It's hard to see why this film would be labeled a comedy. If its original intention was black comedy, it really misses the mark. This is more of a mildly exploitative serial-killer effort with some genuinely chilling moments and an occasional flash of good acting. The latter comes from Michael Callan, an erstwhile heart-throb whose career never really took off as it should have done. Multi-talented Callan originated "Riff" in the first Broadway production of WEST SIDE STORY, but was passed over for the film version of that property. He was sometimes cast as a juvenile delinquent and appeared in lightweight material of the Gidget-type, and made a good impression in CAT BALLOU. Later, he had his own sitcom on TV. Callan still looks good in 1974 and this works in favor of the character Adrian Wilde: attractive to women, but deeply disturbed with a mother-fixation to rival that of Norman Bates. THE PHOTOGRAPHER pays homage (intentional or not) to PEEPING TOM (in a generally thematic way) and to PSYCHO more than once, but particularly in one line of dialog, "You...shouldn't...have...done...that...mother!" It's a moment of unintentional hilarity, with Callan going over-the-top. We know he's crazy, but we know it from the start and there is nowhere for him to go from there. Still, he finds choice dramatic opportunities in a couple of solo freakouts and in a pair of bizarre scenes with "mother" played with disappointing ineptitude by Barbara Nichols. Their face-offs are some of the best moments in the film, inadvertently funny as they are. A comic misfire is the subplot of two aging detectives on Adrian's trail. Acting veterans Harold J. Stone and Edward Andrews try to make the most of their material, but it's too weak for them to keep it alive.
For some reason this movie never made it above the radar and only hard-core obscurantists know about it, or have seen it. It never gets really titillating, but there is some disturbance to be derived from a few of the murder scenes and the plot is fairly unpredictable. Incredibly, it looks like THE PHOTOGRAPHER was remade, with alterations, as DOUBLE EXPOSURE in 1983. Worth a look for the curious.
For some reason this movie never made it above the radar and only hard-core obscurantists know about it, or have seen it. It never gets really titillating, but there is some disturbance to be derived from a few of the murder scenes and the plot is fairly unpredictable. Incredibly, it looks like THE PHOTOGRAPHER was remade, with alterations, as DOUBLE EXPOSURE in 1983. Worth a look for the curious.
