The Sorcerers (1967) Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Elizabeth Ercy, Ian Ogilvy Movie Review

The Sorcerers (1967)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Catherine Lacey and Boris Karloff in The Sorcerers (1967)

Transference

Hypnotist Professor Montserrat (Boris Karloff), after much research, has found a way of not only controlling those he hypnotises but getting to feel what they feel. With his wife Estelle (Catherine Lacey) they try out this new technique on Mike Roscoe (Ian Ogilvy), a handsome young man around town. But with great power comes great responsibility and for Estelle the pleasure she gets from controlling Mike begins to take over her life. Fearing that unless he acts he may lose his wife the Professor must find a way of stopping her going too far, not just for their sake but Mike's as well.

Reading reviews of old movies can make you feel inferior because often those reviews will be written by someone who watched the movie when it came out and had a far different, some might say greater experience to someone who watches it for the first time years later. As such after watching "The Sorcerers" for the first time just short of 50 years after it was released I found myself unsurprisingly less impressed than some of those whose reviews I scanned whilst looking for information. But it isn't that "The Sorcerers" is a bad movie just one which is expectedly dated which will always make it harder to enjoy for those who come to it later.

Ian Ogilvy in The Sorcerers (1967)

Now I could go on about the special effects which are typically 60s with flashing lights and cameras rapidly zoom in and out but truth is effects on a budget are not what "The Sorcerers" is about. Nope what this movie is about is a battle of minds and the consequences of their actions. As such we have the Professor wanting to use his mind control technique to help the ill whilst his wife Estelle is enjoying not only living vicariously through Mike but using him for their own gain as she has him commit crimes and therefore getting to experience the thrill without the danger. But as I said there is also the consequence and we see how Mike's life ends up in tatters due to their mind meddling.

What always surprises me is how different actors were back in the 60s and even those in the younger roles were less reliant on their looks than their ability to deliver lines. As such Ian Ogilvy whilst well cast for his looks also delivers the performance of a handsome young man about town who is confused when out of the blue he does things out of character. But of course the real stars of "The Sorcerers" are Boris Karloff and Catherine Lacey who provide the contrast when you have Karloff delivering a believable performance as a tired old man who has spent years studying whilst Lacey brings out her characters pent up frustration and years of never having what she wanted.

What this all boils down to is that "The Sorcerers" is a product of the 60s and as such is expectedly dated which means when stumbled across now for the first time it doesn't have the same impact as it did for those who first watched it back in the late 60s. But between an interesting storyline and engaging performances it still has the ability to entertain and be memorable; well it does feature an antiques shop called "The Glory Hole".


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