MIRAGE: Blu-ray (Universal, 1965) Kino Lorber
Is there
anything more sacred than a man’s identity; his ability to choose for himself that
reality he not only presents to the world at large as the better angel of his
truest nature, but he also strives to maintain and live up to, even when the
world is not looking, eager to unearth the cracks and the flaws? Edward Dymtryk’s
Mirage (1965) begins with a very concrete plunge into darkness, the kick-start
of stripping away repressed memories, gradually to emerge from a delicately fragmented
mind. The mind in question belongs to one, David Stillwell (Gregory Peck), who,
upon encountering a mysterious girl, Shela (Diane Baker) in the stairwell of
this blacked-out office building, begins to succumb to a strange and unsettling
feeling of déjà vu regarding the murder of leading industrialist, Charles Calvin
(Walter Abel), whom David initially claims never to have met. With its
extensive location work in New York’s financial district, and some positively
lavish sets created by production designers, Frank Arrigo and Universal Studio’s
stalwart, Alexander Golitzen – sumptuously photographed in B&W by cinematographer
extraordinaire, Joseph MacDonald, Mirage emerges as a memorable and modish
whodunit in the vein of Hitchcock, with Peck as our proverbial ‘wrong man,’
struggling to free himself from a decaying web of brittle lies and brutal deceptions.
Quincy Jones’ lush and romantic score is the perfect complement here, as are
Jean Louis’ uber-fashionable costumes. Mirage was written by Peter Stone
– a follow-up to his formidable efforts on the even more trend-setting and posh
Charade (1963). Dymtryk’s direction may be a bit more glacial here than
Stanley Donen’s swiftly stylized approach to Charade, but Stone’s expert
writing outshines both directors’ stylized approach to his ultra-witty
material.
And in Mirage
we have a caper of considerable stealth, if thoroughly convoluted at the
outset, beginning with David’s descend after Shela down a blackened stairwell,
certain he has gone down four flights below street level, only to find himself in
a utility room one flight under the main concourse with no additional stories after
the lights have come up. Mirage spins
its deceit into surreal and nightmarish speculations with a few shocking
murders along the way. The picture co-stars Walter Matthau, as sharp-tongued
detective, Ted Caselle, and George Kennedy, as Willard – a hired gun with no
compunction to shoot dead a defenseless and elderly night watchman, Joe Turtle
(Neil Fitzgerald) or even his own accomplice, Lester (Jack Weston). Worse for David, he can find no one to take
his story seriously; not sharp-taking Lt. Franken (Hari Rhodes) – whom David
initially approaches in the hopes of filing a police report to protect him against
these attempts on his life – nor bitter-tongued psychiatrist, Dr. Augustus J.
Broden (Robert H. Harris), whom David initially lies to in order to secure an
early appointment in the hopes of getting to the bottom of his crippling
amnesia. By David’s estimation, he has lost almost two years in a haze of
self-doubt and fearful regrets. When Broden assures him there is no such amnesia
ever documented in the history of medicine (ergo, David is making it up), the
men become confrontational towards one another.
Mirage bears the virtue
of solid performances. Gregory Peck’s reputation as Hollywood’s man of integrity
precedes him. We implicitly believe David’s predicament because of Peck’s
built-in persona as someone we presumably already know and trust. Such was the endowment
of a true ‘star’ back in the day when ‘personalities’ were being cultivated in
Hollywood. For several reasons, Diane
Baker’s counterbalance is a little harder to swallow. Mirage catches Baker as a freelancer,
after 7-years at 2oth Century-Fox. There, her foray into pictures had been as
the elder sister in The Diary of Anne Frank. 1959 was a very busy year
for Baker, who also played the blushing gal on the side in Fox’s Journey to
the Center of the Earth and all-American wallflower in The Best of
Everything. Despite Fox’s big build-up, Baker never quite made the cut as
first-string leading lady – used mostly to fill in the plain Jane/best friend
parts opposite other players. And life as a freelancer, after her Fox contract
was allowed to expire, did not exactly improve Baker’s prospects either, even
though she did appear in some fairly high-profile pictures from the period
including, Tess of the Storm Country, and, The 300 Spartans
(1962), 1963’s Stolen Hours (a badly fumbled remake of 1939’s Dark
Victory) and The Prize (a piss-poor retread of ideas exploited to
better effect in Hitchcock’s 1959 classic, North by Northwest). For the
next three years, Baker had a recurring role on TV’s Dr. Kildare before
unofficially marking her return to pictures with Strait-Jacket, and Marnie
(both made and released in 1964). Mirage affords Baker her first major
screen opportunity to play ‘the sexy female lead’. Truth to tell, Shela
is not much of a part; just the girl who strategically drifts in and out, then
in again, to muddle David’s lapses in memory, before miraculously morphing into
the deus ex machina that will prevent his imminent murder at the behest of the
mysterious Major Crawford Gilcuddy (Leif Erikson).
Mirage is not a perfect
thriller. There are, to be sure, so few to fit this bill. But what it does, it
does extremely well, and, with Peck carrying more than his share, and Matthau
an enjoyable punster who meets with an untimely end, plus a formidable trio of
baddies (Kennedy, Weston and Erikson), the picture clings to its mélange of
light comedy and suspense long enough to make us forget about the parts that do
not exactly come across as they should. Case in point: the ‘flashbacks’ that
pop in and out of David’s subconscious early in the picture. We get
interminable glimpses of David and Charles’ in a clandestine meeting under a
tree, sans audio, offering up not even the feeblest shred of foreshadowing;
rather, a constantly plying of the inference that the man who fell 27-stories
to his death in downtown Manhattan and the one presently struggling to discern
who he is, are on some queerly unsettling parallel course. The finale to Mirage
is a wee too elegantly contrived for its own good; David, receives a pummeling
from the Major’s goon, Willard. This instantly rewires David’s memory so the
audience can regress alongside him into a prolonged – if slightly oversimplified
– flashback to distill everything into a neat little summary – the Cole’s Notes
version of the past. The time-honored Hollywood
convention for ‘the happy’ ending is also tacked on. It all works, if… with
less than the usual amount of cleverness we might have anticipated.
Mirage opens with a
lush orchestral arrangement from Quincy Jones and main titles splashed across a
backdrop of the lit-up midtown Manhattan skyline at dusk. Suddenly, one of these
towering skyscrapers is plunged into darkness. From his office within this high-rise,
cost accountant, David Stillwell decides takes a handheld flashlight by the
darkened stairs rather than wait for the power to come back on. After a brief
flirtation with some of the secretaries in the adjoining offices, who tempt
David to join the many others in the board room, David instead finds himself
being led down a wrong turn by Shela, a girl he presumably has never met, but
seems to know him intimately. Disgusted by his lack of acknowledgement, Shela
takes off, leaving David to pursue her in the dark. He never does catch up,
though it is suggested he may have descended some four flights below street
level before losing track of her. Returning to ground level, David witnesses
the police and a crowd gathered around the tarp-covered body of industrialist/peace
activist, Charles Calvin who has apparently jumped from the 27th
floor. Momentarily disturbed, David retreats into the stairwell, determined to
pursue Shela. Only now, the power restored, David discovers to his amazement
that there is only one level of stairs below the street, and these only lead to
a vast utility room where Willard – presumably, the building’s custodian – is presently
working. Willard orders David to leave immediately.
With nowhere
else to go, David returns to his fashionable apartment. Alas, almost
immediately he is taken at gunpoint inside the elevator by another total
stranger, Lester who orders David to accompany him to ‘the Major’ along with
his briefcase. Feigning complicity, David instead manages to disarm Lester in a
fist fight. David then drags Lester’s unconscious body to an adjacent utility
room before making his way to the police station. Regrettably, Lt. Franken is a
‘strictly by the numbers’ officer of the law. Even his basic questioning
gets David’s dander up. More to the point, David suddenly realizes he cannot
recall either his place or date of birth; nor does he seem to know where he has
been for the past 2-years. Storming out of the police station, David next
encounters a local bookseller peddling a strange text on psychiatric disorders.
Finding one of the author’s names in the phone directory, David telephones the
offices of Dr. Broden for an appointment. Told he can be seen in approximately 40-minutes,
David encounters Shela again at the Central Park Zoo. Aside: this second brief
encounter between our two stars really does not advance the plot so much as it
allows us to better understand each of their character’s motives. As before,
Shela leaves David hankering with more questions than answers. At Broden’s
office, David’s inability to supply even the most remedial background info incurs
the ‘good doctor’s wrath. Broden is already suspicious of David, as he told
Broden’s secretary (Roxane Berard) he received a referral to Broden’s office from
the book’s co-author, later revealed to have died two years ago. Believing David is trying to deceive him by
gleaning some medical advice he can then manipulate as a legal defense, Broden
throws David out of his offices.
At his wit’s
end, David stumbles upon the ‘AAA’ Detective Agency run by Ted Caselle. After
some polite banter, and Caselle’s insistence on a cool $500 up front, plus
expenses, Caselle openly admits David will be his first case. David and Caselle
go to the bank where the teller knows him and withdraw the money. Caselle, skeptical
at first, becomes convinced David is telling the truth when he spots Willard tailing
them. Nevertheless, their preliminary investigation hits a definite snag after
David, in attempting to take Caselle back to his office, instead finds himself
in a dead-end hallway with no door. Clearly, David never had an office. So, David
next tries to show Caselle where he imagined the four flights of stairs below
street level. Again, these actually do not exist. Only now, Caselle and David
encounter Willard, who holds them both at gunpoint. Caselle orders David to
leap from the landing to his safety. Willard repeatedly tries to shoot Caselle
but is thwarted by David. After momentarily subduing Willard with the remnants
of a wooden beam, David mercilessly pummels him until he is unconscious. Afterward,
Caselle encourages David to leave the scene before Willard can come around. Once again, left to his own devices, David runs
into Shela. She desperately implores him to see to reason. He has something the
Major is willing to kill to get. Unaware of what this might be, David instead
asks Shela to accompany him to Joe Turtle’s apartment – the concierge to his
building, who has known David for many years. Tragically, David and Shela come
too late. Someone has already murdered the old man, leaving his body, face down
in the bathtub.
Enraged, David
forces Shela to take a good look at the Major’s handiwork. Not long thereafter,
the two spend the night together. However, by daybreak, David discovers a
handwritten ‘goodbye’ note, left near the bathroom sink. Quickly dressing and
hurrying downstairs, David encounters Lester waiting in the lobby. David darts
out the back way into the alley. Only Willard is already there, with his car. Once
again, David manages to disarm Lester, getting him in a choke-hold and
threatening to kill him if Willard does not immediately back off. In reply,
Willard shoots Lester dead himself, before also dispatching with the stunned
doorman. David manages a clumsy escape into the underground parking garage. He steals
a parked car and drives it frantically up to street level, bashing full force
into the passenger side of Willard’s car before escaping on foot back to
Caselle’s. Too little/too late, David discovers Caselle lying on his desk, dead
from strangulation by a telephone cord. Enraged and frustrated, David tears
apart the office. He also begins to suffer flashbacks of a conversation he and
the late Charles Calvin had under a tree, presumably, somewhere in California.
With nowhere else to turn, David barges into Dr. Broden’s offices. This time,
he will not take ‘no’ for an answer. Reluctantly, Broden gets David to recall fragments
from his checkered past. Still, the clues do not add up.
Broden explains
how, in the absence of any real memories, David’s mind has been reeling into
fabrications of an alternative ‘reality’ to cope with some deep-seeded pain. David
realizes he is not an accountant; rather, a physio-chemist who was Charles
Calvin’s protégé. Although he formerly
lived in New York, for the past two years David was working in a sub-basement
in California for Calvin’s underling, Josephson (Kevin McCarthy) on some top-secret
research. Invigorated by this breakthrough, David realizes he has missed Charles’
funeral, Now, he hurries to offer his condolences to Calvin’s widow, Frances
(Anne Seymour). Although Frances is glad to see David, she suspects he murdered
her husband. Indeed, David has vivid recollections of an argument with Calvin and
vividly recalls Calvin plummeting to his death. However, while in the widow’s living
room, David spots a photograph of Calvin with ‘the Major’ and now, pursues an
unanticipated confrontation with the man behind all this mayhem. David finds Josephson,
Willard, the Major and Shela all waiting for him inside the Major’s fashionable
and private penthouse. Josephson wishes he had never come. Only now, Willard
elects to ‘return’ the favor from earlier, and begins to physically beat David
to a pulp. With each blow, David’s memory rapidly returns. He recalls having
discovered through his research a way to neutralize all nuclear radiation. Although,
ostensibly to serve Charles’ peace agenda, inadvertently it also makes the use
of nuclear weapons more fashionable to business interests – not unlike those of
Unidyne – the corporation funded by the Major, and, with whom Charles had
struck up an alliance shortly before his demise.
Now, David
recalls how he argued with Calvin in his office; the two, unable to see eye-to-eye
on the real purpose of David’s discovery. Burning the only copy of his research
– the only way to ensure it would never fall into the wrong hands – Calvin instead
lunged to rescue these charring remains, stumbled, and fell through the already
open window to his death. This incident, coupled with David’s sincere
disappointment regarding the man he once so admired, having sold out to a profit-driven
competitor – the Major, certain to exploit his research for no good - triggered
David’s amnesia. Now, determined to get David to regurgitate his research on
paper again, the Major empties Willard’s gun of all but a single bullet,
instructing Willard to take dead aim at David’s head and continuing to do so
until either David’s thoughts, or his brains, are on the blank piece of paper
set before him. Unable to go along with
their plan any longer, Shela shoots Willard instead. Realizing their plan is
falling apart, Josephson seizes the gun from Shela. The Major tempts Josephson with
the promise of a lucrative career and more money than he ever dreamed of, if
only he will now use this same gun to murder David and Shela. But David appeals
to Josephson’s goodness; also, reminding him how fatal the Major’s promises
have proven for anyone who has tried to win at his game. Recognizing the truth
in this, Josephson holds the Major at gunpoint while telephoning the police. In
the aftermath, Shela pleads forgiveness from David. He willingly gives it with
the promise of a romance yet to follow.
Mirage is a stealthily
executed and polished thriller. If not in the top-tier of truly great suspense
dramas, it does not miss the mark by all that much and has a lot to recommend
it. Gregory Peck and Diane Baker have considerable chemistry. It is marginally
flirtatious, but comes with the caveat that one – or both – are occasionally holding
something back. Interesting to consider what the chemistry might have been if
Dmytryk’s original choice of female lead – Tippi Hedren – had been allowed to
partake of the exercise. Baker had co-starred with Hedren in Marnie. But
Hedren was under exclusive contract to Alfred Hitchcock, who forbade her
participation herein. Even then, the part of Shela was next offered to Leslie
Caron – not Baker. Like Hedren, Caron had a jealous admirer tugging at the
strings of her career then; boyfriend, Warren Beatty, who ‘encouraged’ Caron to
refuse the part. She did, but later regretted this decision as she had always
admired Gregory Peck and would have relished the opportunity to work with him. Peck
almost did not do the movie, as it was first offered to Rock Hudson, who also
turned it down. When it was all over, Mirage garnered very high praise
from its star: Peck, so immensely pleased with its outcome he bequeathed a
shiny Rolls-Royce to Peter Stone for his efforts. Viewed today, Mirage
holds up remarkably well – a very slickly packaged caper with a few light
twists and a slam-bang finale.
Mirage arrives on
Blu-ray via Kino Lorber’s association with Universal Home Video. This alliance
has resulted in a flood of recent Uni product hitting the hi-def market –
regrettably, most of it without even basic care applied to ensure a solid
product hitting our shelves. Mirage is no exception to this rule. This
Blu-ray is likely mastered from digital files engineered to accommodate the DVD
market. Alas, what was acceptable on DVD is decidedly less than adequate for
Blu-ray’s more precise specifications. So, what we have here is a B&W image
with sensible – even occasionally spectacular-looking – grey scale, but with so
much DNR and edge enhancement applied to ‘improve’ it for DVD, that the results
in hi-def become shamelessly heavy and homogenized to the point where the movie
no longer looks as though it were shot on film. The DNR has virtually
obliterated all grain, except – notably, during the initial ‘blackout’ of the high-rise
office building. These early scenes, lit by only flashlights, exhibit a digitally
gritty texture; extremely distracting. Image quality improves – marginally – as
light conditions become brighter. Too bad, excessive edge effects plague every
sharply angled horizontal or vertical surface. Remember, we are in New York –
all those skyscrapers, shimmering with edge effects and halos. The bars on the
animal cages at the zoo, and wrought iron fences in Central Park. Even the
ornate desk in Dr. Broden’s office, all exhibit image instability. There is also
modest gate weave intermittently spread throughout this transfer. The 2.0 DTS
audio shows off Quincy Jones’ underscore to its best effect. Dialogue sounds
clean and natural. Good stuff here, at least. Extras include an interview with
Diane Baker, an audio commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve
Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, an animated image gallery and theatrical trailer.
Bottom line: this is another quick n’ dirty (very dirty) release from
Uni via Kino. Neither company’s self-interests are being best served by such
shoddy workmanship! I love Mirage and highly recommend the movie for its
content. This Blu-ray is, frankly unacceptable. But, as Mirage will
likely never again find its way to hi-def, and, for those with less discerning
eyes, it will have to do. As for me – no! Mirage looks passable on my 75-inch
TV. In projection, it is virtually unwatchable. Judge and buy accordingly.
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
2.5
EXTRAS
2
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