical effects which range from the clever to the grotesque.  Based on a story by Amelia Reynolds Long, there's several flights of fancy in the screenplay, but they never seem too fantastic, especially when the final confrontation between man and monster is so wonderfully realized and satisfying to watch.

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