THE FEARMAKERS (1958)

A B-thriller with an interesting premise but not quite enough budget or talent to fulfill its initial promise. Dana Andrews is a Korean War vet who was a prisoner of war and underwent brainwashing before being returned to the U.S. The brief torture scene at the beginning made me think we were headed for Manchurian Candidate territory but this element is basically ignored except to give Andrews a physical weakness (he suffers sharp, sudden headaches) that frequently threatens to put him in danger's way. He returns to the PR firm he co-founded only to find that his partner has sold it to slimy Dick Foran, then died in a hit-and-run accident the very next day. The firm is moving from taking opinion polls to molding public opinion, working specifically for an anti-nuclear group that is actually a front for Communists. Despite some critical commentary I read about the movie, the anti-Commie element is not particularly strong--we get the impression that the firm would do this work for anyone who paid them. Andrews, who is initially rebuffed by Foran, is asked to return to the company for the prestige of his name, and at the prodding of a senator, he does join up so he can infiltrate and fight their insidious "brainwashing" of the public. A secretary (Marilee Earle) and a reporter (Joel Marston) help Andrews; an odd married couple (the wife is B-movie cult figure Veda Ann Borg) try to stop him. Mel Torme plays an evil underling who ends up on Andrews' side because he has the hots for Earle. The low budget is obvious from the sets, the flat lighting, and the stale dialogue, though director Jacques Tourneur (CAT PEOPLE) uses shadows well. Most of it looks like an early TV movie. Andrews isn't bad, but a more energetic lead actor may have helped. The climactic fight occurs between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument--no symbolism there! The general paranoid tone about trust or distrust of PR information remains timely in this age of media monopolies. [TCM]