TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS Kim Novak Joan Collins Australian Daybill Movie poster

Tales That Witness Madness (1973)

Directed by Freddie Francis.

With Jack Hawkins, Donald Pleasence, Georgia Brown, Donald Houston

Dr Tremayne is an enigmatic Psychiatrist running a Futuristic asylum housing four very special cases. Visited by colleague Nicholas, Tremayne explains his amazing and controversial theories as to why each of the four patients went mad... cue four distinct tales each with a different set of characters: 'Mr Tiger' tells of Paul, the sensitive and troubled young son of prosperous but constantly bickering and unlovely parents, and the boy's 'imaginary' friend, a tiger. 'Penny Farthing' tells of Timothy, an antique store owner propelled backwards in time by a penny-farthing bicycle in his shop, all the while being watched over by the constantly changing photograph of Uncle Albert, which endangers the lives of both Timothy and his beautiful wife, Ann. 'Mel' tells of Brian, a man who brings home an old dead tree and prominently displays it in his living room as a work of art. His fiery wife Bella soon becomes jealous of the tree, which the husband has lovingly named Mel, and it seems to be developing a will of its own. 'Luau' tells of Auriol, a flamboyant and ambitious literary agent who will do anything to impress her sinister new client, though he seems more interested in Auriol's beautiful and precocious young daughter Ginny. Ginny sneaks off on holiday while Auriol plans a sumptuous feast for her client.