Pretty Poison

A good director can transform an actor's career; a great director can destroy it. When "Pretty Poison" was released in 1968, the critics and the public still compared Anthony Perkins to his role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," even though eight years had passed.

Director Noel Black said that he wasn't looking for Norman Bates when he cast Perkins in the role of a paroled arsonist who seduces a high school senior. Black claims that he was looking for the Tony Perkins that he had seen in a Neil Simon comedy on Broadway, the man who was credible dramatic films before he did "Psycho."

To be fair, the character of Dennis Pitt in Black's feature length debut does bear similarities to Hitchcock's unforgettable predecessor. They are both sexual predators who suffered adolescent trauma from a sexually repressive female. They both experience delusions and perhaps even hallucinations. And each character has a childlike simplicity that holds our attention (and maybe even our sympathies) even though their behavior is criminal.

It's a shame that audiences didn't see "Pretty Poison" when it was released, because Perkins delivers a far more nuanced and sympathetic performance than he did for Hitchcock in this story of a manipulator who becomes the manipulated.

Tuesday Weld plays Sue Ann Stepenek, the minor whom Pitt deceives and drugs. The picture of deceptive innocence, Sue Ann is only too willing to let the older man convince her that he is a secret agent who wants to wrap her up in his adventures.

Weld was a shoe in for the character of a blond black widow. As Stanley Kubrick's first choice for the role of "Lolita," Weld reportedly said, "I didn't have to play it. I was Lolita." Having suffered a nervous breakdown at age 9 and living through alcoholism and a suicide attempt by age 12, this child actor had plenty of hard life experience to bring into her role.

This film was a commercial failure. And it may have fallen into obscurity had it not been for rave reviews from critics such as Gene Siskel, Rex Reed and Pauline Kael. With a more successful rerelease the film found a cult following and eventually made it to DVD.

The screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on the novel "She Let Him Continue" by Stephen Geller, garnered the 1968 New York Film Critics Circle Award.

Twilight Time's limited release Blu-ray highlights David Quaid's rich coloring and crisp, on-location cinematography. It also contains a host of special features, including audio commentaries with the director, executive producer Laurence Turman and film historians Lem Dobbs, Nick Redman and Robert Fischer. The disc has a deleted scene script and commentary and the original theatrical trailer.

"Pretty Poison"
Blu-ray
$29.95
www.twilighttimemovies.com