Producer George Pal is famous for producing handsomely mounted, but generally routine movies about fantastic subjects ("Destination Moon," "When Worlds Collide," "War of the Worlds," "Conquest of Space," "Robinson Crusoe on Mars," "Atlantis, the Lost Continent"). Pal succeeded best when his movies were both handsomely mounted and thematically fulfilling ("The Time Machine," "Seven Faces of Dr. Lao"). "The Power," as presented is neither handsomely mounted nor completely fulfilling thematically. The color has that sickly garish look of 70s TV. The sets look cheap, the effects amateurish. The cast is way too loaded with familiar character actors to be believable. Nonetheless, "The Power" is about really big ideas, that human could someday evolve so dramatically that they could alter reality, even change the past. These are not new ideas; Eastern religions, even Jewish Khaballah have related these ideas for thousands of years. Pal was not even the only one purveying them. Gene Roddenberry developed at least three episodes ("The Cage," "Charlie X," ""The Squire of Gothos") for his "Star Trek" series. Later, "Star Trek TNG" gave us a recurring character "Q," a superbeing. Unfortunately, I believe director Byron Haskin was not the visionary Pal was. The superbeings in "The Power" seem more involved in mind control than altering reality. Therefore, their tricks are less impressive than a mystic walking over hot cools or living without food and water for years at a time.
Nonetheless, Pal and Haskin have raised these issues and they have created an entertaining, relatively suspenseful movie. Only one effect is quite good, the horrific results of a man being exposed to super gravity forces. Probably the best scene involves one of the characters turning to leave his office and finding there is suddenly a high step to get out. He turns to pick up a chair and when he turns toward the exit, he finds there is none. Byron Haskin did a masterful job here. It's too bad he also chose to show the instrument being used to create the metaphysical elements of Miklos Rosza's magnificent score, clearly the best element of the movie.
This is my third viewing of the movie, and plot holes I thought were there the first two times suddenly were resolved. To explain involves spoilers, but here they are.
WARNING: SPOILERS
George Hamilton is the chairman of a scientific team investigating human endurance for the space program. Michael Rennie, the new government representative, attends Hamilton's meeting, which also includes, Susan Pleshette, Niemiah Piersoff, Richard Carlson, Arthur O'Connell and Earl Hollomon. O'Connell hysterically alerts the committee that one of them is a superbeing capable of almost unlimited power. That evening, after returning to his office, O'Connell is attacked and killed remotely by supernatural psychokinetic forces. Hamilton and Pleshette are together when they are called by O'Connell's wife, Yvonne DeCarlo. She asks Hamilton to go to O'Connell's office since he hasn't returned home. Hamilton and Pleshette drive through the facility security gate, where they are logged by the security guard. They find O'Connell in the facility centrifuge, his eyes popped out of his head from the high g forces. They also find a piece of paper in O'Connell's otherwise empty file folder on which is written a name "Adam Hart". The next day Hamilton is notified that he is a suspect. De Carlo doesn't remember calling him and Pleshette doesn't remember being with him before arriving at the facility. (Pleshette's "forgetfulness" is not clearly specified; a scene should have specified this clearly). When Hamilton is dismissed from the facility, he feels he must track down "Adam Hart," figuring Hart knew O'Connell and is somehow connected with the "superbeing" on the committee. One reviewer complained that O'Connell didn't recognize "Adam Hart," though it is made clear that Hart can affect people's memories. After a series of attacks, it becomes clear that no one on the committee is safe and that either "Adam Hart" or the committee superbeing is killing all the other members of the committee.
END OF SPOILERS
A simple explanation of a concept of Kaballah (at least as I understand it) is that G_d recreates reality every instant; therefore the reality that follows this instant could be entirely different than the previous one. A simple explanation of quantum theory is that ALL possibilities potentially exist and the reality is unconsciously chosen by the observer. In other words, without an observer, there is no reality, and an observer can travel in ANY direction to ANY possibility, based on his level of consciousness.
All things considered, I give "The Power" a "6".
Nonetheless, Pal and Haskin have raised these issues and they have created an entertaining, relatively suspenseful movie. Only one effect is quite good, the horrific results of a man being exposed to super gravity forces. Probably the best scene involves one of the characters turning to leave his office and finding there is suddenly a high step to get out. He turns to pick up a chair and when he turns toward the exit, he finds there is none. Byron Haskin did a masterful job here. It's too bad he also chose to show the instrument being used to create the metaphysical elements of Miklos Rosza's magnificent score, clearly the best element of the movie.
This is my third viewing of the movie, and plot holes I thought were there the first two times suddenly were resolved. To explain involves spoilers, but here they are.
WARNING: SPOILERS
George Hamilton is the chairman of a scientific team investigating human endurance for the space program. Michael Rennie, the new government representative, attends Hamilton's meeting, which also includes, Susan Pleshette, Niemiah Piersoff, Richard Carlson, Arthur O'Connell and Earl Hollomon. O'Connell hysterically alerts the committee that one of them is a superbeing capable of almost unlimited power. That evening, after returning to his office, O'Connell is attacked and killed remotely by supernatural psychokinetic forces. Hamilton and Pleshette are together when they are called by O'Connell's wife, Yvonne DeCarlo. She asks Hamilton to go to O'Connell's office since he hasn't returned home. Hamilton and Pleshette drive through the facility security gate, where they are logged by the security guard. They find O'Connell in the facility centrifuge, his eyes popped out of his head from the high g forces. They also find a piece of paper in O'Connell's otherwise empty file folder on which is written a name "Adam Hart". The next day Hamilton is notified that he is a suspect. De Carlo doesn't remember calling him and Pleshette doesn't remember being with him before arriving at the facility. (Pleshette's "forgetfulness" is not clearly specified; a scene should have specified this clearly). When Hamilton is dismissed from the facility, he feels he must track down "Adam Hart," figuring Hart knew O'Connell and is somehow connected with the "superbeing" on the committee. One reviewer complained that O'Connell didn't recognize "Adam Hart," though it is made clear that Hart can affect people's memories. After a series of attacks, it becomes clear that no one on the committee is safe and that either "Adam Hart" or the committee superbeing is killing all the other members of the committee.
END OF SPOILERS
A simple explanation of a concept of Kaballah (at least as I understand it) is that G_d recreates reality every instant; therefore the reality that follows this instant could be entirely different than the previous one. A simple explanation of quantum theory is that ALL possibilities potentially exist and the reality is unconsciously chosen by the observer. In other words, without an observer, there is no reality, and an observer can travel in ANY direction to ANY possibility, based on his level of consciousness.
All things considered, I give "The Power" a "6".