Mystic Prophecies and Nostradamus (1961)

Director:

Merle S. Gould

Writer:

Peter Ballbusch (writer)

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Basil Rathbone	...	Narrator
Stanton Pritchard	...	Nostradamus

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Company:

Premier Productions

Hour long look at Nostradamus and prophecies plays better as a pseudo- horror film rather than as a documentary

This runs just under an hour and appears to have been made with TV in mind. The movie is simply Basil Rathbone either talking to the camera or reading from a book in a room that appears to be in a castle. The subject are the prophecies of various people with the majority of it having to do with Nostradamus. At times we see stock footage from various sources as well as various images from classical art illustrating what ever the immediate subject is. About half way in the focus of the film turns wholly to Nostradamus and his prophecies and its at this point we get shots of an actor wandering around dressed as Nostradamus.

In all honestly this isn't all that good. Its not bad, but its far from anything special. Its basically a history of how prophecy is a real thing and how Nostradamus predicted whats happening and how America will continue to thrive (remember this was made during the cold war when that wasn't certain).

It reminds me of the Sunn Classic style documentaries about Noah's ark, UFO's, Bigfoot and other weird subjects that used to play theaters in the 1970's and scare the little kids worse than most horror movies because they were "real". My interest in the film comes from the fact that Rathbone does the narration. I was hoping that he'd do it in such a way that it would be creepy if watched it late at night with the lights off. My expectations were met, had I watched this at night with the lights off I would have had a hard time getting to sleep. If you look at it as a pseudo-horror film it plays better.

Worth a look if you're interested in the subject, Rathbone or bit of scary nostalgia. Everyone else will have their mileage vary