Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2011 December 21 • Wednesday

Any movie photographed by John Alton is worth watching, but The Amazing Mr. X is a special case. It's from the same year as the Nightmare Alley movie and also involves phony psychics and seances. This is probably not a coincidence.

John Alton appears to have responded to the story's dependence on magic and the occult and been more explicit than usual with his own magic tricks.

Christine is a wealthy widow who thinks she's being haunted by the ghost of her dead husband Paul. She hears his voice calling to her at night. Her sister suggests that she heard a fog horn or some other such noise.

But Christine says no, it sounded just like—

—Paul.

Nice trick, having the light from the lamp shine through the picture. It's quite wonderful in the movie.

Christine goes to see a phony psychic played by Turhan Bey. He explains the gaudy appearance of his quarters by saying that it benefits some of his clients by creating—

—a certain—

—atmosphere.

If Turhan Bey's character were on the level, would we ever see him like this?

John Alton really surprised me with this next shot, which I always think of as a "film school" shot, the kind of thing you see a lot in TV commercials, weird points of view that are there just to grab your attention. I don't associate it with movies from 1948.

Christine and her sister have a whole scene talking while the camera shoots them from inside the sink. The water is running, as you can see, and Christine turns it on and off while we watch, so you know it's a real sink.

Alton gives us a couple more of these sorts of shots, first at Christine's first visit to Turhan Bey's place.

And later during a seance.

The photography is gorgeous throughout and the movie's success depends on it.