Did you people see the same film I saw?

The first must-see film of the year.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Beautiful Lelia Goldini looks as though she has just stepped off the cover of a 1965 edition of Vogue!!! This terrific movie was produced by Hammer films in the style of "Charade" (the movie with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant) which happened to be in the style of Hitchcock but was directed by Stanley Donen. Anyway "Hysteria" was directed by Freddie Francis and seemed like it should have been written by Brian Clemens (it was written by Jimmie Sangster who wrote the screenplay of "The Nanny" and a lot of those Hammer chillers from the late 1950s). I didn't know anything about this movie, only that I could vividly remember Robert Weber being the brash Madison Avenue ad man in the original "Twelve Angry Men".Weber plays Chris Smith, also a brash opportunist (maybe a bit of typecasting)!! There is one sequence where he has to get out of France in a hurry so he insinuates himself into the good graces of an English girl who is driving back to Britain (it was definitely Sue Lloyd). She smuggles him out of the country at great risk to herself and he repays her at a service station by.....!!! I kept wondering whether this was the way Britain viewed the Americans in their country and if so they obviously didn't like what they saw.The movie starts out as Weber, an amnesiac victim, grasps for clues to his identity from a patient psychiatrist. A mysterious benefactor is paying for his medical bills and for a luxury penthouse apartment (the estate agency is clearly displayed on a sign, wouldn't it have been easier just to make inquiries off them)?? But no, Chris hires the services of a quirky private detective (Maurice Denham) and when a mysterious beauty (Goldini) keeps appearing, the same girl whose picture was found on Chris and who was, presumably, killed a few weeks before, nobody believes him. There is also the problem of raised voices that Chris hears from the vacant flat, always late at night!!Just when you think you know where the plot is going, Chris's confession turns everything on it's head. Jennifer Jayne as the nurse plays the film's only sympathetic character. This movie has such a swinging sixties London look from the opulent penthouse to Goldini's wardrobe to the offbeat jazz soundtrack.

Having just watched this mess on TCM (for the second time) my opinion is unchanged. It's a poor attempt to make a sub-Hitchcock mystery/murder film that misses the mark by a mile.The basic plot of an amnesiac American awaking in a London hospital with no idea who he is or how he got there has genuine possibilities and Robert Webber puts in a sterling performance.But, Oh my! The gaping plot holes allow the film to sink quickly into a visual mess and clichéd dialogue. Let's overlook the Americanism of "I woke in hospital and somebody had paid all the bills"- News Flash, back in '64 the National Health Service actually worked and medical treatment was FREE. In real life he would have contacted the US Embassy and got them researching his identity, but no he uses the keys to the penthouse (a rather chi-chi set out of Times Furnishing..)and accepts all the free wardrobe, gold watch and apparently unlimited food and booze without question.The obligatory "mystery woman" appears and he chases fruitlessly after her but then she in turn pops up in the apartment (how? Did she have a key? Isn't that odd?)and claims to be the widow of the man in the car wreck that started the whole thing. Meanwhile He is haunted by strange headaches, visions and disembodied voices from the next (empty) apartment.SPOILER ALERTMajor plot holes: How did the French whore not only remove his wallet but get it out of the room? What are the odds on a British girl driving a convertible just outside when he escapes the whore's toughs? Overnight he turns the frosty English girl into a love slave willing to do anything for him - must get that technique... Realising it's not a Homeland Security organisation but sneaking into England in the trunk/boot of a car - erm...think Customs just MIGHT look there... The switch into the stranger's Bentley - what line did he spin to get invited to jump in? The poorly setup "accident" - the stereotyped English family, car jacked-up on grass verge, only legs of Husband visible, Wife setting out the picnic on the verge(??) the two kids listlessly throwing a ball backwards and forwards to each other whilst only ten feet apart, the balls is mis-thrown across the road, kid runs after it and has the world's worst fake fall in the middle of the road (car is about a quarter mile away), Wife runs to pick up child, drops bottle in road, car apparently driven by a blind man simply speeds into the middle of this, hits broken glass, blows tyre, skids off road and crashes - we then see the beautiful Bentley convertible transformed into an old junker, on fire (no further sight of Verge Family). The Maurice Denham private eye character apparently follows Webber and the girl out into the country by bicycle, when they drive a Jaguar (we need him for the British Olympic cycle team!)This was rubbish when it was made and time has not improved it.It gets 2 points for having the sexy Jennifer Jayne (although totally wasted).

Hysteria starts in London where car accident victim Chris Smith (Robert Webber) is about to leave hospital after four months of recovering, he has total amnesia & cannot remember anything about himself not even his proper name. When brought into the hospital Chris had no wallet or form of identification & had no possessions other than a photo of a woman. While in hospital someone has been paying his medical bills & has sent the keys to a penthouse flat for him to live in rent free, Chris decides to accept his mysterious benefactor's hospitality & moves into the flat. There he sets about discovering who he was before he lost his memory although everything that he remembers might not be pleasant as several strange occurrences begin to happen...This English production was a link up between Hammer studios & MGM, directed by Freddie Francis this is a unusual little thriller although you shouldn't read too much into the fact it's a Hammer film as it's not the sort of thing you would typically associate with them. The script by producer Jimmy Sangster is a mysterious psychological thriller that builds up the plot about someone who can't remember anything about himself & has all these strange & peculiar things happen to him before everything is turned upside down where just about everyone is revealed to not be who you originally thought they were in a contrived & silly multiple twist ending that is only partially successful in my opinion. At only 85 minutes in length it moves along at a decent pace, the story is quite intriguing at times although I have to say I wasn't really ever gripped & that ending really is rather far fetched & hard to swallow. The character's are alright even if some are a bit optimistic in terms of what they think they can get away with! It's watchable enough I suppose but nothing brilliant & the ending just didn't surprise or impress me enough.Director Francis does alright here, the black and white photography is nice enough. I personally don't think Hysteria gains anything from being shot in black and white & it was almost certainly a decision made for financial rather than artistic reasons. There's no blood or gore & little horror in Hysteria which is a surprise since the 50's & 60's was when Hammer studios was having so much success with their horror films & I don't really understand why they would try to deviate from a successful & proved formula. The film reminds of Hictchcock's Psycho (1960) the way it's shot & the constant unsubtle references to dead women in shower's.Technically the film is good, it's well made on location in England & in the studio. The acting is solid although I doubt anyone is going to win any awards for it.Hysteria is a decent time waster, I didn't think it was outstanding & I didn't think the twist endings were all that great either, I certainly think the twists in more recent films like The Sixth Sense (1999) & Fight Club (1999) are much more effective.

I really liked this film, lots of suspense with an interesting story line full of twists and turns as the plot unfolds.I quickly recorded this on late night TV in the UK without knowing anything about it just because i seen it listed as a hammer film and seen it stared Robert Webber who i knew from "12 Angry Men". I thought that would make a interesting combination but when you think of the kind of films that Hammer are more well known for this dose`nt quite fit in now that i`ve seen it. But i`m glad i did record it.What i like about it is Robert Webber seems to be going mad but is he? is he going mad or are we being made to think he is going mad? more to the point is someone trying to make him think he is mad ..... try and find a copy and find out, fans of psychological mysteries will love this one.