Film Review: 'Games' (1967)

Games (1967), directed by Curtis Harrington from his own co-written script; starring Simone Signoret, James Caan, Katharine Ross, Estelle Winwood, and Don Stroud.

Yesterday, my friend Michael @modernzorker and I got off on a tangent about remakes of Diabolique aka Les Diaboliques, the much-admired, 1955 Henri-Georges Clouzot classic thriller about a wife and a mistress plotting together to kill the man they both hate.

I turned to Wikipedia to investigate the remake track record of Diabolique. (Wikipedia is unreliable in many subjects, but their movie and television takes are usually solid.)

I already knew about two of the remakes that were listed: the awful Sharon Stone version from the mid-90s, and a lesser-known, very good televison movie from the 70s called Reflections of Murder, directed by big-screen and television stalwart John Badham (Nick of Time, Point of No Return.)

Wikipedia also mentioned Games as a film with a similar plot -- an obscure thriller by Curtis Harrington, the 60s/70s indy horror director of such fare as Who Slew Auntie Roo? and What’s the Matter With Helen? (both from 1971).

I searched around, and lo and behold, I found a very good copy of Games posted on YouTube. This film does have similarities with Diabolique, including a significant role for Simone Signoret, who starred in the original opposite Vera Clouzet. However, the setting and the relationship dynamics are quite different. Games is an excellent, underrated thriller that deserves far more attention than it currently has gotten.

James Caan and Katharine Ross star as Paul and Jennifer Montgomery, a rich, jaded Manhattan couple who live in a gorgeous, multi-storied brownstone crammed with priceless art and antiques. Neither of them work; they live off of Jennifer’s vast inheritance. They amuse themselves by playing macabre, often cruel pranks on their unsuspecting friends and relatives. Ross as Jennifer is stunningly beautiful and Caan -- five years before playing Sonny Corleone -- portrays a suave, playboy-type role that’s very different from the macho, tough-guy roles that later made him famous.

One day, a woman called Lisa Schindler (Simone Signoret) shows up on the Montgomerys’ doorstep, claiming to be a relative of a classmate Jennifer knew in college. Once inside, she reveals that she’s actually a cosmetics saleswoman who got information about Jennifer from her college yearbook. Jennifer is outraged, but then Lisa explains that she’s ill and financially impoverished, with no place to go after losing her apartment. Jennifer feels sorry for her and invites her to stay.

Once moved in, Lisa — clearly an experienced grifter and conwoman — exerts increasing influence over the Montgomery household, especially Jennifer. She also joins in on the couple’s macabre games, including one where they stage a mock human sacrifice ritual to terrify the family lawyer.

As Lisa’s influence over Jennifer grows, Paul begins to resent her, and the couple’s marriage begins to crack. To get back the old feeling, Paul decides to stage a game to frighten their grocery delivery boy, Norman, played by familiar 70s face, Don Stroud. The plan is for Jennifer to stage a seduction of Norman, and then Paul will burst in as the outraged husband, and shoot Norman with a gun filled with blanks. Except that something goes wrong, and Norman is really shot dead. Paul then convinces Jennifer to help him hide the body and especially, keep Lisa from knowing what happened, as Paul fears she will blackmail the couple forever.

Paul and Jennifer play a cat-and-mouse game to hide the body from Lisa that’s very suspenseful. They think they’ve succeeded, but then Jennifer starts seeing things—things that convince her that either Norman is haunting her, or that he isn’t actually dead. Paul thinks that Jennifer is imagining things, egged on by Lisa’s creepy crystal ball and occult readings. He orders Lisa out of the house, but that isn’t the end of the story — not by a long shot.

Signoret — who won a Best Actress Oscar for Jack Clayton’s other masterpiece, Room at the Top (1959) — is simply mesmerizing as Lisa. What a brilliant actress she was! Caan is convincing, playing against type as the smarmy Paul, and Ross is good in a low-key performance as Jennifer. Estelle Winwood, the charming British character actress, provides comic relief as a daffy, elderly neighbor.

The production design of Games is awesome, with the Manhattan brownstone a Gothic showpiece and Ross’s gorgeous wardrobe and ever-changing hairstyles. All of the action is expertly paced.

IMDb reviewers rate this film at a respectable 6.5 out of 10, but I would give it at least a 7 and maybe even a 7.5. The Scream Factory released a DVD last year if you're interested in adding it to your permanent collection. (Michael, it's old enough that it might have even gotten a Laserdisc release!)

I’m now off to watch more offerings from Curtis Harrington!