Trauma (1962)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Robert M. Young

Writer:

Robert M. Young (writer)

Release Date:

15 October 1962 (Sweden)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

She couldn't remember--to save her life!

Plot:

Emmaline, who, as a teenager, discovered the drowned body of her aunt (Lynn Bari), returns to the family mansion as a married woman...

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia | Independent Film

Cast

John Conte	...	Warren Clyner
Lynn Bari	...	Helen Garrison
Lorrie Richards	...	Emmaline Garrison
David Garner	...	Craig Schoonover
Warren J. Kemmerling	...	Luther (as Warren Kemmerling)
William Bissell	...	Thaddeus Hall
Bond Blackman	...	Robert
William Justine	...	Treasury Agent
Ray Lennert	...	Treasury Agent
Renee Mason	...	Carla
Robert Totten	...	Gas Station Attendant
Alfred Chafe	...	Police Officer
Ruby Borner	...	Maid

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Artists XVI Productions

Soundtrack:

Emmaline's Theme

You don't find the past.. The past finds you

***SPOILERS*** Very well thought out murder/mystery that covers some six years from the time that Emmaline Garrison, Lorri Richards, suffered through.This due to the trauma of seeing her Aunt Hellen, Lynn Bari, murdered by having her forced down under to drown in her swimming pool at the Garrison Estate by an unknown killer. Emmaline also had to identify the body of her friend Lily earlier that evening, who was also murdered, at the Oakmont County Morgue. This caused her to lose her memory of not only what happened to her that terrible night but of her life, fifteen years, up to the time that those events happened.

Now six years later Emmaline 21 and married to her Aunt Hellen's former lover Warren Clyner, John Conte, and after extensive treatment for the trauma that she suffered because of that incident is back at the Garrison Estate to start a new life, since she forgot her old one, as young Mrs. Clyner.

Despite it's many sub-plots and red herrings "Trauma" does not let it's viewers down and the movies ending more then ties all the loose ends together to make the very complicated story plausible. You even learn a bit about architecture in the film due to one of it's characters Craig Schoonover, David Garner, who's an architect himself. Craig spots an important clue, by comparing an old blueprint of the Garrison Estate to a recent painting of it by Emmaline to what was the reason for the murders there some six years ago. There's also a sub-plot about a major financial swindle by Emmaline's husband Warren and the real reason for him marrying her that in a way runs interference to what the reason is for the murder of Lily and Aunt Hellen. Saying as much as I can without giving away significant plot-lines and clues to the suspenseful and shocking ending to the movie thats well worth the 93 minutes of your time watching this solid suspense thriller.

Made two years after the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Psycho" I really think that "Trauma" is a much better movie even though it's almost totally unknown to the movie going public today as well as back in 1962 when it was released. Unlike in "Psycho" the movie didn't have to have at the end a more or less five minute monologue explaining to the audience about the reasons of what was happening in it, "Trauma" did a very good job in the last five minutes of it's story explaining, without the help of an inserted teacher-like commentary, what were the reasons for Lily's and Aunt Hellen's murders as well as what lead up to them.