Peggie Castle had an unfortunate career, largely in supporting roles and rarely given the opportunity to do more significant work. A typical part for her was as a duplicitous wife in 1953’s 99 River Street, where she stole the scenes she was in, only for her character to be killed early in the second act. At last, she received top billing in 1957’s Back from the Dead, only to be sidelined by third-billed Marsha Hunt, who receives the lion’s share of the screentime.
Even this wasn’t a huge step forward for her as, while it is professionally made, everything about this picture feels akin to many other independently produced works of the time. The themes of devil worship and even that of the soul of a dead person possessing a living person are material regularly mined by such fare. Then there’s the ocean, clearly of use because of proximity to most of these productions. Open credits roll over breaking surf, establishing a vibe similar to that of Tormented.
What is odd is the film also has elements reminiscent of Vertigo, which is remarkable as Back from the Dead preceded Hitchcock’s film by a year. And yet, here is Castle with blond hair pinned up and wearing a skirt and jacket that immediately brings to mind Kim Novak in her Madeleine persona, and Castle looks like this only when she takes on a different persona herself, and that is husband Arthur Franz’s first wife, Felicia. The score even occasionally seems to have elements of that of the other movie and how on earth is that possible?
Castle doesn’t really look like Novak—instead, she looks uncannily like Kim Cattrall from most angles. And the way her hair is pinned up does not look like a flower in the back, but instead like an infinity symbol. I suspect that was accidental but, if it was a reference to a woman living forever by possessing women like Castle, then kudos to whoever decided on that. And a key piece of music that drives the plot definitely doesn’t sound like Bernard Herrmann. In fact, I’m not sure what the hell genre it is in, except that it possibly tries to occupy all of them simultaneously.
The only instrument I can pick out from the record Franz apparently can’t stop spinning is a theremin, and I don’t tend to play music featuring that instrument when I need to relax. And trying to relax to what he spins is as unlikely as throwing on some Iannis Xenakis to chill out. It is clearly rubbing wife Castle the wrong way, so upsetting her that she suddenly miscarries.
Turns out the music caused her to be taken over by the spirit of Felicia, that deceased first wife of Franz’s who he never mentioned to Castle. Really classy of the guy to neglect to tell her anything about a prior marriage and I wonder what other secrets he’s been keeping. I also wondered if this is what Robyn Hitchcock’s song “My Wife and My Dead Wife” is about. If so, he neglected to have lyrics about the previous Mrs. Arthur Franz being a Satanist whom we first see tossing off a cliff what is supposed to be a blonde woman, though it is obviously a mannequin (and still not Kim Cattrall). Felicia is assisting sect leader Otto Reichow, who is that particular sect’s leader. It is no surprise the two were not only experiencing the joy of sects together, but also the joy of sex. It kinda makes one wonder what life at home was like for the Franzes.
And now Arthur has to deal with Felicia now occupying the body of new wife Castle. This is a radical change in Castle’s personality, with people bewildered to find her so blasé about such incidents as the loss of the fetus she was carrying. One person who is happy to see her return is Helen Wallace, the dead woman’s mother and fellow follower of Reichow, though she first needs some convincing Castle is new vessel for her daughter. Equally convinced of this reincarnation, but less pleased, is James Bell as Felicia’s father. I suspect the home life of Felicia’s parents must be even stranger than Felicia and Franz’s had to have been, as Wallace is a Satanist and her husband is not. I was amused when she says to Bell, “You believe in your God, and I’ll believe in mine”, as if they just have a minor difference in religious beliefs like denominational differences. Also, I accidentally typed the penultimate word in that previous sentence as “demoninational”, which is what I propose we call the different branches of Satanism.
The smartest character here is played by Hunt. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, she inexplicably has the most screentime, despite being the sister-in-law of the possessed woman. That is the kind of character who should barely factor into the plot, yet it is she who does all the investigative work, the one who discovers Reichow and the true nature of what has happened, and that is only through extensive conversations she has with Don Haggerty and Marianne Stewart. It is strange to see a minor character do the heavy lifting, and it leaves Franz is a weirdly emasculated position as the helpless husband and us wondering what the hell Castle is up to for great stretches of time.
What relatively little we see of Castle has her making the most of this rare opportunity to have top billing. In one bit, she drops a flower bouquet she has just been handed as if she’s doing a mic drop. She also shocks those who know her with her abrupt changes in how she dresses. Earlier, I mentioned the severe suit and pinned-up hair from an early scene immediately after the transformation. Later, she’ll greet guests to her home in lingerie that wouldn’t cause anybody to blink an eye today, but which was quite shocking for the time. I’ll admit I was more stunned by something we see Hunt wear to bed in one scene, which looks to be more clothing than I think most people wear except possibly in winter. It even has a turtleneck. One might as well sleep in their street clothes.
Maybe that was the style of those living on the southern California coast at the time, though I doubt it. One element of that environment we do get to see a great deal of is the amazing architecture. Interiors appear to exclusively be sets, though they are designed and decorated as to feel as if they belong in those buildings.
Back from the Dead wasn’t quite as engaging as I hoped it would be, though others like me, who are partial to such fare, will find much to enjoy. If it wasn’t for it being released a full year before Vertigo, one would swear it was ripping off that film. But one of the biggest disappointments of this is seeing Castle getting short shrift for what is ostensibly a leading role. From here on out, the remainder of her career would be one foreign film and some TV work (most notably a long run on Lawman) before death by cirrhosis of the liver roughly a decade-and-a-half later.
Dir: Charles Marquis Warren
Starring Peggie Castle, Arthur Franz, Marsha Hunt
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray