Tales That Witness Madness (1973)

Friday night I reclined in my chair and pushed “Play” to start streaming Tales That Witness Madness (1973) on Amazon Prime. Although the temperature has warmed in Minneapolis and I’ve stopped wearing additional clothing when I watch TV, the movie (a first time watch) fell over me like a warm blanket… like a was experiencing an Amicus anthology.

That’s good, because it’s not an Amicus anthology. It’s a rare one-off not produced by Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky, but by Norman Priggen, who got his start in the business with Circus of Horrors (1960) and preceded Tales That Witness Madness as Executive Producer on The Creeping Flesh.

Tales That Witness Madness has some Amicus cred, though. It was written by Jennifer Jayne, an actress from They Came from Beyond Space (1967) and was directed by Freddie Francis, who helmed several Amicus films before this, including one of the best, Tales from the Crypt (1972.)

I’m not sure why it has a bad reputation. (Kim Newman called the film, “unreleasable.”) I thought it was no better or no worse than the average anthology film, Amicus or not. The primary difference for me was that most anthologies save the best story for last. In this case, “Mr. Tiger” was first. As if sensing its impact, the movie at least circles back to it during the wraparound story at the end.

“Mr. Tiger” is about a young boy, Paul (Russell Lewis), who creates an imaginary friend when his parents’ nightly arguing causes him to retreat into his bedroom. Of course, no one believes him, but when he reaches a breaking point, Paul’s room suddenly becomes devoid of adults and is redecorated with splashes of red.

The idea of the second story, “Penny Farthing,” is promising, but I’ll be honest… I didn’t understand the ending. When Timothy (Peter McEnery) inherits a portrait of Uncle Albert (Frank Forsyth) and his old penny-farthing, he’s literally transported to the past to court Albert’s former love, Beatrice (Suzy Kendall.) Albert lurks in the park while Timothy is there and there’s some kind of body switcheroo… maybe?

My second favorite story is “Mel,” in which Brian (Michael Jayston) drags home a human-shaped tree and becomes obsessed with it, perhaps falling in love. His wife, Bella (Joan Collins) isn’t too happy about it and tries to defend her territory from an abstract object that is suddenly not immobile. The ending is comical, but also perfect for the story.

Then there’s my least favorite, at the end no less, “Luau.” It seems like the longest and is the most sordid, but lacks any surprise or punch whatsoever at the end. Auriol (Kim Novak) tries to woo a client, Kimo (Michael Petrovitch) with a big party, but he and his assistant, Keoki (Leon Lissek), have different plans when they meet her daughter, Ginny (Mary Tamm.)

My suggestion for the story would have been to drop the introduction that spoils the surprise and weave it into the story, dropping clues so that we figure it out about the same as the characters. Then, I’d slap some kind of stinger on it; specifically, take a peek at the movie poster, an image that is not in the film.

While the stories are among those of an average Amicus anthology, the wraparound, while decent, plays like a faint copy of Asylum, released the year before. Both take place in a mental hospital and feature characters with stories that explain how they arrived there. While Asylum has a clever plot point to drive it forward, Tales That Witness Madness tries to be mysterious, saving the overall purpose of the movie until the end. Intriguing, yes, but ultimately a little disappointing.