The Power (1968 film)

Professor Henry Hallson, an anthropologist, discovers evidence of a person with psychic abilities among his co-workers in a research laboratory. His colleagues include biologist Dr. Jim Tanner, geneticist Dr. Margery Lansing, physicist Dr. Carl Melnicker, biologist Dr. Talbot Scott and chairman Norman Van Zandt, all working for government liaison Arthur Nordlund.

After a warning from Hallson that one of them possesses a super-intellect beyond human measurement, and capable of controlling other human minds, the assembled co-workers conduct a telekinesis test using a simple psi wheel, which spins once all of them concentrate on it together. Later that night, Hallson is found murdered in the laboratory's human centrifuge, with the name "Adam Hart" scrawled on a piece of paper in his office. Hallson's widow Sally Hallson tells Tanner that "Adam Hart" was the name of her husband's childhood friend.

The police make routine checks of the backgrounds of the members of the committee of which Hallson was a member, and Tanner immediately becomes the prime suspect in his murder when it is found that he has apparently lied about his distinguished academic credentials. In fact, all records documenting his past have been erased by some inexplicable method. Tanner visits Hallson's hometown and learns that Adam Hart is a superhuman, with different people providing different descriptions of his appearance, and others still obeying commands that Hart gave them years earlier.

As Tanner tries to uncover the superhuman, Melnicker and Van Zandt are methodically murdered. Talbot Scott, panicked by what is happening, is eventually shot in a confrontation with the police. In a final showdown, Tanner confronts the apparently undefeatable Adam Hart, who is revealed to be Arthur Nordlund. Hart's psychic assault awakens Tanner's own latent psychic powers, and Tanner kills Hart instead. Tanner realizes that he was the superhuman uncovered by Hallson's tests, and that Hart was trying to eliminate any competition from others like himself.

The novel by Frank M. Robinson was published in 1956 (it was his first novel[3]) and had already been filmed for television in 1956.

In June 1964 it was announced that MGM bought the screen rights to the novel for George Pal to produce. John Gay was writing the script.[4][5]

The source novel's plot was substantially changed in John Gay's screenplay, moving the location to San Marino, California, changing most of the characters' names (although retaining the surnames of Tanner, Nordlund, and department head Professor Van Zandt), and eliminating several subplots and characters, presumably to fit the film's 108-minute run time.

In September 1964 Pal announced his slate of pictures for MGM were The Power, The Disappearance, Arabian Nights and Odd John.[6]

In March 1965 Pal said MGM wanted a star to play the lead in The Power but "that would ruin the basis for the story because no one is supposed to know who 'the power' is."[7] In January 1966 Pal was reportedly discussing the film with Cliff Robertson.[8]

In June 1966 George Pal announced he would make seven projects over the next four years: Project SFW, The Power, Odd John,The Last Revolution, Odd John, R.U.R. and a remake of Metropolis.[9] (Of these only The Power would be made.) That month The Power was cast.[10]

Hamilton starred as Professor Jim Tanner, with Pleshette as his teammate and romantic interest Margery Lansing (Marge Hanson in the novel), and Michael Rennie (famous among science fiction film fans as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still) as new government liaison Mr. Nordlund. Otherwise, the story unfolds in a fashion similar to the novel, except for a somewhat different twist to the conclusion. In the film Tanner defeats Hart but retains his humanity; in the novel, Tanner sheds his humanity after killing Hart, and looks forward to "playing God" with normal humans, just as Hart did.

Pal said he was inspired by the art of Salvador Dali and Hieronymus Boach. [11]

"I have my own frame of reference for power," said Hamilton. "This film has nothing to do with my religion but I hope I can make the part somehow significant."[12]

Filming started April 1967.[13] The film was shot at Culver City and Santa Monica.[14]

This film is memorable for a number of intriguing scenes, including murder by centrifuge, a seemingly possessed "Walk/Don't Walk" pedestrian sign, toy soldiers firing with real gunpowder, and "winking out" inanimate objects (the last two also in the novel). The soundtrack also memorably features a beating heart to signal the mind-control attempts and eerie music from a cymbalum (a hammered dulcimer-like instrument) accompanying the film's more suspenseful moments.

The music, written by Oscar-winning composer Miklós Rózsa, contributes an amusing fourth wall-breaking moment when Tanner, hearing the haunting tune, seems to expect a new disaster, only to be visibly relieved when he finds a cymbalum-violin duet being performed in the hotel lobby. This was Rózsa's final score for a film produced by MGM, for which he had scored numerous films throughout his career.

There is a scene of what may be the first appearance and operation by telekinesis of a psi wheel in a film.[15]

• List of American films of 1968

• The Power at IMDb
• The Power at Letterbox DVD
• The Power at TCMDB