Crescendo
Crescendo
PG | 29 November 1972 (USA)
Crescendo Trailers

An innocent project transforms into a perilous nightmare when researcher Susan Roberts arrives in France in search of information on a deceased composer. She contacts his widow whose mental deterioration, precipitated by the death of her husband, manifests itself in psychotic dementia. The young woman's arrival triggers an obsessive desire to marry her crippled son to Susan, ensuring by this union that the genius of the father will be passed on to future generations.

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Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Lovesusti

The Worst Film Ever

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Bumpy Chip

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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Deanna

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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edwagreen

Stefanie Powers got more than she was wishing for when she meets and stays in the home of a wealthy widow, whose husband was a great composer. Powers is there to do research on the latter in order to obtain her master's degree; however, she encounters much more as the film descends quickly into the macabre.James Olson is the paralyzed son in this way over-the-top drama. Margaritta Scott does quite an imitation of Joan Fontaine here. She sounds just like her, and she can become quite eerie as well.Powers realizes quickly that it's time to exit as all sorts of strange things seem to happen. There is absolute mayhem, drug addiction, murder, seduction, you name it.Of course, we have the resolution of the twin. Normally, a cop-out, but the film is so dreadful by then that you just don't care.

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Spikeopath

Crescendo is directed by Alan Gibson and written by Alfred Shaughnessy and Jimmy Sangster. It stars Stefanie Powers, James Olson, Margaretta Scott, Jane Lapotaire and Joss Ackland. Music is by Malcolm Williamson and cinematography by Paul Beeson.Susan Roberts (Powers) travels to the South of France to stay with the Ryman family as she researches the work of late composer Henry Ryman for her thesis. Once there at the villa, Susan finds that the remaining family members are a little strange…Out of Hammer Films, Crescendo came at the end of the studio's cycle of psycho-thrillers that had begun so magnificently with Taste of Fear in 1961. Filmed in Technicolor, Crescendo has more than a passing resemblance to Taste of Fear. We are in a remote French villa in the company of some shifty characters. A wheelchair features prominently, there's spooky goings on, skeletons in the closet and our lead lady who is the outsider at the villa is in grave danger. So it's Taste of Fear but in colour then!Crescendo is not a great film, it's ponderously paced by Gibson, meandering through the first half set up and it's all a bit too obvious as to what is going to unravel. That said, the finale is a good pay off in its construction, the Ryman villa set is suitably designed for some creepy shenanigans, while the colour photography is deliciously lurid with the zesty oranges and ocean greens particularly striking the requisite campo composition.Then there's the cast! Powers is just dandy, having had her trial run in the disappointing Die! Die! My Darling! in 1965, she hits the required "woman in confused peril" notes even though the script does her absolutely no favours. Olson gets to don the worst hair cut in Hammer history as Georges, but the character is pungent with emotional disturbances. Wheelchair bound and having a penchant for hard drugs administered by the sultry maid…Ah yes! Lapotaire as the housemaid Lillianne, she steams up the screen with her teasing sexuality, positively revelling in her ability to have poor Georges eating out of her hand. Scott handles the batty Ryman matriarch well enough, while Ackland does a damn fine Lurch impression. The film has some qualities that put it above average, but it's a bit too bloodless to be a must see horror film, and much too laborious to be a thriller. It sits in some sort of Hammer Film purgatory, a picture that asks you to take the rough with the smooth. But all things considered, you probably should watch Taste of Fear instead. 6/10

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Armand

a film of good intentions. that is all. and it is not correct to search a guilty or to imagine a better version. because it represents only a demonstration of a period sensitivity and manner to realize a decent Gothic film. sure, the script seems have many possibilities and the acting is far to be high. but the good intentions are obvious. and the desire to translate on screen the nuances of story in the best manner. but this ambition is the cage for movie. so, after the long chain of disappointment, remains only the beginning and the end as reasonable parts. because the confusion is heavy mist and the clichés are so many. a film for fans of genre. that is all.

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morpheusatloppers

It's all been said. This movie was NOT made for TV - it was one of Hammer's many non-horror pictures (Hammer also made musicals, comedies and as here, psychological thrillers) and is totally devoid of Hammer's usual Gothic style.The plot is derivative and given its year of production, contains obligatory nudity (thanfully, the UNCUT version was always shown on UK TV - Ms Powers - nice - moving on). But this film should be savoured for its MUSIC.It has a great re-occurring track that features then-famous British jazz tenor-sax player, Tubby Hayes. He also turns up in Amicus' "Dr Terror's House Of Horrors" - he was booked to do the score - it never happened, but he does feature, blowing up a storm in a nightclub scene.Anyhoo, while the man doesn't APPEAR in Crescendo, his music is all OVER it - reason enough to give it a look.

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