The Amazing Mr. X

1948

Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, Richard Carlson, John Alton, film noir

1948 B thriller shot by renowned cinematographer John Alton, who was also involved with the following films already available on the archive: T-Men (1947), He walked by night (1948), Hollow triumph (aka The scar) (1948), The crooked way (1949), Reign of Terror (1949) and The big combo (1955). IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040829/ Two years after the accidental death of her husband, Christine Faber (Lynn Bari) is trying to put her life back together and move forward. However, strange events lead her to believe that her husband is attempting to communicate with her, so she proceeds to consult the psychic Alexis (Turhan Bey). This worries her sister and her fiance, who suspect Alexis of being a crook and decide to prove so. This version (fetched from www.publicdomaintorrents.com) is brighter than the two versions already available on the archive, and does better justice to Alton's work. However, about a dozen seconds of the title scene are missing, so the nice piece of music that opens the film is truncated.

The Amazing Mr. X (1948 in film), also known as The Spiritualist, is a film noir directed by Bernard Vorhaus with cinematography by John Alton. Like Nightmare Alley (1947 movie) (1947), this film tells the story of a phony spiritualist racket. The film is prominently featured in Alton's book on cinematography Painting with Light (1949).
The film stars Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, and Richard Carlson (actor). Eagle-Lion Films signed a contract with Carole Landis for the part played by Bari, but Landis committed suicide a few days before shooting began. The film is in the public domain.<></>

Plot

File:TheAmazingMrX.jpg
Two years after her husband's death, Christine Faber (Lynn Bari) thinks she hears her late husband (Donald Curtis) calling out of the surf on the beach one night. She meets a tall dark man named Alexis (Turhan Bey) who seems to know all about her.
After more ghostly manifestations, Christine and her younger sister (Cathy O'Donnell) become enmeshed in the strange life of Alexis; but he in turn finds himself manipulated into deeper devilry than he had in mind.

Reception

At previews, audiences found parts of the film to be funny, resulting in unintended laughs.<></>

Notes

Category:1948 films
Category:American films
Category:Black-and-white films
Category:English-language films
Category:Films directed by Bernard Vorhaus
Category:American independent films
Category:1940s thriller films
Category:Eagle-Lion Films films

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Ben Stoloff