Screen Directors Playhouse: The Dream (1956)
** (out of 4)
A young boy (Sal Mineo) has a recurring dream about a Baron (George Sanders) but he has no idea why he would be dreaming about this man. One day while in a restaurant the boy ends up meeting the Baron and when he tells his mother about it she warns him to stay away. This addition to the Screen Directors Playhouse series was taken from a Ivan Turgenev story and I'm going to bet that the story had a lot more to it than actually found its way to the screen. This story really does feel like something you'd see on The Twilight Zone in a few years but it's clear that the level of writing here just couldn't take the story and do anything special with it. The film never really makes too much sense even early one when we're trying to figure out who the man is and why this kid is having the dream. When his mother starts freaking out about the man we're not given any reasons why but this is a clear tip-off that we're going to get some big twist. When the twist finally comes I can't say that I was shocked because in reality there are just two ways that the story could have gone. I think something that really hurts the film is that the story just isn't interesting enough as it just feels incomplete. It also doesn't help that we get a very corny soundtrack that starts playing every time a "twist" happens. Both Sanders and Mineo are good in their parts but one wishes they had a better story to work with.
** (out of 4)
A young boy (Sal Mineo) has a recurring dream about a Baron (George Sanders) but he has no idea why he would be dreaming about this man. One day while in a restaurant the boy ends up meeting the Baron and when he tells his mother about it she warns him to stay away. This addition to the Screen Directors Playhouse series was taken from a Ivan Turgenev story and I'm going to bet that the story had a lot more to it than actually found its way to the screen. This story really does feel like something you'd see on The Twilight Zone in a few years but it's clear that the level of writing here just couldn't take the story and do anything special with it. The film never really makes too much sense even early one when we're trying to figure out who the man is and why this kid is having the dream. When his mother starts freaking out about the man we're not given any reasons why but this is a clear tip-off that we're going to get some big twist. When the twist finally comes I can't say that I was shocked because in reality there are just two ways that the story could have gone. I think something that really hurts the film is that the story just isn't interesting enough as it just feels incomplete. It also doesn't help that we get a very corny soundtrack that starts playing every time a "twist" happens. Both Sanders and Mineo are good in their parts but one wishes they had a better story to work with.