Friday, Jul. 30, 1965

Number's Up

I Saw What You Did has just got under way when a pair of youngsters wander out to a barn to visit a pony. Suddenly the door slams shut behind them. Outside, the bushes begin rustling. Can it be the wind? An unseen enemy? Actually, nothing at all is happening. The culprit is really Producer-Director William Castle, who seldom lets plausibility slow the pace of his grade-B shockers.

I Saw delivers its message by telephone, and rings in some crude but effective suspense from the mischief wrought by two nubile teen-agers (Movie Newcomers Andi Garrett and Sarah Lane). With Mom and Dad away on an overnight trip, Andi invites Sarah out to her remote country mansion to help baby-sit. Crank calls are the girls' favorite diversion. The usual ploy: "I saw what you did and I know who you are." It is a dubious icebreaker at best, but downright troublesome when addressed to an unstable suburbanite (John Ireland) who that very evening has carved up his wife with a kitchen knife and buried her body in the woods. To the girls he sounds "sexy ... a swinger." They phone again. Yeh, yeh.

Ireland's other problem is Joan Crawford, cast as a predatory neighbor who doesn't care what a man has done so long as he is willing to remarry. Joan is given big billing but has a small role, and soon both her number and her time are up. The plot perks right along without her. Having learned Andi's identity, Ireland closes in during the whee hours when open windows, flashing cutlery and hairbreadth escapes are apt to achieve maximum impact among teenagers. Any who are hooked on horror shows will find every reason to haunt Castle's. Their parents may prefer to stay home and sneak in a few phone calls.

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