Our natural disaster fetish continues here at Pulp Intl. with Floods of Fear, for which you see an action oriented promo poster above. It’s about a once-in-a-generation flood, two escaped convicts, one’s mission of personal revenge, and a woman who comes between him and his violent goal. It was adapted from the 1956 Saturday Evening Post serial novel A Girl, a Man, and a River. While the source material was from the U.S., the movie was made in Britain and premiered there in November 1958, before reaching the U.S. today in 1959. A Girl, a Man, and a River was excellent, which makes for a nice head start when producing a film.
Obviously anything with a disaster at its core needs to rely on practical effects to work, and those are accomplished with convincing miniatures and 100% believable manufactured flood waters. From there, credible acting is all that’s required to put the movie over. Howard Keel smashes what is a physically demanding role, while Anne Heywood and Harry H. Corbett both do alright. Cyril Cusack, playing a psychopath and sexual predator, comes across as a gnatlike annoyance more than a legitimate menace, but okay, weasely little pipsqueaks can be dangerous too. In the end Floods of Fear is an adventure with the appropriate scope, visuals, and dramatic heft to succeed. It won’t sweep you away, but it’s pretty good.
