THE DEVIL’S HAND (1961; d. William J Hole, Jr, w. Jo Heims)

…is an idle playground?

Mousy Donna Trent feeds ducks in park (scrw Heims beginning script in foreground), waiting (in suspension, as soon literally) for hipster boyfriend Rick Turner (character in transition + agent of transformation in DT as well, w/ whom he shares initial) to whom she proposes again (desire to unite w/ elusive element w/i) when he arrives 20m late (from bkgd, as from back of mind, he personal development late in coming): insomniac (restlessness in headed-for-the-kitchen-barefoot+pregnant 50s holdover) over job he just quit (consciousness departing continuous, orderly real world for dream) where "big shot at electronics" (adept in world + its intricacies) to develop own ideas (address personal issues creatively: aka dream); he rouses in sleep (she/scrw dropping to bkgd as dreamwork/filmmaking begins) to diaphanous dancing wmn in clouds (ephemeral + "elevated" nature of her being) then dresses + takes to streets (labyrinth [à la circuitry] awakened by Her irruption, she Donna's sexualized self-img [played by Donna/Ariadne Welter’s va-va-voom real-life sister Linda Christian/Welter] calling to her thru Rick) driven by "a will stronger than my own" (ie Donna/Self’s, he her animus dream-investigator) while noting recurrent nature of drm (insistence of psychic material when it comes to consciousness), drawn to déjà vu doll shop (unconscious warehouse of imgs – drm-simulacra of both immaterial archetypes + waking-world figures) where he sees Her face on doll (looking nothing like her: not-the-thing-itself; his impression + "reading" of her – the fem ideal projected onto fetish he must resolve before successfully loving).

Returns w/ Donna (presenting results of dreamwork: "That’s she all right") + is hailed by shopkeep Francis [don't call him Frank] Lamont (a priori awareness by maker/keeper of imgs: all characters dolls w/i dream-play), "I have the doll ready for you" (superego sensing which archetype self needs to "play with"/regard) based on "THIS PICTURE you brought in" (materialized from under counter like in 4th-grade play, in keeping w/ Donna’s childlike demeanor + line readings, whole film weaving naïve spell), she noticing own likeness on shelf (recognizing own tentative position, soon to grow moreso) + thanking beau before Lamont returns asking "Shd I wrap it or send it to Miss Bianca Milan?" (exotic name plain girlfriend's repressed/idealized otherself – as she wd have Rick see her); refuses sale of Donnadoll (resemblance "a coincidence": she transferring i.d. to Bianca, while old i.d. still too precious to let go of) but offers to make new one (re-form self: "But she IS the lady [literally: translation of Itln Donna]/No sir, she is NOT") + when they leave takes it to backroom temple (pun: mental compartment, issue of occult/"hidden" spiritual significance) overseen by nude bust (sanctity of sex, in mind of unmarried drmr) to get cape + stab doll (like I said) then fix it to wall above shelf (literalizing suspension Rick keeping her in), she buckling outside (pangs).

At Belmont Hospital (where Rick has several cigs), told she had "muscle spasm o/t heart" (owning drama; her paranoid working-out of boyfriend/men in general's nuptial reluctance); that night Bianca again appears ("Let’s enjoy each other" Donna’s play-acting dirtytalk; "Shall I sing till your head throbs w/t sound of my voice? Dance till the blood races thru yr veins?" her own unlived artistic self too, the erotic call of one hemisphere o/t brain t/t other in sleep + creative arousal) + tells him to bring her her doll (act of incarnation: encouraging coming-together of selves, as scrw wd continue to do into 70s Clint Eastwood scripts Breezy + Play Misty for Me; Donna, as well, using animus [safe 3rd-party conduit] to explore own bad self), he next day finding D/oll gone (exit of ego from drama [as she from his mind] to more effectively play out taboo drama + to enable reformulation of self, like new moon) when picking up the Bianca ("paid in full": Rick acting w/o will or obligation both as psychic puppet + moral coward, same passivity by which he dropped out of life).

Bianca (exotic Mexican-born Christian, whose more practiced English than sister Welter suggests latter character’s desire for assimilation/acceptance while her mousy features belie mystique of own unacknowledged accent, all unifying 2 figures into 1) notes "amazing resemblance" of her doll (which again looks nothing like: all swept up in illusion, and scrw complimenting self on own realism + manufacture o/t truth) + has Tibetan butler serve chow (she allure o/t unfamiliar ["occult"] for staggeringly superficial characters) while she holds forth on sacrifice bestowing immortality (cf Blood of a Poet, her milieu the artistic underground for similarly artistically unambitious filmmakers) + how she enchanted him via thot projection (his psychic origin + nature [+ vice versa: "You may not admit it, but I am firmly planted in your subconscious" – ie Mommy-taboo + archetypal img of Fem Ideal]; as tho he animated by mental imperative – "You appeared to me"); produces Rickdoll (everyone miniatured but Francis: biblical injunction against graven imgs + his the consciousness in which film ultimately taking place – patriarchy threatened [from w/i] by emergence of pwrful fem) + gives him "devil’s brew" (his words: taboo he willingly crossing, as tho film noir not already passé; ancient ritual of "drinking the goddess’s waters" sacrament leading to spiritual rejuvenation) while she performs rite to Gamba (Itln "leg": they worship a leg?), Devil-God of Evil (aka the flesh: sexuality + devotion to earthly things; bust of Love Goddess paradoxically minus gams, She/Bianca uppermost ideal given little more than lip service even in own fantasy), around whom she sees "disturbances" (Gamba = complex ruling alluring, obsessive realm: "You’re evil – but beautiful. Fascinating"), herself recipient of diabolic makeover ("As I once was you wd not have had me [aka Donna] – unhappy, lost [as she "on hook"], until I discovered G": cure, or source? - story dreamer’s method of upturning personal Gamba thus to master/overcome), then they smooch (his "You really are a witch" + "You beautiful, evil witch" echoed in Tony Crechales’s not-dissimilar 1970 Blood Mania: "You’re a bitch. Come here, bitch").

Takes him + dolls (she living out girl’s Barbie+Ken nightmare) to High Executioner Francis (pipsqueak Neil Hamilton own weakness in irrational terrifying control) so Rick can take oath (marriage ceremony Donna cdn’t convince him to undergo) at midnight (sleepytime threshold btwn days awa states of mind) after interpretive-dance floor show (night clubs anything-goes Dionysian unconscious à la ’68 Danger: Diabolik) by African American wmn (whose legs + hips center of act: she Gamba, aka jungle-love Libido), Bianca (Itln ["Milan"] "white": not-dancer – intermediary btwn Donna + G) hipping Rick to ritual: subject tested when loyalty in doubt (intent of Donna’s fantasy) by placing under spinning wheel of sheaths (fate, and prophylactics: Donna’s Russian Roulette dream of premarital hankypanky), one of which houses sword ("My loyalty has been proven" followed by sly smile aka Not Virgin); sweaty bald guy (next to professional s.b.g. Bruno VeSota) takes furtive snapshot (the [unwelcome] documentary consciousness/conscience) as Frank invokes "1st night of full moon…tides rise + vibrations fill the air…restlessness + madness" (aka PMS) + members bring in subject (negligee'd "girl" 40 if a day: mature "egg" 2B put to phallic test), who survives ordeal (successfully avoiding pregnancy ["O thank you, great Gamba!"]: new life not yet viable), setting scene for Rick’s initiation (w/ sponsor/bride Bianca: restraint winning him sexual payoff), she telling him "A new life is going to begin for you. Take me home" (nudge, nudge).

Cue montage of Rick + Bianca "scoring" at race track + stocks (he abandoning hipster vest for square suit: paradoxically pursuing mammon rather’n creative work – become Dad on marrying Goddess [cult aka adulthood w/ its rules + restrictions], Donna’s uniting of pwrful capabilities w/i self yielding symbolic riches) followed by him returning home (Donna’s the only abode not seen: whole film hers) to find note from D ("Please come see me": remote conscience + consciousness) he crumples; Franca + Bianca have drink at her pad (1st major scene w/o Rick: goings-on behind façade, echoing Olympian-gods-discussing-mortals’-fates scenes in movies past + future) + allude to their longstanding romance (they original, archetypal Mommy + Daddy, she promiscuous Sexual Mom invoked as model for prim Donna + bridge for jealous oedipal Rick), while Rick runs into drunken blonde floozy cultist (really-not-Donna: woozy deepest-unconscious, given equal camera time at ritual to snapshot baldguy/reporter for reason) who tells him she wants out (D’s inner slut, tempting him again), he winning approval on ratting her out to F+B (a test, she a plant à la baldguy: D’s virtue intact) but nearly setting self up (after their setup) when he tries to unpin D/oll (mind's repeated efforts to return to consc’ss).

Drops in on Donna (w/ new nurse Mary! from cult: unrecognized African American not-floozy – D’s new healing regard for darkside + similar mole as reporter [film’s equal traffic btwn un/conscious intelligence]) + tells her all will be well at midnight (upcoming transition back to consciousness) but she’ll never see him again (having served psychic function), he stealing into shop to finish doll business (removing piercing [you can unscrew a virgin: she having explored netherworld sexuality to satisfaction] but leaving her tacked above shelf [still in suspense: awaiting real deflowering]); driven into backroom when Frank arrives (guilt over messing w/ fetish) + found out when he trips Wheel (messing w/ Daddy’s phallus), exiting thru door behind drape (virgin rebirth, having restored sanctity of love-object) + leaving Frank to discover baldguy’s note (ATTN EDITOR [message to ratiocinating consc’ss]: HAVE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE FOR CULT EXPOSÉ [cognate w/ "occult," or "secret": intuition mind moving twd consc’ss + posing threat to unconscious minions, F dream-censor keeping shocking information on the q.t. so dream/sleep may continue unmolested until revelatory work finished or personality mature enuf to handle]. NAMES TO FOLLOW. JL).

Donna recovered (i.d. moving back twd selfhood), Mary alerts Bianca (intermediary keeping developmental levels in contact), who relays to Frank, who calls 10:30 mtg (before midnight: waking hrs, information/transformation reaching consciousness): "traitor among us!" (agent for change in community desiring sub-liminal continuity, aka complex) 2B dead by 12:30 mtg (preemptive strike against consc’ss: action prerequisite to transition) – thanks to pin thru sending head, sending car off cliff (acing both mind + body [latter emphasized by also offing JL’s corpulent sponsor Bruno] as soul prepares for reinvention); Donna discharged (on similar m/b expulsion), Bianca performs ritual (mystical connection btwn usually incommunicative elements of psyche) to contact D ("It’s not easy to reach you, but I’m beginning to" erotic-artistic self forging tie) to offer her as sacrifice (testing Rick again: the laboratory o/t unconscious; putting her beneath "sword" again tempting both he + D), obliging Rick to free her (Frances penetrated instead; real "part o/t past he shd’ve deserted" preadolescent homoeroticism – other archaic "fem" self) + declare "We’re both free" (Bianca as much a preoccupation of her mind as his; wmn also captive to men’s oedipal issues, their fate dependent on our resolution of same), contradicted by cloud-B’s "That’s what he thinks" (she having grabbed D/oll during melee: controlling force in supposed-soon-2B-fiancée’s life now that he’s connected them).