The Power (1968)

The Power is a 1968 film based on the same titled science fiction novel by Frank M. Robinson. Its protagonist, a researcher named Tanner, discovers evidence of a person with psychic abilities among his coworkers. As he tries to uncover the superhuman, his existence is erased and his associates murdered, until he faces a showdown with an apparently undefeatable opponent.

Produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin, it was substantially changed in the John Gay screenplay, moving the location to San Marino, California, changing most of the characters' names (although retaining the surnames of Tanner, Nordlund, and department head Professor Van Zandt), and eliminating several subplots and characters, presumably to fit the story into a 108-minute film.

George Hamilton starred as Professor Jim Tanner, Suzanne Pleshette as his teammate and romantic interest Margery Lansing (Marge Hanson in the novel), and Michael Rennie (famous among science fiction movie fans as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still) as new government liaison Mr. Nordlund. Otherwise, the story proceeds in a fashion similar to the novel, except for a somewhat different twist to the conclusion.

This somewhat obscure movie is memorable for a number of intriguing scenes, including murder by centrifuge, a seemingly possessed "Walk / Don't Walk" sign, toy soldiers firing with real gunpowder, and winking inanimate objects (the last two also in the novel). The soundtrack also memorably features a beating heart to signal the mind-control attempts and eerie music from a cymbalum (a hammered dulcimer-like instrument) accompanying the more suspenseful moments. The music, written by Oscar-winning composer Miklós Rózsa, actually contributes an amusing fourth wall-breaking moment when Tanner, hearing the haunting tune, seems to expect a new disaster, only to be visibly relieved when he finds a cymbalum-violin duet being performed in the hotel lobby. The score for this film was Rózsa's final score for a film produced by MGM, for whom he had scored numerous films throughout his career.

One of special effects animation wizard George Pal's least-known films is also one of his most impressive.

Unlike most George Pal productions which emphasize special effects, The Power is a literate, down-to-earth thriller with only a modicum of stop-animation work.

The impressive supporting cast features a wealth of familiar faces, all giving impressive performances: apart Michael Rennie, Arthur O'Connell, Aldo Ray, Earl Holliman, Ken Murray, Barbara Nichols, Nehemiah Persoff and Yvonne De Carlo. The movie has an increasingly eerie tone that at times suggests the atmosphere of both John Frankenheimer's Seven Days in May and Basil Dearden's The Man Who Haunted Himself. Hamilton, who was all-too-often cast as a pretty boy, does well playing a man suffering from both physical and psychological torture in his quest to clear his name. There's also plenty of retro-chic sex appeal from a wealth of glamor girls cast in supporting roles (including a bizarre screen credit that reads "Miss Beverly Hills"!).