6.5/10
What if one could play God? In this 1958 movie, the main character(played by Richard Boone) almost lives this in the way where he can control the deaths of anyone. I found this movie to be quite enjoyable, because of its unique qualities compared to other films of its time.
The movie begins in a cemetery, where Robert Kraft and Andy McKee are looking at a map of every grave site. On this map are white pins and black pins. The black pins show graves that are filled, and Robert accidentally puts some pins where they aren't supposed to go, and soon after the death of two newly weds occurs.
As the movie goes on, this keeps happening to Robert. As he puts a black pin on the map, somebody dies. He wonders if he is cursed, or if there is something with the board that is wrong. While I find this storyline to be absolutely brilliant, it could be very slow at times, because of its lack of onscreen events. This really does help make a subtlety to everything, and a lot more mystery, but also makes the movie mildly hard to follow at times.
One of the things that the film has in its favor is the cast. Richard Boone was very good in the role of Robert, because he was very dark, and did a great job in portraying the emotions of guilt and sadness in his character. Theodore Bikel was satisfactory in the role of Andy McKee, because he gave the role of the likable friend that isn't afraid to speak his opinion. His English accent also gives him an intelligent sound, and it's a huge asset to the performance. Peggy Maurer was also was also very well suited for the role of Ann Craig, because she had a seductive nature to her that really worked.
One of the other factors to this movies to this movie that also worked was the tone. Even though their wasn't anything shown on screen(as said before), there was a dark tone that really matched the story line. This helped bring some interest to the film, because regardless it would be wooden as a tree.
The climax of the movie is actually quite exciting, as the crazy coincidences take a toll on Robert. The viewer can really see his insanity coming about, and it is a very sad sight to witness. He begins to run all over the place, and there is actually one of the coolest still shots in film history. The actual plot twist in the end was quite intriguing, because it was very authentic, yet I would've never seen it coming. I thought that in these scenes, a movie that was once slow actually became very exciting and amazing.
Overall, this was a very fun B-Movie. It was not flawless in any standard, but it had a genius story that was ahead of its time, a great cast, and an overall awesome tone to make it stand out from others. While it could be very slow at the time, it saved itself unlike other films of the era, and it could be argued to be one of the better Black and White horror movies. I highly recommend checking it out, because it is a novelty piece of work that should not be missed.
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