Horror films were a major feature of the British cinema in the sixties and seventies, and portmanteau horror anthologies, combining several stories in a single film, were a recognised sub-genre during this period. And this is a good example. Most of these anthologies were produced by Amicus Productions, Hammer's main rivals in the horror stakes, but "Tales That Witness Madness" was produced by World Film Services. Joan Collins, who appears here, had the previous year featured in an Amicus anthology, "Tales from the Crypt".
The five stories are linked together by a framework in which Dr Tremayne, a psychiatrist in a mental asylum, reveals to a colleague, Dr Nicholas, the case histories of four of his patients. In "Mr Tiger", Paul the young son of unhappily married and constantly quarrelling parents, has an invisible tiger as his imaginary friend.
In "Penny Farthing" Timothy, an antiques dealer, inherits from his aunt a portrait of an elderly gentleman whom he names "Uncle Albert" and a penny farthing bicycle. Both these items appear to have strange properties. Uncle Albert's eyes seem to follow Timothy around the room, and whenever he climbs on the bicycle he travels back in time to the Victorian era where he becomes Albert as a young man and his girlfriend, Ann, becomes Albert's sweetheart Beatrice.
In "Mel" a young man finds an old dead piece of wood, with a vague resemblance to the shape of a human being, in his garden. He brings this object, which he names "Mel", into his house, much to the disgust of his wife. And in "Luau", a literary agent named Auriol falls in love with her handsome new client, a native Hawaiian, but he seems more interested in her attractive teenage daughter.
Auriol was originally to be played by Rita Hayworth, but she dropped out soon after shooting started. (Her part was taken by another big-name American star, Kim Novak). She probably dropped out after reading the script, because this is a Film that Witnesses Madness if there ever was one. Madness, that is, on the part of the scriptwriter who came up with it and of the producer, director and actors who agreed to have anything to do with it. Of the five stories, the only one which makes any sort of sense is "Luau", and even that only makes sense if one is prepared to swallow the racist idea that native Hawaiians are all practitioners of devil worship, human sacrifice and cannibalism. The other three case histories, and the framework story about the two psychiatrists, seem completely lacking in any internal logic or any satisfactory explanation for their final denouements.
This was the last film of Jack Hawkins, a popular British actor of the fifties and early sixties. He had lost his voice after an operation for throat cancer in 1965, but continued acting with his parts being voiced by other actors, here by Charles Gray. He was to die soon after making this film, and it must be said that he deserved a better swan-song. Something like "Tales from the Crypt" is often lurid and shocking, but can also at times be compelling and watchable. "Tales that Witness Madness", by contrast, is almost throughout virtually unwatchable, except by those masochistic film buffs who enjoy watching bad movies so that they can laugh at just how bad they are. 3/10.
The five stories are linked together by a framework in which Dr Tremayne, a psychiatrist in a mental asylum, reveals to a colleague, Dr Nicholas, the case histories of four of his patients. In "Mr Tiger", Paul the young son of unhappily married and constantly quarrelling parents, has an invisible tiger as his imaginary friend.
In "Penny Farthing" Timothy, an antiques dealer, inherits from his aunt a portrait of an elderly gentleman whom he names "Uncle Albert" and a penny farthing bicycle. Both these items appear to have strange properties. Uncle Albert's eyes seem to follow Timothy around the room, and whenever he climbs on the bicycle he travels back in time to the Victorian era where he becomes Albert as a young man and his girlfriend, Ann, becomes Albert's sweetheart Beatrice.
In "Mel" a young man finds an old dead piece of wood, with a vague resemblance to the shape of a human being, in his garden. He brings this object, which he names "Mel", into his house, much to the disgust of his wife. And in "Luau", a literary agent named Auriol falls in love with her handsome new client, a native Hawaiian, but he seems more interested in her attractive teenage daughter.
Auriol was originally to be played by Rita Hayworth, but she dropped out soon after shooting started. (Her part was taken by another big-name American star, Kim Novak). She probably dropped out after reading the script, because this is a Film that Witnesses Madness if there ever was one. Madness, that is, on the part of the scriptwriter who came up with it and of the producer, director and actors who agreed to have anything to do with it. Of the five stories, the only one which makes any sort of sense is "Luau", and even that only makes sense if one is prepared to swallow the racist idea that native Hawaiians are all practitioners of devil worship, human sacrifice and cannibalism. The other three case histories, and the framework story about the two psychiatrists, seem completely lacking in any internal logic or any satisfactory explanation for their final denouements.
This was the last film of Jack Hawkins, a popular British actor of the fifties and early sixties. He had lost his voice after an operation for throat cancer in 1965, but continued acting with his parts being voiced by other actors, here by Charles Gray. He was to die soon after making this film, and it must be said that he deserved a better swan-song. Something like "Tales from the Crypt" is often lurid and shocking, but can also at times be compelling and watchable. "Tales that Witness Madness", by contrast, is almost throughout virtually unwatchable, except by those masochistic film buffs who enjoy watching bad movies so that they can laugh at just how bad they are. 3/10.