The Spiritualist

Another of the movies that's on my DVR that is getting another airing on TCM is The Amazing Mr. X. At least, that's the title on the print TCM ran the last time and how it showed up on the YouTube TV guide; the current TCM guide lists it as The Spiritualist with a mention in the synopsis that it's also known as The Amazing Mr. X. In any case, the next airing is tomorrow, Oct. 18, at 6:45 AM.

Lynn Bari plays Christine Faber, who lives in one of those ridiculous gothic beach houses situated practically on a cliff with a long ladder down to the beach. She's been widowed from Paul for two years and has a boyfriend Martin (Richard Carlson) who is planning on proposing to her. Her kid sister Janet (Cathy O'Donnell), who still lives with her, really thinks Christine should say yes to Martin. But Christine isn't so certain, in part because she keeps thinking she hears Paul's voice.

That voice gets Christine so nervous that she starts running haphazardly along the beach, as one does. On the beach, she runs into a man calling himself Alexis (Turhan Bey), no last name because that would be so gauche. And besides, having a last name would reveal Alexis' past that he'd like to keep secret. That's because he styles himself a spiritualist, which any normal person would realize means a phony. Now, for some people, it might be OK just to have somebody to talk to and keep loneliness at bay, even if you have to pay for that privilege. But there are too many grifters who would take advantage of that, and Alexis is one of them, as we see from the tricks he uses to learn about his marks.

Indeed, Janet and Martin are no dummies. They suspect Alexis, so turn to a detective named Hoffman who is an expert in this sort of thing. He proposes that Janet set up an appointment with Alexis, at which point the plot turns nuts. Janet apparently is a dummy, as this one meeting with Alexis suddenly turns her into a true believer. Alexis is of course a grifter who served time in jail back in Chicago, and knows full well that Janet is trying to get the goods on him. But that's only the half of how the plot turns absolutely bonkers.

Alexis holds a séance for Christine and Janet where he plans to summon the spirit of Paul, which is as we all know a complete phony. Except that at the end of the séance we learn that Paul is in fact still alive, and has a habit of getting rich women to marry him and him faking his death and absconding with at least some of the women's estates. He did it to another woman in Las Vegas before doing it to Christine, and now he's back with a plan to kill Christine and get at the rest of her estate. I told you things turn crazy.

So despite the absurd unreality of The Amazing Mr. X, it's actually one that's quite entertaining. Just don't think to hard about the plot or the stupid character motivations of people in the movie, especially Janet. The airing I recorded on TCM does not have Eddie Muller, although I could easily see him picking this movie for Noir Alley with a justification for why it's noir-adjacent even if it's not really noir.

The Amazing Mr. X is a movie I hadn't heard of before the previous TCM showing, but I'm glad I was able to see it.