PORTRAIT IN TERROR (1965) * ½

Patrick Magee stars as a thief who gets a line on a valuable painting.  In order to steal it, he has to kill the rightful owner.  When Magee discovers it’s a forgery, he goes after the victim’s only living relative (William Campbell) to find the real McCoy.

While it’s good to see the stars of Dementia 13, William Campbell and Patrick Magee together again, Portrait in Terror is a slow-moving and dull thriller.  The only scene with any sizzle is the opening sequence.  A sexy nightclub dancer moseys up next to Magee and he pulls out a switchblade and cuts her top off.  He then gets into a brawl with some sailors over her affections.  This scene is the only unpredictable one in the film and it’s all downhill from that point on.

Magee is kind of miscast as the devious thief, but the film is at least tolerable whenever he’s front and center scheming.  It’s a shame that he pretty much disappears halfway through.  When he does, so does the fun.  (The long underwater sequences of scuba divers swimming around endlessly are sure to put you to sleep.)  The Spaghetti Western-style shots of him pulling his gun are rather stylish though.

Portrait in Terror would make a good double feature with Dementia 13.  In addition to the stars, it also contains a sequence where someone tries to dispose of a body that is very similar to that film.  If such a double feature existed, a smart person would probably leave after Dementia 13 and skip this dull mess.

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