Writer Mark Kendrick scripts his own pulp fiction mythology, a man who chooses to be lured to his doom by the siren song of a lake goddess. Director Ken Hughes adapts his own novel, but one hopes the prose is more exciting than this droll and boorish derivative.
The story is told in flashback by our protagonist Mark Kendrick (Alex Nicol) as he narrates his story to an unknown man. He then tells the tale of his downfall as one night, after receiving a phone call to help ferry a few guests across the lake, he is introduced to the muse of his wealthy neighbor’s husband. It seems Beverly Forrest (Sid James) is married to Carol (Hilary Brooke), a sexually charged woman who collects men with artistic dispositions and masochistic impulses, such as pianists. Or pulp writers. Adultery ensues, to no one’s surprise including her husbands!
The problem with the story is that there is no chemistry between Mark and Carol, no spark or fire (or heat wave, for that matter) that explains his decision to allow himself to be seduced. Beverly is a good guy, a man with a heart condition that will probably kill him with a year, and his relationship with Mark seems genuine even though he realizes his new companion will be her next mark (so to speak). Beverly is not a controlling or abusive man, and Carol doesn’t pretend otherwise. The film barely hints at a possible lover’s triangle between Mark, Carol and the stepdaughter Andrea (Susan Stephen) but fails to capitalize on this plot point. When Beverly is accidentally knocked unconscious on a foggy boat excursion, Carol and Mark are the only witnesses. She decides to chuck Beverly overboard and Mark is left to clean up the blood. But Mark’s typewriter is no replacement for a piano keyboard, and he soon realizes he’s just been henpecked like a minor chord. I suppose Mark just can’t see the Forrest for the trees...or prison bars.
The denouement is pointless and without suspense or tension. Of course, the man he’s telling his story to in the first act is the detective who suspected foul play, and the story ends with Mark being ferried across the lake towards his own well-deserved fate.
Final Grade: (C-)
