Review of “Ring of Terror” (1961)

This is our latest Saturday pizza and bad movie entry, a black-and-white foray into college days. Uh-huh.

Plot:

The main story is framed by a graveyard keeper, R.J. Dobson (Joseph Conway), looking for his cat, Puma. He finds the feline by the headstone of one Lewis B. Moffitt (George E. Mather), with dates 1933-1955 and the engraving “I feared not.” Dobson laughs, turns to the camera, and spins the tale of Lewis’ life.

Lewis is a medical student dating a girl named Betty (Esther Furst) and pledging to an unnamed fraternity. He is hitting the books pretty hard. Nevertheless, he can still break away for a dance concert at the college cafeteria.

(College cafeterias must have changed from the 50s to the time I got around to going.)

Lewis is so gung-ho he even asks Professor Rayburn (Lomax Study) if he can assist him with an upcoming student autopsy. At first, the Professor demurs. It’s a job for seniors, who usually make excuses why they can’t—but since Lewis asked, well, okay.

Lewis isn’t afraid or squeamish. He explains this to Betty, too.

After the interminable autopsy, which opens with a glimpse into the “gastrovascular cavity” ( Ahem. And poor John Doe is still wearing his gold ring, huh?), Lewis has trouble sleeping. His roommate (Norman Ollestad) watches him having a nightmare and listens to him mutter, “Don’t turn off the lights.”

Is Lewis afraid of the dark?

Each member pledging the fraternity receives some task before being accepted into the brotherhood. One guy has to ask for a penny from each person on a particular street. Lewis—fearless Lewis—must retrieve the gold ring from the autopsy subject’s hand.

What could go wrong?

Thoughts:

This is a study in fear and the lies we tell ourselves. Unfortunately, several flaws make it hard to watch. First, the pacing is weird. Rather than ratching up tension, it wanders. The dance at the cafeteria is meant to be light-hearted but breaks action for some fat jokes, holding a heavy couple up to ridicule. The musicians are not playing the music heard. For example, the score includes a trumpet. The scene does not.

Lewis is portrayed as an intense young man, but clearly, the actor is much older than the twenty-something of the role. None of the actors are exactly fresh young faces.

Lewis spends the entire movie assuring everyone how unsqueamish he is. The dude doth protest too much, methinks. Only late in the story does he understand the meaning of his nightmares, which are connected to a childhood trauma.

The scenes are dark but not so dark it’s difficult to see what’s happening. The audio is a different matter. We watched this with Mystery Science Theater 3000, making it even harder. When I rewatched it on YouTube, it was still difficult to understand, particularly when many people were in a scene.

The autopsy that-would-not-end begins with Professor Rayburn telling the assembled guys (and they’re all guys) that this will be their first “gastrovascular autopsy” and showing them the “gastrovascular cavity.” I wondered what this was and looked it up. Humans don’t have them; they’re more common in flatworms and jellyfish, where ingestion and excretion occur through the same port. That’s exactly what it sounds like.

The guys were all medical students. The women were not. It was unclear what, if anything, they were studying. Their purpose seemed to be dating the various guys.

A better treatment of a similar idea—fear—is in the 1961 Twilight Zone episode, “The Grave.” While I wouldn’t call it high art, it did the one thing this movie didn’t do—it cared. The sad thing is, if the people making this movie had given a damn, it might have been a decent flick.

This gem can be watched here.

Title: Ring of Terror (1961)

Directed by
Clark L. Paylow

Writing Credits
Lewis Simeon…(original story)
Lewis Simeon…(screenplay) and
Jerry Zinnamon…(screenplay) (as Jerrold I. Zinnamon)

Cast (in credits order)
George E. Mather…Lewis B. Moffitt (as George Mather)
Austin Green…Carl
Esther Furst…Betty Crawford
Norman Ollestad…Lew’s Roommate
Lomax Study…Professor Rayburn

Released: 1961
Length: 1 hour, 11 minutes