John and Mary Ashby died in a plane crash in 1950 leaving behind two sons and a daughter to be raised by the children’s Aunt Harriet (Sheila Burrell). Three years later the youngest son Tony, committed suicide by jumping off a cliff into a raging sea. At the time, Tony was 15. His body was never found.
Eight years after that, the oldest son, Simon (Oliver Reed), is an alcoholic and an insufferable ass. He spends money frivolously and has designs on the remaining family estate. To that end he tries to make his sister, Eleanor (Janette Scott), appear insane to try to get her committed to an asylum. The emotional effects of losing both her parents and her beloved brother give Simon the edge he needs to label her as crazy. The family hires a full time nurse, Francoise (Liliane Brousse) to care for Eleanor. Francoise is having an affair with Simon and keeps him informed on Eleanor’s condition.
About three weeks before the estate is officially to be settled a man (Alexander Davion) shows up at the estate claiming to be Tony, the long lost son. Tony says that he did not try to commit suicide but just ran away. Eleanor, who has felt alone in the house, accepts him at face value. Harriet and Simon are far more suspicious, but the man is a dead ringer for Tony so they have no choice but to allow him into the house. Tony’s appearance brightens Eleanor’s mood but sends Simon into an alcohol fueled rage, Aunt Harriet, on the other hand, is as pinched faced as ever.
Later it is revealed that Tony is not actually Tony Ashby but was hired by the family solicitor’s son, Keith Kossett (John Bonney) to hide the fact that he has been embezzling from the Ashby family estate. The fake Tony’s task to convince the family of his standing becomes harder when he begins to fall in love with Eleanor. Tony also finds himself in the middle of dark secrets that could destroy the family if they were exposed.
“Paranoiac” was released in 1963 and was directed by Freddie Francis. It is British psychological thriller and a British noir produced by Hammer Films. The film was loosely based on the 1949 novel “Brat Farrar” by Josephine Tey.
The best part of the movie is Oliver Reed. Reed does insane raging alcoholic better than most and is especially good at insane spoiled brat. All of which he was an expert at. Reed died in 1999 of a heart attack brought on by drinking three bottles of Captain Morgan run, 8 bottles of beer and a fair amount of whiskey and cognac in succession. According to one witness, Patrick Warburton, Reed had a tattoo on his penis. I do not know what the tattoo was. That fun fact has nothing to do with the movie, but is an interesting little tidbit nonetheless.
The cinematography is on par for a Hammer production. The gothic atmosphere is made more intense by the use of black and white film, especially with the cliff scenes with the ocean pounding against the rocks. The mystery is similar in mood to Hitchcock’s style of directing. Everything is shrouded in suspense and apprehension.