                                               Review: Carnival of Souls

                                        Reviewed by Jerry Stratton, May 31, 2009

     "If she is a magnet for the gothic, there is  nothing exciting or sexy about it. The thrills of this  carnival
     are cold ones, bits of death."

   There are  places in  this world  where the  other  world intrudes:  old carnivals;  deserted highways;  busy  bus
   stations... This seminal horror movie contains no blood, no knives,  and for the most part, no budget, but it  was
   well-written, beautifully shot, and carefully directed and acted. Inspiration from this movie can be seen in later
   films from "Night of the Living Dead" to "Beetlejuice".

   I had never seen this, but on the strength of the Criterion label, the description, and a half-off sale at Amazon,
   I took a chance. It was well worth it. It's filled with wonderful extras and a great movie.

   A car falls over a bridge and into the water. Of the three girls inside, only one comes out of the water.  Changed
   by her experience, Mary Henry leaves her Kansas town vowing never to return. She has a job as an organist in Utah.
   She drives there (it wasn't her car that went over the bridge) without even telling her parents goodbye.

   She plays the organ very well, but the organ-maker says she has no soul, only intellect. And that isn't enough  to
   live.

   Herk Harvey  uses  shadows, light,  and  reflections masterfully  in  this black  and  white movie,  producing  an
   evocative, slow-moving dance. It's an eerie, haunting movie. The only other movie I've seen that matches its eerie
   quality is The Haunting.

   The DVD set contains both the  original theatrical version, which had been  cut without the director's input,  and
   the director's 1989 restoration; the  latter brings the original  78 minutes to 83 minutes.  Each version is on  a
   different DVD, and each DVD  has great extras describing not  only how the movie was  made but the environment  in
   which it was born.

   Harvey, and through him writer John Clifford, was inspired by the Saltair amusement park in Utah, long  abandoned.
   He'd seen its ruins while on a trip through Utah, where it sits next to the Great Salt Lake. There's a five-minute
   tour of the locations used in the  film, and a written tour and photo  gallery of the Saltair amusement park.  The
   former is interesting, the latter  fascinatingly beautiful. It includes several  photographs and designs from  the
   Saltair's heyday.

   One of the problems with the site is that the Great  Salt Lake has a very dynamic water level. It originally  died
   out because the water receded. In  the seventies the water returned, so  they rebuilt in 1981--and then the  water
   rose enough to  flood the building.  The waters receded  enough to rebuild  again in the  nineties, but then  they
   continued receding well away from the Saltair. It keeps coming back, though.

   Another location that inspired Clifford  was Lawrence's Reuter Organ Company  and its organ-testing room.  There's
   footage from that on the DVD, too. The testing room itself has apparently changed very little.

   In grade school, I used to look forward to those "educational" films about faraway places or road safety, good  or
   bad. Some of the good  ones might have been  made by Herk Harvey.  Criterion includes several "educational"  films
   directed by Herk for Centron,  and about four of  his commercial films to  give you an idea  of what he was  doing
   before and after  "Carnival of Souls".  They range from  "Signals: Read'em or  Weep" (my favorite)  to promos  for
   Korea, Jamaica, and Kansas itself where Centron was located. The Kansas promo (Star 34, after Kansas's star on the
   U.S. flag) is especially interesting because it shows a  very young Herk Harvey, when he had just started  working
   for the Centron Corporation.

   There's a commentary on the restored version.  What's there is very good, but  it's a bit sporadic. To help,  they
   have a "commentary index" that goes  to the start of chapters that  have a commentary, but the commentary  doesn't
   generally start where the  chapters do. Some  sort of visual  cue that a  scene has a  commentary would have  been
   useful.

   The DVD set also contains a thirty-minute documentary,  "The Movie That Wouldn't Die" covering a revival  showing
   of the film in Lawrence Kansas where it was  mostly filmed. The showing brought together directory Harvey,  writer
   John Clifford, and stars Candace Hilligoss and Sidney Berger. It's a fun watch.

   There are written interviews with Herk Harvey, John  Clifford, and Candace Hilligoss. The writing is  interspersed
   with photos  and artwork.  Candace  Hilligoss's interview  ends with  closeups  of the  movie poster  showing  the
   incredible artwork. It's the same poster used for  the cover of the DVD box, but  the cover is too small to do  it
   justice. it seems a bit weird reading text on the television, but they're good interviews.

   There are a lot  of outtakes, different takes  on scenes. These would  be a lot more  interesting if there were  a
   commentary talking about what they were reshooting for, and why these scenes didn't make the cut. There are  about
   45 minutes of outtakes with no organization.

   Finally, it comes with a small booklet  with notes by John Clifford (who  wrote it) and by University of  Colorado
   Professor of Film Studies Bruce Kawin. John Clifford writes:

     I was freed by the fact  that I had no need  to worry about Hollywood formats. I  didn't have to conform in  any
     way. I knew who the producer and director would be, and that he would be open to whatever I proposed. It is, for
     instance, one of the few films  from that period, or even  today, that has no love  story or romance, even as  a
     subplot.

   It was a one-shot effort. Part of the reason it was  their only effort were the problems they had once they had  to
   enter it in the system, to  get played in theaters. But part  of it is that they had  an idea for a film, had  the
   resources to make the film their way, and they made the film they wanted. There was no reason to make another one.
   If you can enjoy a movie that doesn't conform and that unfolds with a graceful eerieness, I recommend Carnival  of
   Souls. I enjoy it more each time I watch it.

                                                                                             Recommendation: Purchase

If you enjoyed Carnival of Souls...

   If you enjoy Criterion movies, you might also be interested in Dazed and Confused and The Seven Samurai.

   If you enjoy influential movies, you might also be interested in Birth of a Nation and The Seven Samurai.

   Buy Carnival of Souls: Herk Harvey
           This is an awesome DVD package. It goes in-depth not only into Herk Harvey's influential Carnival of
           Souls, but also the other kinds of movies he and his colleagues did. There is a great old construction
           safety short on here, for example.

   Great Saltair
           "Saltair is the name which has been given to several resorts located on the southern shore of the Great
           Salt Lake in Utah, about fifteen miles from Salt Lake City."

   Buy The Haunting
           The movie plays up Eleanor Vance's mother's death, and plays down her etherealness, but this is a great
           translation of an untranslatable book to movie.

   Reuter Organ Company
           "Adolf Reuter began employment at the Barkhoff Organ Company at the age of 20. He proceeded to work for a
           number of American pipe organ builders over the next 16 years, eventually working his way to the level of
           shop superintendent. In 1917, he was joined by Earl Schwarz to establish the Reuter-Schwarz Organ Company,
           and announced in The Diapason their goal 'to put out an instrument second to none.'"
