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6
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5 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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This
late '50s sci-fi/horror tale was financed by Jack H. Harris,
producer of the original The Blob
(1957) and Dinosaurus! (1960).
It's a fun, surprisingly well-made film featuring commendable
special effects, a punchy all-jazz score, and an excellent lead
performance by the late Robert Lansing. 4D
Man also has to be just about the most vibrantly colorful
genre flick of the period I've ever seen.
The story opens with brash young scientist
Tony Nelson (Congdon) performing an after-hours experiment
at the research institute that employs him. He's obsessed
with the idea of manipulating electromagnetic fields in
order to pass any solid object "through" another. Somehow
this involves the temporary co-mingling of atoms so that,
essentially, two objects occupy the same space at one time
without damaging one another. Tony's only success to date
passing an ordinary pencil through a block of solid steel
came by accident. His accident-prone tendencies continue
as the current experiment fails, overheating the equipment
and catching the lab on fire. Within moments the whole institute
is ablaze. Not surprisingly, Tony soon finds himself out
of a job.
The unemployed scientist shows up at
the private physics lab where his older brother, Scott (Lansing),
is a top researcher. Levelheaded and dedicated to his work,
Scott views Tony as an irresponsible ne'er-do-well. There's
been "bad blood" between the brothers in the past
Tony once ran off with Scott's then-fiancι
but Scott is willing to bury the hatchet and help Tony out.
Since Tony's a top-notch scientist (despite his flighty
behavior and often crackpot-sounding theories), Scott helps
him secure a job at the lab, which is engaged in R & D for
the Pentagon. But history begins to repeat itself as pretty
research assistant Linda (Lee Meriwether), whom Scott carries
a torch for, starts falling for Tony. Adding to Scott's
woes, Dr. Carson (Edgar Stelhi), his employer, steals most
of the personal credit for a potentially profitable new
discovery made by the team Scott heads. He's also informed
by the company physician that exposure to radiation on the
job may somehow be affecting his brain. Downtrodden, Scott
proposes marriage to Linda but is rebuffed. In a fit of
pique Scott breaks into Tony's storage locker to take a
look at little bro's "hobby" project. While tinkering about
with Tony's "force field" apparatus, Scott accidentally
makes a startling discovery
he's able to pass his hand through a solid steel block by
simply willing it. He informs his brother, who's
shocked
to learn that Scott doesn't even need the machine to duplicate
the process! Very quickly Scott masters this new power,
able to pass his entire
body through solid walls while in a self-generated "4th
Dimensional" state. Much like The
Invisible Man's Jack Griffin, Scott is morally corrupted
by this almost god-like ability; that very night he uses
it to rob a bank of $50,000 (for no other reason than he
can). There's a high price to pay, of course. Every
time he uses the power Scott loses decades off his life
span, aging years within seconds. By means of another accident
he discovers that his youth and energy can be restored
by draining the life force from other human beings. The
touch of the 4D Man means death.
Lansing (Empire
Of The Ants) is very, very good as the scientist turned
murdering monster. His nuanced performance, spanning the gamut
of emotions, really sells the movie and its less than plausible
concept. So do the "4D" special effects, achieved either through
blue-screen process photography or simple camera tricks. (While
dated by today's standards, they generally still hold up well
enough to permit a suspension of disbelief; they must've looked
quite cool to audiences at the time.) Actually, the film's best
effects involve the rapid aging deaths of Scott's victims, whose
agonized shriveling is realized with makeup and, in one scene,
a combination of time-lapse photography and animation.
Perhaps the most commented upon facet of
4D Man is composer Ralph Carmichael's
unusual jazz score. It's more akin to that of a Noir-style police
procedural than a science fiction film. You won't hear a single
note played on a theramin. Bold and brassy horn riffs frequently
accentuate the onscreen action with aural punctuation marks;
the cool bass/drum passages wouldn't seem out of place in an
episode of Twin Peaks. Occasionally inappropriate in
scenes where no musical accompaniment at all would have served
better (and in one case
the picnic in the park
getting downright silly), I think it's an asset to the film
as a whole.
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Image's
edition of 4D Man is one of the
company's earlier releases ('99), so the DVD unfortunately comes
in the cardboard "snapper"-type packaging. It's also completely
bereft of Extras
there isn't even a trailer. On the plus side, audio/visual quality
is quite good considering the film's age and low budget heritage.
Presented fullframe (don't worry, you're not missing anything),
print damage is minimal while colors are astoundingly vibrant.
The digital mono audio track is crisp and clear. Best of all,
the disc is quite inexpensive. 11/29/01
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