help needed : movie/TV serie with a haunted portrait with eyes moving.
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — I Need To Know
mestivierbbb — 9 years ago(February 05, 2017 11:10 AM)
Hi! I'm trying to find the name of an old movie or TV serie episode I saw one day on TV when I was young (I'm 34 now) in the 80's. I only remember a particular scene that shocked me a lot at that time, but I remember the action takes place in an old mansion/manor probably by the countryside, and probably in Great-Britain, and the main character is a lady in her 30's/40's. Maybe the action is happening in the past/last century (not sure), and the movie/TV serie seemed shot in the 70's or 80's. The mansion where the action takes place is probably haunted, too, but I don't think it's openly said in the story (because the lady seems to be more and more tormented in this house and is maybe first supposed to become mad), not until that particuliar scene I remember :
There is a painted portrait on a wall near a stairway and the lady is facing it in the dark as if she has been called by it while she was sleeping at night, as if she was hypnotized by it, then suddently the portrait close its eyes for a few seconds and the lady breaks up screaming, totally horrified, and picks it up from the wall. Next, she's seen running in the night-time countryside with the portrait against her white dress, while still crying/still screaming, until she stops on a bridge, from where she throws the portrait over. I think it's the final scene, but it's not sure because this scene was the only detail I can remember. I have this scene rooted in my mind since then and I don't think my imagination created this, but the said scene could be from a movie only shot for TV or from a TV serie's episode, making it so hard now to be found back. I hope someone will be able to help me to put a name on this nightmarish memory.
Thanks a lot ! -
benbo-3 — 9 years ago(February 06, 2017 06:47 AM)
OK sorry if I'm off the mark, but my memory has played trix on me in other movies.
The closest I can think of is the
Night Gallery
movie, the Rod Serling one that kicked off the tv series. A butler apparently commissioned a series of paintings planned to drive the house occupants crazy til they either died or ran away. It worked, & I definitely remember Roddy McDowell as the last house owner whom the butler drives insane. The butler is a Black man. So now the butler has the house all to himself, loox at the last painting he hung up that scared McDowell to death - and sees McDowell in the paintings coming up from the grave, eventually knocking on the door of the house. Then we hear a knock, and the butler drops dead/goes crazy.
Maybe you conflated this with the
Twilite Zone
episode with Diana Hyland chasing her younger self on horseback? -
mestivierbbb — 9 years ago(February 06, 2017 12:00 PM)
Hi, and thank you very much for such an interesting reply.
First, I'd like to add something that I forgot on my original text : I'm french and I saw this movie/série on french TV, in my youth, as I said in the 80's
So, you could be totally right about your suggestion. I watched some extracts from this Night Gallery episode's segment, called "the cemetery", and it definitively remind me something. The gothic atmosphere, the painting, the house itself and the place where the painting is, just above the stairway, are exactly like in my memory,
just like the way the character is looking at the painting (and the fact that he even picks it up from the wall to go outside in the night, not to destroy it but to compare the actual cemetery with the one on the painting !). But I still have a little doubt, because I didn't find any broadcasting date for any Night Gallery episode in France. It seems french TV never broadcast this serie, even if I found a precious information : "the cemetery" (with the 2 other segments of this episode) was the only NG episode that was dubbed in french, so it's possible this episode may have been the only one on french TV. I learned this house was also the place where John Astin (Gomez in Addam's Family), as director, shot another episode of Night Gallery, called "the house" (an adaptation of french author André Maurois) with a girl as principal character, but I don't know if this one also involve a painting/portrait in the plot, as I didn't find any extract from this one, but this other episode probably never featured on french TV anyway..
So I think your suggestion is probably the right answer, and my brain may have mixed pieces of this Night Gallery episode with something else, but probably not with this Twilight Zone's episode that I partially watched too. This one reminds me nothing at all, even if I remember Twilight Zone was massively broadcast at the time in France, and that I watched this serie a lot on saturday early afternoons when I was 4/5 with my parents.
Moreover, the scene I remember could also be from a "regular" (not fantastic/SF) serie, like a detective one, but that featured only one fantastic/paranormal episode, like it's often the case around Halloween, or it could be from those rural english cop/detective series that are still often on french TV, or also from a french serie/movie (even if I doubt it, because fantastic themes are not very popular here, even less at that time).
So, I'll try to search for this on french speaking sites (just in case), to see if someone remember the scene I have in mind exactly like I have it in mind, but I'm 80% sure your answer is the right one if this NG's episode was broadcast on french TV, the images I saw reminding me a lot of things.
And even if it was not Night Gallery's "the cemetery" it was nice to discover this serie thanks to your answer,that's why I thank you very much once again, this scene was the most similar scene I saw compared to the one I remember. Bye ! -
benbo-3 — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 12:09 PM)
it's very haunting & memorable; I can still see the look of horror on the butler's face as he realizes what he was doing as a scam has turned real. I forgot to mention, Roddy McDowall was the last man left; the butler had pulled this multiple painting trick on several other family members in the house, including a 30/40ish woman you describe.
Maybe since this was the only Night Gallery episode dubbed in French, they called it something else which is why you can't find a broadcast date for it. It happens; I'm looking for subtitles for a Japanese film now, called
Sugihara Chiune
; in the international versions, it's called
Persona non Grata
. So, figuring there can't be too many movies with paintings that change scenes, this is probably it. Rod Serling was a genius, and his work carries across into any culture. Roddy McDowell would clinch it; he's pretty memorable, so if you remember him as the last guy left in the house with the butler, who dies then comes back to haunt him, that would have to be the scene. Also the butler was Black with a moustache, more identifying clues.
Hey, look what I found:
http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/833/NIGHT_GALLERY___THE_CEMETERY__Ending/#.WJoo-H872MZ