With the two stars basically reading their lines rather than acting them out, what could have scored a "10" here flows way down to just "good" rather than "excellent". The idea itself is excellent, a pre-"Three Faces of Eve"/"Lizzie" drama about an alleged split personality. Eric Fleming at some points is truly acting and at other parts, simply reciting his lines, as a psychiatrist who in the very first reel interferes on the police chase of a wanted murderer who threatens to jump off a roof until Fleming intervenes. It's Fleming's avant garde ways of dealing with various mental disorders that makes him a press darling, and that leads the pretty but bland Nancy Malone to come to see him in need of professional help. But he doesn't want to help her; He wants to date her. In their next scene, he is indeed counseling her, yet still anxious to get her to go out with him in spite of his claims that dating a patient is not a good moral thing for a psychiatrist to do. Today, his pursuit of her might stir up controversy and jeopardize his license, but for the mid 1950's, he seemingly gets away with it, even though part of her suspects dishonorable motives, although they are not obviously of a sexual nature.Anne, as it turns out, is living the ghostly life of a long dead beauty, the Baroness Mary Vetsera, who had an affair with the married Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, aka "the Mayerling incident", which lead to the murder/suicide of both of them when his emperor father demanded that the lovers break off. The ghostly baroness continues to haunt Fleming, admitting her hatred for Anne and the fact that Fleming is seemingly in love with her, and when Anne/Mary disappears, the police suspect that Fleming has killed her out of unrequited love. Fleming takes the next step he needs in finding the missing Anne to cure her, but utilizing the incarcerated killer he coaxed off the roof to hypnotize him into thinking he's the crown prince, leading to a confrontation between the legal matters of the state prison, Fleming's desire to cure Anne, and Mary's desire to reconcile with her dead lover. It's a haunting story that is well written, but unfortunately weakly acted. It's apparently based upon a play, but I could not find any evidence of its existence. Still an interesting curio, it is interesting independent cinema that could have been a classic today had the leads had more of a spark than they do onscreen.

"Just relax and we'll have another look at your subconscious." A hypnotherapist, whose career has risen since he successfully put a serial killer on a bridge in a trance, allowing law enforcement to arrest him without incident, has taken on a new client he is also attracted to. This woman feels she might have criminal sensibilities and reaches out to him for help. It seems she can speak and write in German, quite possibly possessed by another. Dr. James Hamilton (Eric Fleming; Queen of Outer Space, who perished in a drowning accident at age 41) believes Ann Summers (Nancy Malone) is suffering from a dual personality disorder and is also falling in love with her. He needs to uncover what triggered this belief that she is a Baroness from 1889 who committed suicide with an Austrian Prince (who was unhappily married) because they were denied their love due to family disapproval. Cullen (Dean L Almquist) is a newspaper reporter who sneaks into Hamilton's office, listens to his recorded sessions with Ann, and writes what he hears despite the immoral invasion of privacy. When her sessions make front page news, Ann's psyche fractures and the Baroness Maria personality takes full control. Vanishing, the police suspect Hamilton might have killed her, and law enforcement tail the psychiatrist. Hamilton needs to find Ann, find the source behind what caused the disorder to begin with, and free her from Maria. He might have to use convicted murderer, George Morley (Frank Marth), because he is so easily susceptible to the power of suggestion, as a means to "kill" Maria for good.Talky, sluggishly paced, and not terribly exciting, the mis-titled "Fright" doesn't exactly illicit such a reaction. I think this film was meant to be called something else, to be honest, its being marketed as a chiller/horror is misleading to those who watch it. Fleming just isn't that charismatic, although he's pleasant and dashing as the leading man. Malone, although lovely, isn't exactly a barn-burner, either, to tell you the truth. It's the clunky direction, stiff and rather uninvolving which is too bad because the premise does sound intriguing on paper. Kind of hurt by its thrill-less performances and inability to make a potentially fascinating plot gripping, "Fright" is actually a snoozer.

This is a cheaply made "throwaway" movie from the 1950s. It has little going for it other than the kernel of an excellent tale. But, because there are a lot of plot problems, the overall effect is minimized. Too bad, as if it were remade the film could be great entertainment.The film begins with a psychiatrist coming upon the scene where a wanted murderer is threatening suicide. The cops are totally ineffective but the therapist is able to use his persuasive hypnotic skills to talk the man down. This part isn't psychological mumbo-jumbo, he just is able to use a simple hypnotic induction on an impressionable man to get him to surrender to the police.Interestingly, in the crowd at this same time is a lady who turns out to be very impressionable as well. In fact, as the psychiatrists makes suggestions to the killer, she also responds. This freaks her out and she tries to make an appointment with the psychiatrist. But, he has no room for new patients and his secretary tells the woman this.Now, at this point, insane decision #1 occurs. When the psychiatrist goes to his car, this impressionable blonde is waiting in his car for him. Any rational therapist would call the police, but instead the guy takes her on as a patient. Why? Well, because she's hot! In the course of their therapy, the psychiatrist is shocked as the lady seems to understand German and talks as if she were Viennese--but ONLY while under the influence of hypnosis! After a while, it appears that the lady might be the reincarnation of a famous baroness--one who died in a famous murder-suicide (see Wikipedia about the Mayerling affair with Crown Prince Rudolph if you want more information)! Here is the part I really did like and respect. Instead of the therapist automatically assuming that she has multiple personalities or this is a past-life regression (very popular themes in the 1980s due to the proliferation of movies and celebrities who espouse these ideas), he looks for a more rational alternative. This is actually very sound psychologically speaking and competent therapists would applaud the writer for this.It later turns out that the very impressionable lady was raised when she was young by an Austrian nanny and these ideas of Mayerling and the Baroness were spoken of by the nanny. This explained why the patient understood and spoke poor German--after all, she was quite young at the time and yet had no recollection of the nanny.However, here comes insane decisions #2 and 3. First, he dates his own patient! Nowadays, this will get your license revoked for unprofessional conduct. Second, the doctor's secretary lets an unknown and pushy guy bully his way into the office when the doctor is out. She tells him the doc isn't taking any new patients and he ignores her--going into the inner office to supposedly wait. Why didn't she call the police and why did she let him shut the door?! The guy turned out to be a reporter and he spent this time rifling through the doctor's stuff--including listening to recordings of his sessions with the impressionable hot lady! And, being a sleazebag reporter, he has the tapes transcribed and runs the story! After all, it sounded as if this lady was the reincarnation of a dead Baroness--a great story for a sleazy rag--especially since this same doctor was famous for the averted suicide weeks earlier! There is a lot more to the story than this. I won't ruin the surprise, but it is both exciting AND unprofessional AND stupid! All in all, some great ideas undone by a clumsy script. The acting isn't bad, however, but the project did little to advance the careers of anyone involved.

Shot in New York City locations, this film, also titled SPELL OF THE HYPNOTIST, opens with escaped murderer George Morley (Frank Marth) being trapped by police officers upon a high bridge, prompting a psychiatrist, Dr. James Hamilton (Eric Fleming) to attempt hypnotising, with the approval of the on-scene police supervisor, the killer whose vicious crimes he has been following through newspaper reports. An onlooker at the scene, Ann Summers (Nancy Malone) is apparently simultaneously also hypnotised and subsequently visits Hamilton at his office, with the doctor, attracted to the young woman, beginning treatments for her in a case that he perceives as an instance of dual personality, Ann's body ostensibly being shared with a reincarnated Austrian, Baroness Maria Vetsera, lover of Hapsburg Crown Prince Rudolph, and co-participant in the infamous sex scandal that culminated in the royal hunting lodge, Mayerling, with their mutual suicide pact in 1889. This manner of theme, that narrating a multiple personality disorder, requires a good deal of cinematic talent to be convincing, but such is not on board here, the film suffering not only from a poorly organised script and weak direction, but also from a particularly wooden Fleming, whose expressivity is nearly completely non-existent, a deadly flaw indeed in a story that is depicting his character as being in love with his patient. Malone tries hard but her lines, as with much of the screenplay's dialogue, are not credibly written, and the pacing of the piece is notably erratic with a result that a viewer will probably feel as little emotional involvement in the action as does the stoical Fleming.