Movie Review: Devil's Partner (1960)
Synopsis: Elderly and unliked goat farmer, Pete Jenkins, performs a Satanic ritual right before he dies and later returns as a younger version of himself, posing as his nephew, Nick Richards. Soon after, a dog attack leaves a local gas station owner, David Simpson, seriously disfigured and that is followed by a pair of mysterious deaths. Meanwhile, Richards seems to be endearing himself to Simpson's fiancée, Nell Lucas.
Who's in it? The movie stars Ed Nelson, Jean Allison, Richard Crane, Edgar Buchanon and Spencer Carlisle.
Review: I had woken up this morning intending to watch the 1927 silent film version of The Cat and the Canary. However, it turned out to be a poor-quality copy, and I decided to call an audible after a few minutes. I had come across Devil's Partner a couple days ago, thought it looked interesting and decided to give it a try.
It turned out to be an OK choice but not quite as good as I was hoping it would be. I think the best way to describe this film is it had a good premise but just seemed to lack something,
Let me put it this way, there is zero mystery. Even though the film doesn't technically reveal Richards' (Nelson) real identity until later, it wasn't too hard to figure out who he was. There was also no doubt about his intentions - eliminate Simpson (Crane) so he can get the girl, Nell (Allison). Probably the only thing that I questioned, and the movie ironically didn't even bother to explain, is what his end game was. Based on the agreement he signed, he only had two years. Was he just looking for a one-night stand with Nell? It certainly wasn't going to be a long relationship.
The film does, admittedly, do a decent job of building suspense at times, whether it is the dog attack early or Richards' later attempt to kill Simpson (which raises the question about why he didn't just do that in the first place). Unfortunately, I think the shorter runtime hurt the film a bit in that regard by not really giving it the time to develop that part of the story, as well as the ending, which did seem rushed.
The point above includes the sheriff (Carlisle), who made the jump from point A to point B in record time and seemed to be a bit too accepting of what should have been a farfetched theory about a dead man returning in a different form and with Satanic powers, including the ability to turn into other animals. That was quite the leap in logic with very little evidence solely to move the movie along.
I also feel as though a longer runtime would have helped by giving the movie time to give the various characters more of a backstory. Was there a reason Jenkins (also Nelson) was so obsessed with Nell or was it just because she was attractive? Why did people despise him? Was there previous animosity between him and Simpson or was it just jealousy? Was he always a Satanist or did he only turn to it when he was dying? Basically, things that would have made the movie make a bit more sense in context.
Final Opinion: There are parts of the film that were decent and suspenseful, especially toward the end. However, the overall movie did fall a bit short of expectations and really wasn't much more than average.
My Grade: C
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Here are some reviews of other 1960s thrillers:
Movie Review: The Brides of Dracula (1960)
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