The Snake Woman
**
The moors of an English village are the setting, locating
the story of a young beauty (Susan Travers), the product of snake venom
experiments on her mentally ill mother by a coldly-depicted scientist father,
who occupies the film, The Snake Woman (1961), with two other snakes that were
released as the locals, equipped with torches and pitchforks [natch], attempt
to destroy everything “evil”, resulting from a kook named Aggie (Elsie Wagstaff)
telling them in the nearby pub of the “birth of the serpent child”.
I was hoping The Snake Woman might be this year’s Cat Girl (1957). Cat Girl (starring Barbara Shelley) was a nice surprise to me--a kind of British translation of Cat People--I watched last year. I found it to be a nice surprise, a pleasantly atmospheric and adult gem. Sadly, I found that The Snake Woman wasn’t much. It didn’t have a style that grabbed my attention or was its content all that exciting. We don’t spend enough time with Travers to truly care about her, and when the film does give her time she is blank and emotionless. Nothing about Travers, beyond her beauty, is all that fetching or interesting.
John McCarthy, to his credit, is a pleasant personality and his scientist, sent by Scotland Yard to the village to either disprove or give credibility to the report from Colonel Wynborn (Geoffrey Denton) that a series of murders could be the result of a human with snake-like characteristics, approaches the locals with no snobbery or disdain. Too often authorities from cities respond to local claims and scuttlebutt with little regard (in fact McCarthy is told by his Scotland Yard superior not to be too smug) and a lot of dismissive attitude. Not McCarthy as he seeks advice from those in the village, often listening (even if he scoffs at it all as nonsense) in the hopes of getting to the truth.
A scientist, Dr. Murton (Arnold Marie), worked with Atheris’ father (Atheris is the name the girl receives from a sheepherder living on the moors of the village), returns after twenty years, realizing after his time in Africa (he deems a success) that the child born from the venom of snakes used to help keep a mentally-suffering woman somewhat sane was a mistake. He plans to correct that mistake, but Atheris isn’t about to let of those responsible for her condition to just put her to an end. McCarthy encounters her, the two seem to gain some trust, and a musical instrument that he plays horribly attracts her. It is a work of what McCarthy’s SY officer could only perceive as questionable witchcraft (voodoo doll shot three times, Aggie claims will be Atheris’ demise) that might just be the ironic method of execution for Atheris. Ironic in that McCarthy believes he’s shooting a Cobra, not knowing that Atheris can shapeshift from woman to snake and back.
The direction by Sidney J Furie (The Ipcress File) is competent but not entirely engaging…nothing about the film, even as it is little over 60 or so minutes, really ever reaches out and pulls you in. Or the film didn’t reach out and grab me. I kept hoping something more significant might emerge but nothing exactly does. I think a more engaging character for Atheris could have made a difference, but debates about “science and the fantastic” are what the film cares more about. I don’t mind that, but when we get to the moors I was just expecting something a bit more eerie or compelling. McCarthy just poo-pooing the Colonel’s theories on a snake woman targeting men in the village and later admitting to himself that perhaps he needed to follow the evidence as it presents itself instead of trying to fit what he encounters within his realm of explanation are of the film’s main interest. Not Atheris out there on the moors with her snake “friends”. Aggie could very well be the most intriguing character due to her embrace of beliefs that most might consider odd or esoteric.
I was hoping The Snake Woman might be this year’s Cat Girl (1957). Cat Girl (starring Barbara Shelley) was a nice surprise to me--a kind of British translation of Cat People--I watched last year. I found it to be a nice surprise, a pleasantly atmospheric and adult gem. Sadly, I found that The Snake Woman wasn’t much. It didn’t have a style that grabbed my attention or was its content all that exciting. We don’t spend enough time with Travers to truly care about her, and when the film does give her time she is blank and emotionless. Nothing about Travers, beyond her beauty, is all that fetching or interesting.
John McCarthy, to his credit, is a pleasant personality and his scientist, sent by Scotland Yard to the village to either disprove or give credibility to the report from Colonel Wynborn (Geoffrey Denton) that a series of murders could be the result of a human with snake-like characteristics, approaches the locals with no snobbery or disdain. Too often authorities from cities respond to local claims and scuttlebutt with little regard (in fact McCarthy is told by his Scotland Yard superior not to be too smug) and a lot of dismissive attitude. Not McCarthy as he seeks advice from those in the village, often listening (even if he scoffs at it all as nonsense) in the hopes of getting to the truth.
A scientist, Dr. Murton (Arnold Marie), worked with Atheris’ father (Atheris is the name the girl receives from a sheepherder living on the moors of the village), returns after twenty years, realizing after his time in Africa (he deems a success) that the child born from the venom of snakes used to help keep a mentally-suffering woman somewhat sane was a mistake. He plans to correct that mistake, but Atheris isn’t about to let of those responsible for her condition to just put her to an end. McCarthy encounters her, the two seem to gain some trust, and a musical instrument that he plays horribly attracts her. It is a work of what McCarthy’s SY officer could only perceive as questionable witchcraft (voodoo doll shot three times, Aggie claims will be Atheris’ demise) that might just be the ironic method of execution for Atheris. Ironic in that McCarthy believes he’s shooting a Cobra, not knowing that Atheris can shapeshift from woman to snake and back.
The direction by Sidney J Furie (The Ipcress File) is competent but not entirely engaging…nothing about the film, even as it is little over 60 or so minutes, really ever reaches out and pulls you in. Or the film didn’t reach out and grab me. I kept hoping something more significant might emerge but nothing exactly does. I think a more engaging character for Atheris could have made a difference, but debates about “science and the fantastic” are what the film cares more about. I don’t mind that, but when we get to the moors I was just expecting something a bit more eerie or compelling. McCarthy just poo-pooing the Colonel’s theories on a snake woman targeting men in the village and later admitting to himself that perhaps he needed to follow the evidence as it presents itself instead of trying to fit what he encounters within his realm of explanation are of the film’s main interest. Not Atheris out there on the moors with her snake “friends”. Aggie could very well be the most intriguing character due to her embrace of beliefs that most might consider odd or esoteric.
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