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"Night Tide" premiered in 1961 at the Venice
International Film Festival. Directed by Curtis Harrington, "Night
Tide" is an odd film that maintains an immense amount of ambiguity
as viewers are trying to get to the truth behind what is happening. The
film took four weeks to shoot and then another four weeks to edit. "Night
Tide" was Harrington's first feature film, and has more of
a mystery feel to it rather than horror, which is the genre that the
film has been placed into. Harrington wrote his films based on the power
of suggestion, which emphasized atmosphere and psychology rather than
make-up and special effects.
An amateur filmmaker as a teenager, Harrington, who attended the University of Southern California, is one of the first filmmakers who went to school specifically for filmmaking. In 1955, Harrington worked as an Associate Producer for Fox before going on to write and direct "Night Tide". After producing "Night Tide", Harrington decided to specialize in horror and in the 70s, began working regularly in television.
For "Night Tide", Harrington cast a young Dennis Hopper as the lead role of Johnny Drake. Hopper graduated from Helix High School in Los Angeles, California, and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by his senior class. Hopper appeared in many television shows throughout the 50s, but it wasn't until 1954 that he landed a role in "Johnny Guitar", his first film. "Johnny Guitar" was followed by the renowned 1955 film, "Rebel without a Cause" starring James Dean, whom Hopper became close friends with.
Hopper, who spent much of his time acting in Roger Corman productions, went on to direct movies himself, and in 1969 made the B-movie hit, "Easy Rider", starring both he and a young Jack Nicholson. "Easy Rider" was a phenomenal success, and served as a precursor to a slew of low-budget films. In 1979, Hopper acted in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now". Though he was later blackballed from Hollywood roles for eight years due to his massive drug habit, Hopper acted in many films throughout the early 80s, and returned to directing in the late 80s. A skilled photographer and painter, Hopper has had his works displayed in galleries both in the U.S. and overseas. He is a dedicated and knowledgeable collector of modern art, and has one of the largest modern art collections in the U.S.
Linda Lawson plays opposite Dennis Hopper as Mora, the beautiful and mysterious woman that seems to be hiding a dark secret. Lawson has acted in a few films, but is best known for her excellent television work that spanned for more than forty years.
Gavin Muir plays the role of Captain Samuel Murdock, the man who rescued Mora as a little girl, and because of his jealousy, prevents her from getting close to anyone. A Chicago native, Muir was educated in England and began acting on stage before working in films. Muir appeared in Hollywood films from the mid 30s through the 60s, often playing roles that depicted him as a villain of some sort. Muir was often thought of as being British due to the fact that he frequently adopted a British accent for his films. "Night Tide" was Muir's last film before he made the decision to retire.
The main focus of "Night Tide" is the relationship between Mora and Johnny Drake. As the movie progresses, Mora's behavior makes less and less sense, and talk of the possibility of her actually being a mermaid becomes believable. Drake learns that the last two men that Mora was involved with mysteriously disappeared and were never seen again. Captain Murdock describes these occurrences to Drake and references the mythological sirens. Through this reference, Murdock insinuates that Mora was responsible for the deaths of the men who loved her.
In Greek mythology, sirens were creatures whose upper bodies were human, and lower bodies that of a bird. In early Greek mythology, the sirens were prophets and described as having the head of a beautiful woman. The sirens sat on the rocks in the oceans, and using their music, lured mariners to crash their ships into the rocks. There were three sirens, one played the lyre, one sang, and the third played the flute. In Homer's "Odysseus", Odysseus plugged his crew's ears with beeswax, and had his men tie him to the ship so that he could not dive into the ocean and drown when they passed the rock that the sirens were sitting on. The sirens were irresistible, and used their music, beauty, and charm for one purpose only, to kill the men who would fall immediately in love with them. Upon hearing the music of the sirens, Odysseus begged his men to untie him, but they tightened the bonds.
In the film, Captain Murdock relates the story of the sirens to Drake in the hopes that Drake will draw the conclusion that Mora is like the sirens, a beautiful woman who kills the men who cannot resist her. The fact that Mora dresses up as a mermaid for the carnival plays into the idea that she could be like the sirens. The origin of the mermaid is attributed to the sirens and mermaids, like the sirens, are said to seduce swimmers, and then kill them. Murdock's behavior, along with other elements of the film lead Drake to believe that Mora could in fact really be a mermaid.
Though the film is entertaining to watch, it is quite evident that it is purely fictional. Mermaids do not exist, but it is fun to pretend for just a little while that they do as a young Dennis Hopper falls head over heels for the mysterious Mora.
