Four Sided Triangle In Pictures
The 4K restoration of Four Sided Triangle (1953) is available to pre-order now. Here at Hammer News we’ve outlined everything included in the limited edition release, looked at the movie through the prism of its director, the great Terence Fisher, and recently examined whether it was ahead of it’s time. Our latest look at the film is a pictorial feature including rare production shots, behind the scenes photos and moments from the movie which hold a special visual significance.
An edited version of the image above was used in lobby cards besides lurid lines including ‘She lived two amazing lives under his evil spell…’ and ‘See a strange and beautiful woman created before your eyes…’
A version of this image also featured on lobby cards. They included shout lines that certainly looked ahead to marketing stings for the later, Hammer horror titles. One read, ‘HE OUTDID Frankenstein and created this beautiful woman to satisfy his strange lust for passion!’ whilst another invited audiences to ‘SEE the supernatural… The dead return to life’.
More marketing (this time less frenzied!) for Four Sided Triangle.
The Monster and the Woman was an alternative title for the film. The year after its release, The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) hit cinemas. In some territories, notably Spain, it was known as La mujer y el monstruo which itself translates as ‘The Monster and the Woman’. Duplication at work again…
The presence of Barbara Payton caused a huge stir during location shoots…
Payton was well-known around the world at this point – for a number of very different reasons. Lucy Bolton looks at her film career and downfall in a brand-new featurette included in this release of Four Sided Triangle.
An early moment from the film, featuring James Hayter as Doctor Harvey. Note the prominence of his link chain which will later play a significant role in our understanding of the Duplicator. Crucially, replicating this item will confirm the machine creates a faithful copy of whatever is placed within its ‘dome’. The invention doesn’t take into account imperfections or what the scientists may want – it simply delivers a replica of what it’s been given. This straight-forward truth will ultimately have dreadful ramifications.
Throughout the movie, Bill comes off second best to Robin. Even when Lena returns to Howdean and visits the lab, although both of her childhood friends rush towards her, Robin reaches her first…
In the ensuing conversation Lena chooses to mainly face him, and Doctor Harvey studies Bill’s reaction. The older man offers appears to sense the impending trouble in the lives of Lena and the two scientists.
When talking to Bill, Lena’s body remains angled towards Robin as if inadvertently opting for him, even at this point in their relationship.
Later, at the meal, Robin is placed besides Lena.
The soon-to-be husband and wife seem delighted by this positioning.
Meanwhile Bill is again separated from the woman he loves, this time by a table, although the gulf between them feels like more than just a few feet. And again, Doctor Harvey looks on with a troubled expression.
The ‘dome’ is often the focus point of the Duplicator’s work. It’s raised, conveying the notion that whoever uses the invention (invariably Bill) stands above those who simply watch on. This intimation of (fake) god-like status finds echoes elsewhere in the film which touches on religious themes right from the off, with its opening onscreen quotation from The Bible (below).
Other examples included Doctor Harvey’s concept of blasphemy and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s lines which close out the movie – ‘You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.’ Fisher returned to this concept in his later Frankenstein movies for Hammer.
Finally, a selection of behind the scenes / publicity shots. All of these and very many more feature in the extensive image gallery included with the limited edition release of Four Sided Triangle in 4K.
Camera operator Len Harris (second from left) later worked with Terence Fisher on classics such as The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959).
There’s an archive interview with Harris (all at sea with Fisher in this photo!) in the special booklet which accompanies the new release.
The 120-page booklet also contains rare photos, new ‘making of’ articles, a comparison between the movie and the novel on which it’s based, a deep dive into the aborted remakes of Four Sided Triangle from the 1990s, and an examination of the ongoing influence of the Frankenstein trope in feature films.
Dive in! Four Sided Triangle Limited Collector’s Edition is available to pre-order now.
