Muerte en el fondo del mar

This film excels both as a good narrative (though it borrows heavily from "Cat People"), but also on a deeper, symbolic level. While Dennis Hopper had small roles before this, "Night Tide" casts him as a lead, and he fares well. Reviewer Rick McGrath says, "Hopper's acting in Night Tide is, I think, ultimately suspect. It's fun to see him so young, so cute in his tight navy suit, but he plays Johnny Drake as a bumbling, nervous, fidgety, slightly stupid loner ... so much so he often seems dislocated from the action and his co-stars." I don't know that I agree. Surely he comes across as nervous and shy at times, but bumbling? Clearly his character was designed to be young and inexperienced -- this is necessary for the scene in which he confronts Captain Murdock (Gavin Muir) in his home and is told tales of the Sirens and is shown a dismembered Arab hand. A hardened sailor wouldn't be so spongelike for forbidden knowledge.

McGrath refers to this film as "a psychosexual tale of freudian camp and hilarity". I think it's deeper than that. Yes, there's more sexuality than is presented on screen, but I don't accept the absurd premises of McGrath, who goes so far as to say one scene involving a dock is "phallic". No way. Is the film campy and hilarious? To a point, sure. It's the early 1960s and the budget is low. But the writer and director, Curtis Harrington, seems to have a vision and executes it with finesse. The opening scene clues us in that Harrington is a man who cares about visuals, and we are reminded of this again alter on when we see Mora close up in the sideshow mermaid tank. He frames shots to reveal not just an object, but an emotion.

The casual viewer may overlook the literary and occult themes present in this short film, but I think the flower that is "Night Tide" cannot fully bloom without this understanding. As revealed in the closing credits, the film takes its name from a verse in Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee":

"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling - my darling - my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea."

The poem highlight's Poe's love of a woman so strong it stretches beyond death, and also happens to be the last complete poem he ever wrote, in essence his "last words". The macabre nature of the poem underscores the hidden darkness of "Night Tide" that may not be apparent to all viewers.

Captain Murdock is a man with a rich sense of literature and philology. He is clearly familiar with Greek legends, as he relates the tale of the Sirens briefly to Drake. Presumably he is also the one who named Mora after finding her on a Greek island (assuming her origin is truthful). The name "Mora" is likely a variation of the Greek name "Moira", one of the Fates of legend. Her name translates roughly to "fate", "destiny" or "doom", a fitting moniker for a woman who is the death of her lovers. Murdock also paraphrases a notable line from Shakespeare's Hamlet:

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

As an aside, it is worth noting that Harrington named his main character "Drake", a male duck, which may be symbolic of Johnny's being torn between land and sea, as ducks are comfortable equally with both. This is clear from his career as a Navy man who spends his time on the ocean, but seems more at home on the shore. And, of course, it parallels his love of Mora, the creature of the sea, with the relative safety of the land where she is unable to lure him to a watery grave.

Most viewers will miss the occult connection, as it is not made overtly clear in the film. The only sign we have to go off of is Murdock's address in Venice, 777 Saabek Lane. "777" may be familiar to Biblical scholars as one of the numbers of perfection -- 7, the number of God himself, combined with 3, the unity of the trinity. It is alluded by this address that Murdock is a man of knowledge and power, both mysterious and esoteric. But also, this is a number associated with Aleister Crowley, the famed English occultist. This is no mere coincidence, as Crowley has a connection to this film.

His connection comes through the woman who plays the "water witch" that speaks the odd language, Marjorie Elizabeth Cameron (1922-1995). Cameron was the wife of rocket scientist Jack Parsons, a friend of Alesiter Crowley who was hand-chosen to lead California's Agape Lodge in 1942. Parsons, incidentally, was also a magick partner with Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Cameron came to be involved with "Night Tide" as she had partied with co-star Dennis Hopper in the 1950s, and worked with Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger in 1954's "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome" -- Anger was another Crowley devotee, who also knew Manson Family member Bobby Beausoleil. He later associated with Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. To say that Cameron, Hopper and Harrington had connections to Crowley and the occult would be a mere truism, and that occult symbolism figures into "Night Tide" should not be considered a stretch.

(Review considered too long by IMDb... see Killer Reviews for complete write-up.)

Sailor on shore-leave meets and falls for a mysterious woman who works as a carnival mermaid on the California coast. Is she a neurotic or actually a descendant of the Sirens? Moody mystery isn't quite the thriller it was advertised as. It has a straightforward narrative and very few actual surprises, but there are surreal bits, a great beatnik party on the beach, terrific black-and-white cinematography, and handsome, pre-hippie Dennis Hopper at his most grounded and friendly (and polite!). The film hopes to absorb its audience by means of atmosphere and little red herrings, not big shocks. I admired the film, but it's not to every taste. **1/2 from ****

Don't get me wrong... I don't think this is a great achievement in film making.

I stumbled across this movie on late night TV, back in the early days of UHF, when, at 13 or 14, it was very exciting to me to have new channels that were so low budget that they showed things that, in the light of mainstream, 3 channel, VHF programming, seemed very much like they were being beamed in from another galaxy.

Through the lens of adolescent angst that I saw it through, this is a movie about unbearable loneliness, brilliantly captured by Dennis Hopper, whose only way out of his loneliness is through a beautiful woman from another world that he can't fully understand.

Like Kabuki theater on Darvon, he moves through the shadows of this overfiltered dreamworld of seaside 1960. The real monster is loneliness, and unlike most horror movies, the monster wins this one.

The setting, the off season seaside resort (and it could have been any, not just Venice Beach) was perfect, being there by oneself is possibly the loneliest experience one could have, hinting at a livelier, fun=filled world that, because of time, is unattainable.

It represents to me, maybe the first "indie" film I saw and recognized as one, "indie" in the original sense of a movie that was not made to be a box office hit, but because someone HAD to make a movie about something they felt strongly about, or had an artistic vision that had to be shared. Many of the earlier examples of these movies found their way onto UHF, because they were cheap to rent. But they got me hooked, and as soon as I could drive, sought out the art theaters in nearby towns that showed what was then called "underground" cinema, Kenneth Anger, John Waters (pre-flamingoes) I am Curious (Yellow and Blue.) These films are not as enchanting to me now, but then, none of them ever lived up to Night Tide for me.

For sentimental reasons, this has always been, and will always be, one of my very favorite movies.

No need to repeat the plot or dwell on consensus points. A few remarks about the movie's significance might be helpful, however. Harrington's quirky little film was part of a larger independent effort in the early 1960's to break away from studio domination and commercial conformity. The movement came along in the wake of John Cassavetes' groundbreaking Shadows (1960), and also at a time when European films from Fellini, Bergman and the French New Wave, et al, were expanding audience perceptions. Shadows proved that audiences were ready for a more daring product than what Hollywood of the 50's was producing. Perhaps more importantly, Shadows showed that a quality feature-length film could be done on a small budget ($40,000), with a non-union crew, get commercially distributed, and be reviewed in major publications (Night Tide, I recall, managed a good review in mainstream Newsweek). One or more of these factors had long prevented emergence of an independent film movement outside studio bounds. But by the early 60's, times had changed.

Night Tide remains an oddity, sort of a blending of Shadows and Roger Corman with the ghost of Val Lewton hovering in the background. The ending is unfortunate, something of a loss of nerve given Harrington's overall imaginative approach. What impressed me then, and still does, is the director's visual style. Most every frame amounts to a well-composed visual treat, even when taking in the flat side of Santa Monica's ocean front. It's a measured, near- lyrical style, well suited at capturing the poetical side of horror a la Lewton—a dimension sorely missing from today's bloodfests. Anyway, the movie shows considerable promise; I'm just sorry Harrington slipped into obscurity, never developing into the career I think his talent deserved. Meanwhile, the movie furnishes a look-see into what was then a fresh movement in film-making.

Fascinating study with great location and innocent performance by Dennis Hopper who looks about sixteen years old, but is actually in his late 20's. Linda Lawson is lovely and mysterious and it's always great to see Luanna Anders. I hope this film has some kind of cult following because it's so strange.

A 7 out of 10. Best performance = Dennis Hopper. This is on DVD now and fairly easy to find. If you're a Hopper fan, this is a must-see. Great black and white cinematography and eery feel the entire film that is unexplainable. This should definitely have a higher rating by IMDb voters (in my opinion).