THE POWER (1968)
Article #1035 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-14-2004
Posting Date: 6-12-2004
Directed by Byron Haskin
Featuring George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Richard Carlson

When a scientist discovers that one of the members of a think tank has super-psychic powers, he is killed. When another man is framed for the murder, he vows to discover the identity of the real killer.

Is the killer Richard Carlson? Michael Rennie? Nehemiah Persoff? Earl Holliman? Or is it someone else entirely; i.e. Suzanne Pleshette? I know what my guess was, and I’m not going to say whether I was right or wrong; I’m just going to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this science fiction mystery thriller, one of George Pal’s latter-day productions. The only real problems I had with this movie was that the pace was a little on the slow side at times, and Arthur O’Connell overacts badly in his small role. There are a number of familiar faces in smaller roles, such as Aldo Ray, Yvonne de Carlo, and Celia Lovsky (Mrs. Peter Lorre), who has a great cameo as a dotty old woman with a fly-swatter. It should keep you guessing till the end, and it finishes off with a truly satisfying (and highly logical) plot twist. This one is definitely recommended.