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We
open at the track of the Pennsylvania 500
with Car-37 in the lead. Tom Kovack (Leonard
Nimoy) brings that car in for a
quick pit stop, and then roars back out
and retakes the lead. Concentrating on the
track, as he rounds a curve, he's suddenly
overcome by a psychic vision: He
sees a large palatial mansion, followed by
visions of a road, a green van, and a hay
truck -- coming right at him! The vision
fades to an older woman in distress,
screaming her head off, while a young girl
runs down a flight of stairs, and a
whispering voice keeps repeating
"Windom in Devon." The images
are so strong that Kovack seizes up, loses
control of the car and wrecks into a tree.
The rescue team arrives, and for a minute,
believe him to be dead, but Kovack walks
away unscathed.
Some
time later, Kovack is interviewed about
the wreck and reveals the visions to the
interviewer. Michelle Brent (Susan
Hampshire) happens to catch the
interview on TV. Brent (who
is English and lives in London)
is a dealer of antique books and more than
a casual dabbler in the occult (and
what's she's doing watching Formula-One
Racing Today is beyond me.)
She's fascinated by Kovack's tale and
believes the woman he saw is real, and in
grave danger, and somebody needs to do
something about it. Tracking Kovack down
in New York, he thinks Brent is some kind
of kook but is willing to give her fifteen
minutes to convince him that his vision
are real -- but I really think he is more
intrigued with her good looks. (Man,
Spock is hitting on a chick -- but he
doesn't quite have the Shatner technique
down.)
He figures the manor he saw was in
England, because of the Windom and Devon
reference, but the voice he heard saying
it was definitely an American. While
he makes a crude drawing of what he saw,
she produces a book with a picture of
Windom Manor in Devon, England; it's
exactly what he saw in his vision. Kovack
writes it off as a coincidence, and her
fifteen minutes are up. Brent leaves her
number in case he changes his mind.
Meanwhile,
we discover that the screaming woman and
the girl Kovack saw in his vision are none
other than famed American movie actress,
Andrea Glenn (Vera
Miles), and her daughter Jennifer (Jewel
Blanch). Things get more sinister
because they're on there way to Windom
Manor to meet with her estranged husband,
Duncan Sanford; the couple have been
separated for over eleven years. The
plot thickens some more when we find out
that Duncan arranged for the trip to meet Jennifer,
his daughter, for the first time. He
always wrote to her, but about eight
months ago, the tone of the letters
changed, really pushing for a
reconciliation, that led to the invite to
Windom. Arriving at the manor, they're
greeted by the creepy Mrs. Faraday
(Rachel Roberts), who runs
the palatial retreat. Andrea asks where
Duncan is, but Faraday is ignorant of any
plans of the alleged family reunion. But she's
sure that Duncan will show up eventually;
if not, he lives in the nearby village. Jennifer
is severely disappointed by this, but
Andrea promises that they'll go to the
village first thing in the morning. They
head inside and are impressed with the
seaside view; Windom Manor is built on a
cliff overlooking the sea. (He
says knowing this will probably be
relevant.)
Back
in New York, while preparing to take a
shower, Kovack is overcome by another
vision: He's running in the country and
comes upon Windom Manor. He runs to the
door and pounds on it till it opens up. He
goes inside and sees the staircase he saw
earlier, but is drawn more to an elevator
that ominously indicates it's going down.
The vision shifts and he's on a balcony,
overlooking the sea. He turns and spies
someone, or something, coming at him and
is pushed over the concrete railing and
plunges into the sea...Kovack
snaps out of it before he splashes down.
He's still in his apartment, lying in the
middle of the floor, but is soaked through.
The shower is running, but his clothes
reek of salt water. Convinced that maybe
there's something to it, he calls Brent.
The
two meet up in London (I'm
guessing he caught the red-eye on the
Concorde, or maybe he just beamed over),
and she is very grateful that he changed
his mind. She did some research, and after
a hair-raising ride through Piccadilly
Circus, they manage to book the last two
reservations at Windom for the season.
Not
to rouse any suspicions, Brent thinks they
should go separately. Kovack happily
agrees so he won't have to ride with her
anymore. (Brent
was driving the whole time and Kovack is a
chicken when he isn't behind the wheel.
Ha-ha women can't drive. Heh, funny.
*sigh*)
Andrea
and Jennifer find Duncan's house, but only
find an old woman in a wheelchair inside.
She introduces herself as Louise Sanford (Valerie
Taylor), Duncan's cousin. She and
Duncan have shared the house for years,
and she's pleased to finally meet them and
has been a fan of Andrea's for a long
time. Louise
sends Jennifer into Duncan's bedroom,
where she finds all the letters she's
written to him. She also finds another
letter that has the seal of vicious
looking wolf.
(And the dissonant organ sting upon it's
discovery tells us it is, indeed, EVIL!)
Alas, Louise doesn't know where Duncan is
either. She fears he's taken up carousing
with that Parrish character again (you
know? That occultist.)
The mere mention of that name makes Andrea
bristle.
Kovack
arrives at Windom just as Andrea and
Jennifer get back. Recognizing both of
them, he gets another psychic-whammy when
he gets inside, finding both the staircase
and the evil elevator. Jennifer wanders
around the library, finds an old tome and
miraculously opens it right to the page
with the same wolf's head symbol that
labels it the Sign of Marchosias, who is (you
guessed it)
EVIL! Brent arrives next, and Kovack
offers to help with her bags. When they're
along, he confirms that his psychic
visions were all true. Faraday catches
them talking but they cover up fast by
talking about race cars. Brent asks if
Faraday knows that Kovack is a racer. She
doesn't, but believes he will be delighted
to meet Girlie: the pride of Windom Manor. (That
mystery will have to wait for a bit.)
Later,
we meet the other guests as they gather
for supper. Voreli (Chris Benjamin)
is an Italian who designs highways, and is
infatuated with Windom's excellent
selection of vintage wines. The other
guests are George and Peggy Tracewell (Ray
Brooks and Anharad Rees), a younger
British couple, who seem normal enough. (Perhaps
TOO normal.) Jennifer
excuses herself and wanders around the
grounds. In the boathouse, she runs into
her father. Things get even more cryptic
when Duncan (Mike Murray)
tells her sinister forces are working to
keep them apart, so she can't tell her
mother they've met. Jennifer appears to be
under some kind of trance, and our
suspicions are confirmed when Duncan
places a medallion of the Marchosias wolf
around her neck. He tells her not to show
it to anyone. She hides it under her
dress.
Inside,
Andrea is growing worried because Jennifer
isn't back yet. She hears a clavichord (--
cool, Lurch is here),
follows the noise and finds Mrs. Faraday
playing away. She hasn't seen Jennifer, so
Andrea keeps looking and heads outside. She
searches the grounds and the boathouse
with no luck. Returning to the house, she
hears more voices and follows them to the
same room as before, finding Faraday and
the Tracewells enjoying a nightcap, but
the clavichord has vanished. Again,
Faraday plays dumb and says there has
never been a clavichord in Windom. Andrea
begins to question her sanity and returns
to her room where Jennifer waits in hiding
and scares her.
The
next morning, we find out that Girlie is
cherry '27 Bentley, and Mrs. Faraday gives
Kovack permission to shake the cobwebs
loose on the old roadster. Jennifer walks
by dressed in a high mini-skirt and go-go
boots. Brent comments it took her three
years to get from twelve to fifteen, but
Jen appears to have done it overnight. They
try to follow her but she gives them the
slip. Before they can start searching
again, Kovack is overcome by another
vision that it isn't very clear. Michelle
coaches him on how to bring it to focus,
and it very slowly tunes in: He sees
someone squeezing the liquid out of a leaf
into a red glass. Fearing it
may be poison, they find Andrea having a
glass of orange juice out of a red glass.
Raising a ruckus about getting an
autograph, Kovack knocks the drink over.
He apologizes. Andrea blames the rash
behavior on Windom; the manor appears to
be affecting everyone, especially her
daughter, so they're leaving that
afternoon.
Relieved
that their rescue mission is a success,
with Andrea leaving before the vision is
fulfilled, the two heroes return to their
rooms. They pass Mrs. Faraday and
Jennifer, giggling and talking girl talk.
Jennifer wants to go into town and meet
some boys. Brent
watches, smelling a bigger conspiracy, and
is convinced that Faraday is looking
younger than she did before. After
they leave, Faraday gives Andrea another
red glass full of OJ and smiles devilishly
as she drinks it. Later, Andrea is sick
enough that the doctor is called in. They
won't be leaving after all. Kovack tries
to tell the doctor what's wrong, but the
snotty M.D. wants to know how he knows
it's oleander poison. (Uh,
my old friend Bones McCoy told me?)
Kovack backs out of the conversation as
best he can.
That
night, they all gather for supper. Mrs.
Sanford joins them, and from her
wheelchair, she comments on Faraday's
startling change in appearance, and then
the two ladies look daggers at each other.
Michelle
and Kovack sneak outside and find the
Tracewells car full of pharmaceutical
boxes, so maybe they're behind the
poisoning. Feeling Duncan is the key,
Brent offers to head back to London to see
if she can find him and his old partner,
Parrish. The romantic fire that's been
smoldering between them finally sparks,
and they almost kiss, but are interrupted
by a thunderstorm. (Somehow,
I'll bet Shatner was behind the sudden
downpour.) Later
that night finds Faraday down in the
bowels of Windom where she finds Duncan
waiting, and they swap some spit.
Meanwhile, Jennifer goes out for a stroll
and Kovack follows her. She's been spying
too, and knows Kovack and Brent are in
cahoots. Leading him to the cliffs, she
heads down the path, always staying just
out of sight, and hides. He follows her
trail to a landing. She calls out to him
from her hiding space, and he leans over
the railing to try and see her; it breaks
under his weight, and he plummets into the
surf below, barely missing the rocks. He
bobs to the surface and drags himself to
shore.
The
next day, Brent follows several leads and
finds the burnt out remnants of Parrish's
store that at one point was dedicated to
the occult and other general weirdness. A
policeman runs her off, but not before he
reveals that Parrish died in the fire. Returning
to Windom and Kovack -- decked out in a
ghastly leisure suit and fedora, he offers
her a ride in the Bentley so they can
exchange information. Faraday and Andrea
watch them leave, and Andrea says her
daughter thinks the two are really lovers
staying her under false pretenses and
spying on everyone. Faraday
doesn't take this news very well at all,
and promises to take action. A
little ways down the road, Kovack
parks the Bentley; they go for a walk and
try to sort things out. Brent says that
both Duncan and Parrish were heavily into
the occult and witchcraft, and feels that
Jennifer is a source of great untapped
power. Kovack doesn't think it's that
complicated, and feels someone's after
Andrea's fortune.
Their
attention is drawn back by a loud crash:
Someone has pushed the Bentley into the
ditch. They spot a green van, and while
Kovack checks on the car, Brent checks the
van, and promptly gets conked on the head
and dragged inside it. Kovack gets the
Bentley unstuck and the chase is own. After
several twists and turns, including the
foreseen game of chicken with the hay
truck, the chase comes to a close when
Kovack forces the van off the road where
it smashes into a tree. He gets the
Bentley stopped, but by the time he
returns to the wreck, the assailant is
long gone. Luckily, Brent is okay, They return
to Windom just as Voreli runs up on foot.
Kovack accuses him of the attack, but
Voreli swears he was just out exercising.
Faraday catches this, giving her the
excuse she needs to kick Michelle and
Kovack out before they can spoil their
carefully laid plans. She tells them to
vacate by tomorrow morning. (Noon
at the latest. Okay two. Alright, no later
than five.)
With
their time running out, Kovack reveals
that when he grabbed Voreli, he was
overcome by a vision of the Italian with
blood all over his hands. Writing down
their list of suspects, feeling she is the
key, Brent is still in a lather about
Jennifer's strange behavior. When they get
past Duncan and move on to Parrish, Kovack
stops writing and shows Brent what he
wrote. Beside Duncan's name, he wrote
something more: Duncan is dead.
Kovack doesn't remember writing it. (OoOoOOooOOoo.)
Andrea
awakens that night and finds Jennifer is
gone again. She hears Jennifer calling to
her, follows the voice down the stairs and
outside to the boathouse. Inside, she
finds Jennifer, lying lifeless on the
floor, and then proceeds to pass out. She
wakes up inside, surrounded by everyone
else. She claims Jennifer is dead, but
Faraday (who
keeps on getting younger)
brings the girl in; she's fine. Voreli and
Sanford are concerned over Andrea's mental
state. Our psychic sleuths follow the
Tracewells as they leave, but clear them
when they discover the pharmaceuticals
they carry are nothing but cartons of
French perfume and hair products.
The
next morning, on the verge of getting
kicked out, Brent tells Kovack to
stall while she sneaks into town to check
out Duncan's house. After she leaves,
Kovack spots Voreli sneaking around. He
spies him tripping a secret passage and
disappear down a hidden staircase.
Following him down into the bowels of
Windom, he catches Voreli in the wine
cellar, trying to steal a few bottles.
Kovack grabs the thief and is gets another
vision (No
fair using the old Vulcan mind probe
there, Leonard.):
Voreli
isn't a highway engineer at all, but a
wholesale butcher, explaining the blood on
his hands. Kovack promises not to rat him
out.
Brent
finds Duncan's house but Mrs. Sanford
isn't there, only the cleaning woman; who
provides the biggest clue of the movie,
revealing that Mrs. Sanford has been
staying at this residence for only two
weeks, not for years, as she claimed.
Brent also finds an autographed picture of
Parrish and (I
knew it! I knew it! I knew it!)
it's really the man claiming to be Duncan
who has Jennifer under his spell.
Returning to the manor, she finds Kovack
still stalling and reveals their new prime
suspect: Mrs. Sanford. They
hear the sounds of her wheelchair
squeaking about, but are too late to catch
her as the elevator door closes and heads
down to the basement. Leading Brent down
the secret passage, Kovack plans to head
the old woman off at the pass,
The basement appears empty, but they find
a door to another room. They head in, but
realize too late, it's a maintenance door.
The door shuts, not by itself, locking
them inside the bottom of the elevator
shaft.
Upstairs,
night falls (rather rapidly),
and Jennifer confesses to Andrea that
she's been seeing her father (who
we now know is really Parrish -- but hang
on we got one more plot twist coming.)
The girl says to save her questions for
Duncan and she'll take her to him now.
They enter the elevator and head up to the
top floor. The door opens revealing the
attic, a lot of cobwebs and a familiar
balcony and concrete railing overlooking
the sea. Jennifer
steps back into the elevator and heads
down, leaving her mother stranded behind.
But Andrea isn't alone, Mrs. Sanford is
there waiting for her.
At
the bottom of the shaft, Kovack and Brent
watch as the elevator descends down to
crush them. As they brace for the worst,
she confesses her only regret is not being
able to spend more time with him. The
elevator stops, just short of smushing
them, and then heads back up.
Back
in the attic, Mrs. Sanford tells Andrea
that Duncan died eight months ago, and she
was the one who invited them over to
England. Raving that Jennifer has great
power that she wants to exploit, Mrs.
Sanford stands up and discards her
wheelchair. Andrea swears she'll never let
that happen. Sanford
smiles, saying she won't be around too
stop her: An American actress whose mind
quickly degenerated and snapped will
commit suicide by throwing herself into
the sea. Before she takes the final
header, Sanford demands that Andrea sign
some legal documents first, making her
Jennifer's legal guardian. Andrea refuses,
so Sanford moves in to persuade her.
Desperate
to get out, Brent convinces Kovack to see
if his new abilities include telekinesis.
She coaches him to concentrate on the lock
and to try and "push" it open.
He concentrates and blurts out "Open
Sesame!" He offers it couldn't hurt.
To both their surprise, the lock gives and
the door opens. But it's only Voreli, who
was stealing some more wine and heard them.
Rushing upstairs
they spy Faraday and Jennifer coming down
the staircase. Kovack demands to know
where Andrea is. Faraday escapes but
Jennifer stands transfixed. Brent spots
the Marchosias medallion around her neck
and tells Kovack to get it the hell off of
her because it's EVIL! He tries but
Jennifer runs away. The chase leads up the
steps where she trips and falls,
shattering the medallion in the process. Finally
released from Parrish's spell, Jennifer
reverts to her old self and starts to cry.
We
cut to the Bentley roaring away and spy
Faraday rapidly returning to her rightful
age. So distraught is she over this, she
runs the car right over the cliff into the
sea.
Jennifer
reveals that her mother is in the attic
with Mrs. Sanford. Kovack leaves Brent to
take care of her while he heads up to the
rescue. Bursting into the room he finds
the two women fighting over the pen and
papers. Sanford
flies into a rage and attacks him, and
starts tossing Kovack around the room. (The
fighting sequence appears to be
choreographed by Shatner as well.) Kovack
is surprised by her strength but then
realizes the truth. He attacks (use
the Vulcan death grip!)
and pulls the old ladies mask off,
revealing (I
knew it! I knew it! I knew it!)
that Mrs. Sanford is really Parrish in
drag! (Hey,
it's Vera Miles, we should have seen this
coming.) Parrish
socks Kovack in the chin, sending him
sprawling onto the balcony, where the
concrete barrier crumbles and barely holds
him from going over the edge. Parrish
charges to finish the job, but Kovack
manages to dodge him and the villain falls
to his doom on the rocks below.
The
next morning, the police arrive and lock
up Windom. Andrea and Jennifer are very
grateful and invite Brent and Kovack to
come and visit them anytime. They leave,
leaving only the psychic detectives at the
manor. He has a rental car; she has a taxi
waiting. They keep it professional and
promise to stay in touch. Kovack turns to
get in his car, when he is seized by
another vision: He sees Parrish and
another Marchosias disciple boarding a
flight to Paris. He
calls to Brent, tells her what he saw and
to put her bags in his car. They've got to
get to Paris because someone else in
trouble. Brent happily agrees.
The
End
You
know, contrary to what you might think, or
have heard, the Internet is a truly
wonderful thing. You want proof? Well,
without it, I’d never have seen a
QuickTime video clip of Leonard Nimoy
rocking out "The
Ballad of Bilbo Baggins".
Judging by the style of music, go-go
dancing and fashions, this was done
sometime in the mid- to late ‘60s. It
also appears Nimoy was still involved with
Star
Trek
at the time, too, because he’s sporting
his famous Vulcan widow’s peak and funky
sideburns. Nimoy, along with William
Tiberius Shatner, released several albums
in the late 1960s. Albums ore vanity
projects I'll leave you to judge, but
people only seem to remember Shatner's
singing escapes.
Shatner
had his own “unique” musical style --
I like to call it Caucasian Scat, treating
every tune as if he were speak-singing "When
I was Seventeen" with the
expected hilarious results. His album, The
Transformed Man, contains his
interpretations of "Mr. Tambourine
Man" and "Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds". Shatner recently
resurrected his musical career with those
hilarious Priceline.com commercials. Nimoy
on the other hand, actually has a very
rich baritone voice and doesn’t sound TOO
bad. It’s just hard to swallow him
singing "Proud Mary". (Highly
illogical.) Leonard
Nimoy: The Way I Feel is probably his
most infamous album, containing the covers
of "If I had a Hammer"
and "I Walk the Line". The
New World of Leonard Nimoy includes "Put
a Little Love in Your Heart" and
the cornpone classic, "Ruby Don't
Take Your Love to Town". The
Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy has one
side done as Spock, the other as himself.
And he went through an experimental phase
with The Touch of Leonard Nimoy. Outer
Space/Inner Mind is back in Spock
territory with the prophetic "Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Earth". So he has
at least five albums floating around on
vinyl collecting dust somewhere, and if
you’re feeling brave enough, track them
down.
For
those of you who don’t know what vinyl
is (man,
I’m getting old),
there’s a CD compilation combining their
best efforts titled Spaced Out: The
Very Best of William Shatner and Leonard
Nimoy. They both are also prominently
featured on The Golden Throats
collections, so you can snag those if you
need to get your fix.
But
we’re here to talk about movies, right?
Right. Well, after seeing the video clip
of Nimoy smiling and singing to his
heart’s content about 30 times, it
finally tripped a synapse in my head.
Cerebral Tesla coils sparked, and along
with the smell of burning copper it
triggered a latent memory of a movie I
once saw: a vague notion of Nimoy playing
a psychic race car driver who used his
mind powers to help solve mysteries.
Crossing my fingers I headed to the video
store,
hoping beyond hope it hadn't disappeared
in the great VHS purge. And believe it or
not, it was still there to rent! (I’m
as shocked as you are.)
The
film, of course, was Baffled.
And after doing some research I discovered
it was a made for TV movie, or more
appropriately, a failed TV-pilot made back
in 1972. (Shields
up, Captain! Bad fashions ahead! Set
phasers on Earth tones! Fire photon bell
bottoms! Full spread!)
There have been stranger concepts for a TV
show, but not that many. Alas
the series was never picked up, so Baffled
was the end of Kovack and Brent's
adventures, which is really is too bad
because Nimoy and Hampshire have great
chemistry. I like
how Kovack's visions are never crystal
clear. Just suggestions, or bits and
pieces, that he and Brent must act upon;
but they have to be careful not to reveal
too much, like with the oleander poison.
One by one Kovack's visions are proven
true or to be real. To the film's credit,
it uses this to create a sense of danger
and urgency as they try to piece it all
together before it's too late. It
is an interesting premise, psychic-sleuthing,
and given more time it might have proved
very entertaining. If memory serves, there
was a lot worse crap showing on TV in the
'70s.
Tipping
it's made-for-TV hand very early, the
opening credits consist of rapid-cut
action scenes taken directly from the
film, ending in freeze frame. (A
'70s TV staple if there ever was one.)
The wonky musical score actually grew on
me, and soon I was really digging the
action theme to Baffled.
The mystery
itself is fairly engrossing. If it's
guilty of anything (aside
from a couple time warps)
it starts too many supernatural subplots
that aren't explored enough -- or left to
shrivel on the vine. We're never quite
sure if Faraday's de-aging process is
directly linked with Jennifer's maturing
behavior. I think it is, and there was
that quick blurb of Faraday aging again
after the amulet is smashed. I think. It
happened too fast to be sure. I'm also
assuming it was Duncan who died in the
fire and not Parrish. So
the film is about one kooky character,
subplot or red herring short of becoming
convoluted, and teeters on this precipice
for the entire movie. But to its credit,
it never falls in. And now that I think
about, after a lengthy and tangled build
up, the conclusion sure does wrap up in
one hell of a hurry.
I
must also take a quick moment and say,
poor Vera Miles. Does she attract
psychotics in drag all the time or what?
The Scooby-Doo mask revelation at the end
is pretty laughable, but I'll defend it.
I'm glad Sanford was played by a real
woman, and not Murray in drag, or the
mystery would have solved itself in about
ten minutes.
Nimoy's
affiliation with this movie, and his
hosting of In
Search Of...(a
favorite program from my impressionable
and misspent youth), leads one to
ponder and conclude that he believed in
things like ESP, the occult, witchcraft
and Cryptozoology. Or was this all he
could get because of his close association
with Star
Trek?
As Ernie Hudson put it so well in Ghostbusters:
"If there's a steady paycheck in it?
I'll believe anything you say." Nimoy’s
career did suffer from being typecast as
everybody’s favorite green-blooded
alien. Admittedly, there are a couple of
occasions in the movie where he slips into
Spock mode. And we're having a hard enough
time trying to break him out of the Spock
mold so this doesn't help. Still, he is a
pretty good actor if given the chance, and
brings a real likeability to Kovack.
It
got a little hard to swallow when
Hampshire's character thinks they're
fighting off evil incarnate, but Nimoy
balances that out by saying there is no
boogeyman just bad people doing bad
things. The truth, like the conclusion of
their first adventure, is probably
somewhere in between. Which makes Baffled,
on the whole, a disappointing experience
because, well, I enjoyed it, and wish
there were more episodes to explore the
concept further.
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