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NIGHT TIDE
Quiet and eerie early-sixties horror from the famed auteur Curtis Harrington. It’s a bit overly subdued for my tastes, but still effective, with a fine lead performance by a young Dennis Hopper and an extremely atmospheric evocation of Venice Beach, California.
The Package
NIGHT TIDE was filmed in 1960, but wasn’t released until ’63. The budget,
raised with the help of B-movie impresario
Roger Corman, was around $75,000, and
the film was shot in various Southern California seafront locations, including
Venice Beach, the Santa Monica Pier, Pacific Ocean Park and the Long Beach
Pike.
It was the premiere feature by Curtis Harrington, then
known for his avant-garde shorts. That experience carries over into NIGHT TIDE,
which features the Aleister Crowley disciple Cameron (as, appropriately, the
“Lady in Black”) and whose script contains elements of AT LAND (1944), a classic
underground film by Maya Daren. Another influence was the Val Lewton produced
CAT PEOPLE (1942), from which Harrington admittedly lifted NIGHT TIDE’S overall
structure. Harrington would go on to make many more films and TV movies--GAMES
(1967), THE KILLING KIND (1973),
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? (1971) and
RUBY
(1977), to name a few--but NIGHT TIDE remains his best-known work.
The lead actor was 24-year-old Dennis Hopper, in his first-ever starring
role (following supporting parts in big budgeters like REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and
GIANT). His co-star, the mysterious and alluring Linda Lawson, has done little
in the ensuing years, despite the daunting impression she made in NIGHT TIDE.
The Story
Johnny Drake is a young sailor on leave in Venice Beach, CA. At a seaside
amusement park one night he strikes up a conversation with the alluring Mora,
and manages to wrangle his way into her private sanctum above a Merry-Go-Round.
Over breakfast the next morning Mora reveals that she works as a mermaid at the
amusement park where they met the night before; Johnny visits the park later on
to see Mora lounging at the bottom of a fish tank for the edification of leering
guests. A local woman warns Johnny that Mora had two boyfriends previous to him
who both died under suspicious circumstances, but Johnny becomes distracted by a
mysterious middle aged woman dressed all in black. Johnny follows the woman
through many of the skuzzier areas of Venice Beach, where she somehow manages to
elude him. By coincidence, however, he finds himself outside the home of Mora’s
boss Captain Murdock, who invites Johnny in and tells him the apparent truth
about Mora: she’s a real mermaid, descended from the unearthly sirens
that in Greek mythology lured ships to their doom.
Johnny is understandably skeptical of this account. However, the following
night he tells Mora what he’s learned and she confirms that she is indeed a
mermaid, and as such is constantly tormented by the ethereal voice of the sea.
She proves this, or seems to, by “sleepwalking” into the ocean, forcing Johnny
to wade out and rescue her. A few days later, on the eve of a full moon, Mora
invites Johnny to go scuba diving with her...and once the two are submerged
severs his oxygen tube and swims off. Devastated, Johnny returns to the
amusement park, where he peers into the mermaid tank to discover Mora’s corpse
and, standing nearby, Captain Murdock, who points a gun at Johnny and reveals a
shocking secret...
The Direction
This was Curtis Harrington’s first narrative feature, lensed on an
extremely low budget, which explains the many inconsistencies. The jazzy score
by David Raskin is superb, but the location sound recording is poor. Also, the
pacing is wonky, with some scenes, particularly a mid-film visit to a psychic,
allowed to drag on far too long. Harrington also had a penchant for shooting
through doorways, which leads to much annoyance, as the actors are always
opening doors and then never closing them.
But Harrington nevertheless manages to create a singularly haunting, almost
dreamlike aura that grows increasingly pervasive. As there’s little to no overt
horror, and the languid narrative isn’t exactly incident-packed, it’s best
simply to bask in the creepy atmosphere and unforgettable performances of Dennis
Hopper (in a rare nice-guy role) and Linda Lawson (who’s as darkly seductive as
any film noir heroine). Another draw is the superbly utilized So Cal beachfront
scenery, admittedly not a traditional horror movie landscape, though in
Harrington’s hands it nearly becomes one.
Vital Statistics
NIGHT TIDE
Filmgroup/American International Pictures
Director: Curtis Harrington
Producer: Aram Katarian
Screenplay: Curtis Harrington
Cinematography: Vilis Lapenieks
Editing: Jodie Copelan
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Luana Anders, Cameron, Gavin Muir, Marjorie
Eaton, Tom Dillon, H.E. West, Ben Roseman, Chaino