The Asphyx (1972)

The Asphyx (1972), directed by Peter Newbrook.

The Kino marketing department at work:

I'm reasonably familiar with the genre and this title was still in obscurity for me: never heard of it. The word "steampunk" had not been invented yet, but that's ok: we get it.

In a trick opening scene in contemporary London, traffic police investigate a bad collision: "My God, this man is still alive!" Then back to Victorian times with what look like very familiar Hammer carriages and a grand country house. Although, as the commentary track points out, in Hammer the women would have been pin-ups wearing historically inaccurate sheer nightwear. We're more authentic here.

Experimenting with photography a gentleman scientist finds suspicious "smudges" near subjects close to death. The soul leaving the body? No: it is the asphyx, the spirit of death, entering the body. With clever use of cameras and projectors the asphyx can be confined in a trap, leaving the subject immortal.

To reproduce the effect the subject cannot fake it, but must be in serious danger of death, which is painful and terrifying. (Shades of The Tingler (1959)). We have a variety of execution methods, just to keep the audience entertained: hanging, poison, consumption, electrocution, guillotine, gas chamber.

This turns out to be high-risk, costly research. No one ever thinks through the consequences of bodily immortality. Tolkien could have warned them, if the Victorians had lived long enough to read him.

This type of story reminds me not just of The Tingler (1959), but of "metaphysical" films like Four Sided Triangle (1953) and Curse of the Fly (1965).

Much good stuff here, but the film seems static and airless despite that. Humorless as well. It was the director's only attempt; a more experienced director might have made a livelier production.

In the cast:

• Hard working, prolific Robert Stephens: Romeo and Juliet (1968), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), The Shout (1978), Henry V (1989).

• Robert Powell: Asylum (1972), Jesus of Nazareth (1977).

• Jane Lapotaire: Lady Jane (1986) and much theater and television.

Notes:

• The asphyx creature is done as a rod-activated puppet. Kind of rudimentary, but it reminds me of the bodach creatures from Dean Koontz, as shown in Odd Thomas (2013).

• At the hanging, men under the scaffold pull on the hanged man's legs after he drops. This was to speed death if the hanging was done improperly. I've encountered this in literature but can't remember it in film before.

• All Blu-ray versions include two cuts of the film: the standard and a 12-minute longer extended cut. The insertions are from a lower quality American print and although the edits are well done, the shift in quality from HD to SD and back can be jarring. One transition was done as a fade, which was pretty.

• All disc versions seem to be taken from the same master copies: 35mm negative for the bulk of the film, a low-quality print for the American inserts.

Photographed by Freddie Young: Battle of Britain (1969), Bhowani Junction (1956), Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Lord Jim (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967).

A Blu-ray was available from Kino/Redemption, but a later edition from Kino adds a commentary track. This is called a "Special Edition" at Amazon but that is not on the disc case.

In the excited commentary track Kim Newman and Stephen Jones constantly talk over each other.