TORMENTED (1960)

This low-budget melodrama from Bert I. Gordon stars Richard Carlson as Tom Stewart, a jazz pianist who lets his voluptuous old flame Vi Mason (Juli Reding) fall to her death from a lighthouse railing.  The next day Tom searches for Vi’s body and recovers it from the sea, only to watch her body dissolve into kelpie seaweed.  Tom moves on and is set to marry Meg Hubbard (Lugene Sanders). Susan Gordon plays Meg’s adolescent sister Sandy.  Strange things start to happen to Tom and Meg —Meg smells perfume, Tom hears footsteps and has weird dreams.  Or are the dreams?

Two assets —well three, help Tormented. Assets 1 and 2, actress/smut mag model Juli Reding (sometimes spelled as Julie Reding) measurements were 40-23-35, and Asset 3, she is provocatively photographed by Hungarian-born cinematographer Ernest Laszlo (Judgement at Nuremberg, Stalag 17, Fantastic Voyage).  

The movie is pretty bad, but Bert I. Gordon (Mr. BIG) at least stocked the film with a gorgeous femme fatale.

I also like Richard Carlson (check out his lone directional effort Riders to the Sky, 1954), who’s in a ton of b-movies, and Susan Gordon as Sandy. She’s a likable kid and not a bad actor. Tormented has some moody scenes and decent camerawork.  It reminds me a bit of a William Castle film (some of the score was re-used by Allied Artists from Castle’s House on Haunted Hill).  Really, all that is lacking is a gimmick or other ruse for the audience.  The film’s worth a look.  There’s even a dismembered head scene!  Where did Juli’s body go?