The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)

Saw it in the theatre in the 70's. Just to let everyone that doesn't already know, it will be available on 4K and DVD MAY 29th.

I recently watched "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" on Youtube 40 years after I saw it in a theater.Reincarnation is a complicated subject, but the film does a fairly good job of explaining some of its intricacies. Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) begins having strange dreams of people that he has never met and places he has never been to. In order to find some peace, he goes in search of the images in his dreams and finds them in a town in Massachusetts.I really enjoyed the slow unraveling of the mystery and the performances are great, especially Margot Kidder as a widow with a terrible secret.

J. Lee Thompson directed this adaptation of Max Ehrlich's novel that stars Michael Sarrazin as Peter Proud, a college professor who is plagued by nightmares of a violent death in a place he's never been, but is able to track down to a city in New England where he believes he lived in a past life. He meets Marcia Curtis(played by Margot Kidder) who recognizes his voice and manner as that of her late husband, but can't believe it, though when Peter shows romantic interest in her(their?) daughter Ann(played by Jennifer O'Neill), she must take a similar drastic action just like before... Interesting premise, and nicely filmed in real New England locations, but film is ultimately too lurid, seamy, and unsatisfying to succeed, though has a most ironic end. Not yet on DVD for some reason, though is on YouTube.

This was a very good movie! It was one of those movies that you just can't take a break in - it was that exciting! The plot proceeds at all times and there is not a dull moment.The idea is also original. Although there are a lot of stories about reincarnation, these usually are about people who are somehow brought back to their previous lives several centuries ago. I cannot remember that I have ever before come across a story, in which the main character died only 35 years ago in his previous life. Which means that he can go to see the people he were involved with in that life, because they are still alive. It opens up for interesting moral dilemmas, such as: can you have a love affair with someone who was your child in your previous life, or is this incest..?Reincarnation is of course always an interesting theme, because it is such a fantastic possibility to contemplate!I think the category "horror" was a little wrong for this movie though, because it is not that kind of movie by which you get your thrills from suddenly seeing something scary - such as a ghost. It is more of a crime/mystery story, actually.It was not possible to foresee the ending, which is good, but I wish they had chosen an happy ending... The main character had not done anything to deserve this ending.The reason I give this movie only 8 stars instead of 10, in spite of the fact that I found it so exciting, interesting, and original, is the fact that there was too much and too explicit nudity and sex in it. You could almost call it a soft porn movie. This was of course typical of the 1970:s - but I do not like it.I think ordinary feature films which are not labeled as porn should not continue porn either, because this can be offending to some people. It can also be very unsuitable and embarrassing, if you have rented the movie to watch it in the company of for instance your teenagers or your older relatives. To be honest, I got embarrassed when I watched this movie although I was alone in the room, because I feel some things should be done in private...