Long before David Cronenberg's SCANNERS (or even STEREO, the short that preceded SCANNERS), there was THE POWER. Part murder mystery, part sci-fi shocker, THE POWER boasts George Hamilton's finest performance ever (which I say because I'm not a big fan of his, but I liked him here) as well as some taut direction by Byron Haskin (who directed many of the very best episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS, earlier in the decade). The "seance" that opens the movie pretty much sets the tone for all that follows: a group of scientists researching the limits of human endurance for the space program are seated around an oval table; a piece of paper speared with a pencil held upright between the pages of a book stood on end begins slowly to spin. WHO is causing it to spin...? That's the Big Question in this one: WHO is the Super Man with The Power...? Before you can say Agatha Christie, scientists start turning up dead (easily the most gruesome involves a centrifuge); some of the gags are beautifully done, and the relatively high caliber of the performances all around help elevate this one several notches above most of the fare being cranked out during this period. THE POWER is an unheralded gem.

In sunny San Marino, California, bio-chemist George Hamilton (as Jim Tanner) tests the pain threshold of young men in orange shorts. This borders on sadomasochism, Mr. Hamilton admits, but the experiments are necessary research for space travel. Arriving at the space center is US government officer Michael Rennie (as Arthur Nordlund). He joins Hamilton and five others on an elite committee. A meeting is in order. The other members are geneticist Suzanne Pleshette (as Margery Lansing), chairman Richard Carlson (as Norman E. Van Zandt), biologist Earl Holliman (as Talbot Scott), anthropologist Arthur O'Connell (as Henry Hallson) and physicist Nehemiah Persoff (as Carl Melnicker)...At their meeting, Mr. O'Connell shares some startling news - he's discovered someone on the committee has "The Power" of super-intelligence. This includes mind-control and telekinetic abilities. The super-psychic remains silent and horrific murders begin. Protagonist Hamilton tries to stay alive, manage a series of highly aroused women, and find the killer. His only clue is the name "Adam Hart" scrawled on a piece of paper by the first victim. If director Alfred Hitchcock had stayed on the career path left with "The Birds" (1963), he might have released a film like "The Power"...Coming off groundbreaking TV work on "Outer Limits" and "Star Trek" (and working with his "War of the Worlds" (1953) colleague producer George Pal), Mr. Haskin gives us science fiction with a Hitchcock bent. This is not pale, unimaginative work, however; it's an imaginative vision of Frank M. Robinson's original story. The effects by Mr. Pal mix well with surrealistic paranoia and Haskin puts his own directorial spin on events. The most Hitchcock-like sequence is patterned after the "crop-duster" scene from "North by Northwest" (1959). Note how this version begins as director Haskin lines up an exiting gate door with opening jeep door for Hamilton. He's more like the rat in a maze than a man on the run.******** The Power (2/21/68) Byron Haskin ~ George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Michael Rennie, Earl Holliman

They say the devil's in the details. He must have shot this movie, because absolutely no attention was paid to detail in any way. I have noticed in other movies that George Pal is good at making scenes full of flashy, hi-tech gadgets, but not at making people act in believable ways. "The Power" dwarfs all his previous efforts in this direction.This movie attempts to take itself seriously. But it is so poorly executed that it is impossible for the viewer to take it seriously. It's too bad MST3K is not still around. "The Power" would be a natural for it.IMDb limits review size, so I can't fit all the incredibly stupid stuff in. I'll have to restrict myself to a few of the highlights. What amazes me is that it just keeps getting stupider and stupider as it goes along, just when you thought such a thing couldn't be possible.== Spoilers == Tanner (George Hamilton) and Lansing (Suzanne Pleshette, who's about as much like a professor as last month's centerfold) are at the lab after hours. Suddenly the rocket-G-force simulator centrifuge starts up, which gets their attention. They try to turn it off, but the controls are jammed. Tanner throws the switch. (Switches are such big stars in this movie, they should be listed in the cast!) Suddenly the whole lab is lit in red light, for no reason, and none is ever given. Hallson (Arthur O'Connell) is dead in the centrifuge, and evidently has been for hours, although we all heard it turn on only minutes before.Tanner is blamed for murdering Hallson and goes on the run. The first place he runs is into a fun house, which for no reason is a storefront on a busy downtown street. He has psychedelic experiences there, nearly gets killed when the merry-go-round goes out of control, but then leaves.He gets ditched in the desert by a hick gas station attendant. Instead of following the jeep, which is obviously heading back to town, Tanner goes off in a completely different direction. It has been only half an hour, but he is already dying of thirst. He still has on his suit with jacket, tie and tightly buttoned collar.He takes shelter in a grove of trees, which turns out to be an Air Force testing ground. The jets come and deliver enough ordnance to wipe Hanoi off the face of the map. The explosions don't even ruffle Tanner's hair. To get their attention, he sets the place on fire. Why the bombs have not ignited anything is not explained. Why the pilots would think fire in an area that's just been bombed back to the Stone Age unusual in any way is similarly ignored.Tanner goes to the house of Mrs. Hallson (Yvonne de Carlo) who has seen him several times previously in the film. She opens the door and looks right at him, but asks, "Who are you?" As soon as he says his name, she seems to know who he is and lets him in.Tanner, Lansing, and Melnicker (Nehemiah Persoff) have to hide out from the police. What more logical place than a kitchenwares convention? There are no rooms left in the hotel, so they go to a wild party in a stranger's room. "Why?" asks Lansing. "So we can keep together, keep awake." No explanation why they need to keep awake. Also no explanation why Melnicker dies while sitting alone on the sofa. Or why the party just happens to have a striptease record on the stereo, waiting for someone to drop the needle. Or why Melnicker's erstwhile dancing partner gets up after everyone has passed out, puts on the record and starts to strip.An hour and twenty minutes into the film, Tanner tells Lansing, "We have to start somewhere." She and Nordlund (Michael Rennie) must be at a meeting by 2:00 PM. Tanner goes straight to the home of another co-worker, Van Zandt (Richard Carlson). It is suddenly night when he gets there.A driverless car comes up and tries to run Tanner down. He tries to leave in his car, but is paralyzed. He decides to drive anyway, veering all over the road and narrowly missing other cars. He sees headlights following him in the mirror and is suddenly OK. He sideswipes a semi, which doesn't even dent the car, but somehow loosens the front wheel. He comes to a drawbridge where traffic is stopped, and drives through the barricade into the water. He and the car sink. He looks like he's going to drown, but then opens the convertible top, swims to the surface, where the car is still bubbling like a fishtank aerator (no sign of any bubbles a minute ago during the underwater shots) and swims away.Detective Corlane (Gary Merrill) shows Tanner a note that they found in his apartment, asking him to meet Scotty (Earl Holliman) at the auditorium. Corlane says, "You will, but not alone." When they get there, Tanner says, "Scotty will never talk to me with all these cops here." Corlane: "You're not going in with the cops." Then he (a cop) goes in with Tanner!!! == End Spoilers == To make this review fit, I cut about half the dumb stuff I was going to point out, so you can imagine how much more stupidity awaits! This movie is not bad in the way most bad movies are bad. The acting is good by an all-star cast. The production values are fairly high. It doesn't drag. If you don't care at all about continuity or credibility, or expect things to make sense, or people to behave in logical ways, you will probably enjoy it. In fact, if your short-term memory has been eradicated, you will probably find it very entertaining.People who still retain all their faculties will likely find it a hoot from start to finish.

"The Power" is the about the best motion picture of the entire 1960's, & certainly plays better than about anything since. I can only rate 1958's "Vertigo" higher. Watching a classic like "The Power" makes one recognize just how tepid and weak are the films churned out since then then. "The Power" is typical Sixties, total Sixties! Some reviewers invoke the later movie "Scanners", claiming a kinship to "The Power"; but don't be fooled. "Scanners" was a cheapo, 70's style exploitation film complete with such techno "touches" as exploding heads. "The Power" works on much more subtle (and effective) level. It is the epitome of 1960's cool & sophistication. What makes it so compelling is that undefinable Sixties feel -- in everything from the quality of film used, the use of lighting, the cinematography... but also the styles shown -- from clothes to hairstyles, cars to offices & buildings. Also the old time actors used, familiar faces to any movie-goer of the period, and the straightforward, no-nonsense script. It's the same Sixties feel that TV's "The Invaders" has, as well as pics like "Fantastic Voyage".The sets of "The Power" are uniformly good, especially the offices & labs where the Astrophysics team, lead by Professor Jim Tanner (George Hamilton), work. The team consists of Tanner, Prof Lansing (Suzanne Pleshette), Prof Van Zandt, head of the Astrophysics Dept (Richard Carlson), Prof Hallson (Arthur O'Connell), Prof Melnicker (Nehemiah Persoff), and Prof Scott (Earl Holliman). Sitting in with them is government official Arthur Nordlund (Michael Rennie).The centrifuge in the basement is both cool and provides an exciting moment in the film, as Tanner and Professor Lansing try vainly to stop it before it kills Hallson. The offices of the scientists are very interesting, in that they appear to be laid out in a cluster, with windows into each others' offices. Thus Tanner can discuss each member of the team, while we see them at work, through the windows.The scene where Hallson is terrorized by The Power is excellent and chilling -- he's about to leave his office, when suddenly the door he'd entered through a moment before has disappeared! Confused, he goes back to retrieve a chair so he can peer out the high window, but when he turns back even the window is gone & there's only a blank wall! Then he starts feeling The Power crushing his heart... Another good scene is where George Hamilton is walking around Downtown L.A., passing a novelty store, and sees one of those "drinking bird" novelty devices wink at him, then spit water! Next an army of toy soldiers march into place & shoot at him. Feeling the increasing burden of The Power, he staggers into a funhouse complete with distorted mirrors. Somehow he gets bumped onto a carousel which starts speeding up, imitating the centrifuge at the lab, scenes of which are interspersed with the dizzying carousel.A true classic set piece is at a downtown hotel where a rowdy convention of salesmen is taking place, and first we see the crowded lobby where Tanner meets obnoxious Grover (Ken Murray). As there's no rooms available, Tanner, Lansing, and Melnicker join Grover at a swinging party in one of the suites, which goes on all night. First a live (hippie) rock band is playing, complete with blaring guitars, as the party-goers wildly dance, then later a hi-fi stereo is put to use. Totally Sixties! Again Tanner feels the weight of The Power bearing down on him, but it is Melnicker who pays the ultimate price of resisting it, suffering a fatal heart attack.Another terrific scene is when Tanner, while investigating a lead in Hallson's home-town, is stranded in the desert, which turns out to be on an Air Force firing range. So not only is The Power trying to kill him, but missiles from fighter planes! Later in a Santa Monica apartment building he goes down an elevator shaft to rescue Michael Rennie, whom The Power is apparently bearing down on, causing a heart attack. The Power again tries to kill Tanner as he's driving towards L.A. Harbor, and there's a great chase with the unknown assailant after Tanner, which ends at a drawbridge. The movie's climax (or is it?) takes place in an auditorium at the research center, aptly called "The Babble Pit", where Tanner confronts the man he's convinced has The Power -- Prof Scott. Only Scott believes it's Tanner who's the man with The Power!One highlight of the movie is when Tanner has the final showdown and endures the full might & fury of The Power, in a terrific montage. We see George Hamilton alternately freezing & burning, spinning & becoming a skeleton. That this sequence was done completely without CGI is a testament to the excellent visual effect team, which included Wah Chang of the old "Outer Limits". (In fact, director Byron Haskin has several "Outer Limits" episodes to his credit.) This sequence certainly proves that you don't need fancy computer graphics to make suspenseful & visually exciting special effects.For the Sixties "The Power" truly had an all-star cast of competent & professional actors, including (aside from those already listed) Yvonne De Carlo, Gary Merrill, Barbara Nichols, Aldo Ray, & as a party-goer -- Miss Beverly Hills! While I've never been a big fan of George Hamilton, he pulls off the central role of Tanner well; he and Suzanne Pleshette make a good and convincing screen couple. "The Power" is easily Hamilton's best role, and probably Pleshette's best role, too (along w/ the 1970 classic TVM "Along Came a Spider").Kudos to producer George Pal, director Byron Haskin, and of course to composer Miklos Rozsa, who provides a compelling score for the film. In retrospect, "The Power" was one of the "last hurrahs" of old-time cinema, before sleaze and plot ambiguity took over. "The Power" is MUST SEE cinema!