The Man Behind the Curtain

When does the Narrator’s Voice intrude?

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
— The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939)

Last night I happened to catch the final 20 minutes of Homicidal, William Castle’s 1961 ‘homage’ to Hitchcock’s Psycho. The ending was very close to Psycho except for a curious gimmick that producer/director Castle inserted just at the moment when the frightened heroine was about to enter the Old Dark House and confront the homicidal killer who was … the old lady? the old lady’s nice, gentle son? the knife-wielding blonde?

At this moment, as the camera pushed in toward the black door to the old house, a white clock dial was superimposed on the screen, and began a countdown of 45 seconds, while the Narrator’s Voice (Castle himself) announced the commence of the ‘Fright Break.’ During these 45 seconds, until the clock counted to its end, anyone too frightened to watch the ending — the shocking, horrifying ending — of the film, could leave. (Castle arranged with as many theater owners as he could additional props to support this ‘Fright Break’ — yellow footprints to lead up the aisle of the theater to the cardboard ‘Coward’s Corner’ where the hapless over-anxious patrons could wait the end of the movie, and be jeered by all the others ‘brave’ enough to watch until the end. Castle was well known for stunts like this to pitch his low-rent movies.)

The Narrator’s Voice addressed us directly, in words I paraphrase from memory:

This is the Fright Break… for the next 45 seconds, those of you who are too frightened to see the shocking, horrifying conclusion to this motion picture, have a chance to leave now… Do you hear that beat? That is the beat of a human heart. How does it compare with your own heart? Is your heart beating too fast? … Only 15 seconds left … you’re a brave audience… Very well, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

It got a laugh out of me when I saw it. ‘How cheesy!’ I thought. But as the seconds counted down, and the second hand swept across the dial, I admit I did feel a slight increase in tension and anticipation. I was alone in the living room and the sun had not yet set, so it was still bright outdoors. And so I imagine that if I had been in a darkened theater at the end of watching the entire movie, surrounded by others also feeling the tension mount, I would have felt a more palpable chill.

In general, the ‘voice’ of the Narrator in films (leaving out the Voice of God such as was once common in documentary films) is confined to the expressiveness of the camera. And yet we usually accept even the most flamboyant moves a camera might make as a ‘dream we are having’ rather than some observation forced upon us by the Narrator of the film’s tale. This makes any attempt to introduce the Narrator openly (such as Castle here speaking to us from off-screen) a very tricky ploy.

Usually the device must be present from the start of the movie, or we won’t accept it. I don’t know whether Castle spoke to the audience at the onset of Homicidal or not, but if he didn’t, and the ‘Fright Break’ was its first and only instance, it would be a hell of a shock, and most unwelcome.

When we read a tale, or hear one recited, we have the Narrator always with us, but the talesman can work to mute his own voice, and help us to forget it, and fall instead into the trance of the story. This is indeed how most commercial fiction is written and published in America today. There the only place for the overt Narrator’s Voice is in the First Person point-of-view tale where, like the Memoir, the Narrator is the Protagonist.

This is why, if any talesman should be so bold as to want to speak directly to his audience, he must tread lightly, lest he offend their ear through unfamiliar (by now) usage. Here are a few guidelines to manage it:

• Introduce the Narrator’s Voice in the start of the tale
• After the start, soften and mute the Narrator’s Voice
• Bring it back for transitional passages
• Bring it back for the openings to chapters or parts
• Bring it back at the end for the Envoi

These are the points I think are the only ‘discreet’ places to include the Narrator’s Voice — you need not use it at all these spots. But I do think that if you want to use this voice at all, you must introduce it at the start, and not let too much time, or too many pages, go by before you use it again.

There are also varying degrees of ‘volume’ the Narrator’s Voice can be sounded at. At its loudest, it approaches Victor Hugo giving us a long chapter explaining the historical significance of Waterloo in Les Miserables. At its softest, it can subtly direct our minds from one character to another, or ‘head-hop’ in gentle manner.

Just beware of wise guys in the audience who, like my, will chortle when you announce the start of the ‘Fright Break.’

(Composed on keyboard Friday, July 11, 2008)