TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS
Tree-stump love. Need I say more?
Donald Pleasance plays a psychiatrist (surprise!) here, and takes a colleague through the wacko-ward he works in to look at four cases which are supposed to prove some wacky theory he's got.
The first story is cute, involving a little boy with an imaginary friend that happens to be a tiger. No, it's not "Calvin and Hobbes".
The second story is pretty weak. A young man inherits a time-travelling bicycle (the kind where the front wheel is as big as Ringworld) and a portrait of an uncle which keeps changing its facial expression. This is mostly boring, but it's got some good, probably unintentional laughs in how that portrait changes its "look" - it reminds me of Mr. Bill.
The third story's my favorite, about an unlikely love triangle that develops between a man, his wife (Joan Collins!) and a tree stump. Yup, you read that right.
And the fourth is a go-nowhere mess involving cannibalism, voodoo, and human sacrifice. Not much happening here at all, really, except for a cute Mary Tamm.
Everything wraps up, kind of, in a strange, slightly surprising ending that of course raises more questions than it answers. It pretty much left me going "Huh?"
But still, this is largely an amusing little film, with its share of charm. Directed by Freddie Francis (I LOVE that gay name of his).