Movie Reviews : ‘High Frequency’ Rates Golden Whatzit

“High Frequency” (citywide) gets my own special, infrequently awarded prize: The Golden Whatzit, given to a movie of surprising entertainment value, so lightly regarded that no one bothered to screen it for critics.

Keep in mind the ground rules. Something is almost always seriously wrong with unpreviewed movies. This one appears to be an Italian co-production, shot in Maine and Washington, D. C. Some actors are clearly dubbed; others have strange accents for New England. It has a preposterous script, full of strained plot twists and logic glitches. And it has a soupy score and a sappy ending--or is that vice versa?

But in spite or because of lowered expectations going in, it had me on a hook almost all the way through. The plot is a variation on “Rear Window” and “Blowup,” gimmicked up for the super-communications era. As in the Hitchcock classic, a trapped voyeur watches a murder, tries to prevent or reveal it and finally has the tables turned when the spying is discovered.

Director Faliero Rosati adds a complex setup: The voyeur is a young surveillance expert (Vincent Spano), stationed alone in the Alps, who picks up an accidental signal from a hidden camera in another city. At first dismissing it as a bad movie, he gradually realizes he has witnessed a murder, and that another one--of a beautiful, helpless-looking young woman--may soon follow.

You might expect Spano to contact the authorities. Logical Glitch No. 1: He doesn’t. Instead, he confides everything to an 11-year-old boy (Oliver Benny), operating a ham radio set in a distant coastal Maine town. Glitch No. 2: Both of them, with incredible speed, and only fragmentary visual clues, zero in on the young lady’s city and house. Glitch No. 3: The boy takes off for the city, conveniently nearby, without explaining anything. Glitch No. 4: Though Spano has the name of the young lady who owns the apartment, probably traceable through the phone book, he waits for the boy to give him the address. Glitch No. 5: The police move with glacial slowness, even after getting tipped.

That’s a sack of glitches, but “High Frequency” (MPAA rated PG) beats most of them. Why? No. 1: Director Rosati has a real eye. His wide-screen compositions are cool, attractive and fresh: low-angle shots of the Alpine station and mountainside, bedroom-level views of the Maine coast or surreal Venetian-nightmare pictures of the murder site. No. 2: Oliver Benny is an appealing juvenile. No. 3: There is little gratuitous violence or bloodletting, making this a rare modern thriller actually suitable for children. No. 4: As the voyeur, Spano is terrific, giving one of those live-wire, crackling, all-nerves-out performances that vitalize a movie, even when the convoluted twists threaten to bog it down.

Remember, the Golden Whatzit, last awarded in 1986 to “Dead End Drive-In,” has to be taken in context. Expect nothing, anticipate the worst and the prize is yours.