Movie Review: I Bury the Living (1958)
Synopsis: Department store president Robert "Bob" Kraft reluctantly continues his family tradition and accepts the voluntary chairman of the board position at the local cemetery. When a pair of newlyweds stop by to reserve a pair of lots, Kraft inadvertently places black pins on the cemetery map, indicating the graves are already filled, and the couple soon dies. Future experiments with the pins produce similar results, causing Bob to go mad when he realizes he has the power of life and death, but nobody believes him.
Who's in it? The movie stars Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel, Peggy Maurer, Howard Smith and Herbert Anderson.
Review: I came across I Bury the Living last night and thought the description made it sound intriguing enough to give it a try this morning. After watching it, I am going to say it was an entertaining classic thriller.
I think the thing I liked most about this movie was the mystery surrounding Bob (Boone) and his role at the cemetery. Since the deaths occurred off screen, I wondered if maybe someone, possibly the groundskeeper, Andy (Bikel) was secretly committing murders. However, every death seemed to be either from natural causes or purely by accident.
Then, as murder was ruled out, it became a question of if Bob had special powers, the map had special powers or if there was something completely else going on - which seemed to be what everyone around him believed. It wasn't even as though it was an ongoing issue with the cemetery or the map. It all seemed to revolve around Bob.
As a result of that, even though the movie was purely a drama/thriller, I found it a little comical when members of the cemetery's board of directors, including Bob's uncle (Smith) were so willing to prove him wrong by volunteering to have a pin put on their plot. If it were me, I certainly wouldn't be taking that chance considering there were already four bodies by that point.
The end of the film was interesting, albeit a little confusing, especially when Bob seemed to bring the dead back to life by replacing black pins with white. When he finally learned the truth about what was happening, it was something that was somewhat unexpected and I always appreciate a movie that manages to surprise me.
Final Opinion: This is an entertaining thriller with a supernatural theme and a surprise twist. It's worth taking the time to watch it if you get a chance.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1958:
Movie Review: War of the Colossal Beast (1958)
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