Associated Producers [1962] 60′
country: United States
director: GENE NELSON
cast: JOHN AGAR, PAULA RAYMOND,
cast: STEVE DUNNE, ROY GORDON
This is one film who’s reputation definitely precedes it. Unfortunately [for some at least], that reputation was built over several decades in which those interested in the film, lost to red tape and poor preservation, were limited to advertising materials and stills that had circulated in magazines like Famous Monsters. Distributor 20th Century Fox unearthed the only known surviving print [a cropped 16mm television copy] just prior to star John Agar’s death in 2002, hastily transferred it to video, and began airing it during the late night hours on their Fox Movie Channel. Bootleggers were swift to pick up the new cult property and, given Fox’s seeming reluctance to release it to home video proper, undoubtedly made a pretty penny for their troubles.
Any hopes that Fox might have a lost genre classic on their hands were quickly laid to rest when the TV print was put back in circulation. HAND OF DEATH was revealed to be little more than an ultra-cheap ultra-short par-for-the-course shock programmer – the sort of film that should have been floating around as a bargain-bin release for years, but that was precluded from such by the long ago death of its production company and the blight of legal entanglement. Unremarkable as it is, I was happy to see HAND OF DEATH finally get its nano-second in the limelight.
The film begins creepily enough [provided a rather lofty suspension of disbelief], with a man gasping for breath and falling limply to the ground after daring to step beyond the gate entrance of an isolated laboratory. We soon discover that the man is fine, and only temporarily paralyzed by the testing of a new anesthetic vapor. Head researcher Alex Marsh [Agar] does a check up and sends the man on his way, delighted that he’s been granted an unexpected and positive human test. But Marsh isn’t happy with his limited success with the vapor, and seeks to turn it into a hypnotic nerve gas concoction – a non-fatal weapon so powerful that, if used appropriately, it could spell the end of the cold war.
A month of research elapses with a single fade, which can mean only one thing – it’s high-time for a horrible laboratory accident. Marsh falls asleep on the job and, upon waking, knocks a flask of his experimental nerve agent on its side, spilling it onto his work table. In his haste to clean up the mess [bare-handed no less], Marsh is exposed. He falls into a hallucinogenic stupor in which he dreams of flying lab paraphernalia and little white mice. It is only after he inadvertently kills his lab assistant that Marsh realizes the terrible ramifications of the accident. The experimental compound has given him a touch that kills – a hand [or hands, rather] of death!
After accidentally touching a gas station attendant [Joe Besser, of Three Stooges fame] with the expected results, Marsh takes refuge in the home of his mentor Dr. Ramsey [Roy Gordon] in hopes that the elderly scientist might be able to find a cure for his condition. But Marsh mutates into a hulking monster overnight and, after unwittingly killing Ramsey, goes on the run. The police in hot pursuit, Marsh attempts to re-unite with his girl Carol Wilson [Paula Raymond]. A final sea-side confrontation takes place, and the monstrous Marsh lunges at the police – forcing them to shoot and ending his brief reign of terror.
As has already been mentioned, HAND OF DEATH is a thoroughly unremarkable affair. Produced with even less flair than was the norm for Associated Producers [THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH] at the time, HAND suffers the most at story level. The derivative script [reminiscent of everything from THE FLY to THE INVISIBLE RAY] was penned by producer Eugene Ling and couldn’t have amounted to more than a few tens of pages – it also has a distinct feeling of incompleteness about it. Ling ensures through the audience’s familiarity with the menace – Agar’s Alex Marsh is the main focus throughout, and is in nearly every scene – that any potential for suspense is snuffed out early on.
Alex is pitiable enough as the monster, but Ling’s screenplay gives him nothing to due aside from running into various passers by and endlessly driving about in stolen cars. By the end, one feels more sympathy with John Agar than the monster he plays – frolicking under the California sun in hefty black prosthetics couldn’t have been much fun. Compounding the issue of Ling’s script is the lackluster direction of Gene Nelson [who would go on to work quite prolifically in television]. Nelson doesn’t seem to have had much love for the project, but can you really blame him?
Still, there’s a ridiculous low-budget charm that permeates HAND OF DEATH and that keeps me coming back for more. John Agar is fine as the lead [he was rarely anything less than so, no matter how awful the writing for a role may have been] and it’s nice to see Paula Raymond [THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS], who would suffer a near-fatal car crash that same year. The memorably bombastic score is provided by Sonny Burke and is far better than the picture deserves.
So HAND OF DEATH definitely has problems – it’s under-written, under-funded, indifferently directed, and remarkably obscure [Fox rarely shows it anymore]. That said, I’ve seen and enjoyed far far worse. Given its familiar cast, fantastic score, and welcome brevity, I’m calling this one a must-see provided you can track it down.
