The Man Who Had Power Over Women is an early 70’s drama set in the morally corrupted world of music management. It focuses on a middle-aged agent, who breaks up with his wife & has a midlife crisis. The film's drama is lightly touched with elements of humour & female flesh- though equally there are some dark/ more cynical edges too. Here from Powerhouse is a recent Blu-Ray of the film- taking in a 4k scan, a new interview with the film's screenwriter, and a few archive extras including a lengthy interview with the director, and a few of his early shorts.

The Man Who Had Power Over Women is a UK production- it was directed by London-born John Krish. He has thirty-one features to his name- as well as thirteen shorts & TV show episodes. His features went from crime drama Companions In Crime (1954), war drama regarding British prisoners in North Korea Captured (1959), and satirical comedy The Wild Affair (1965). The Man Who Had Power Over Women is a well enough made film- with some fair to good acting, though the film is fairly tonally mixed, and very 70’s attitude towards women.

The film kicks off in Paris as crooning teen idol Barry Black (Clive Francis) has just completed a sold-out show. Waiting off stage is middle-aged Peter (Rod Taylor)- who is looking after Black for a talent agency back in the UK. Barry insists that Peter takes out on the town a new female singer he wants to sign to his TV show- Peter protests that it’s his wedding anniversary, and he has to go home to the UK…but Barry insists, and over the credits, we see Peter on his night out.

He gets a taxi to the port- which bizarrely/ very improbably gets on the ferry back to the UK, then drives him home!. He staggers into his flat to find his understandably upset blond wife Angela (Penelope Horner). Also, there is his always joking work college Val (James Booth) & his short feathered haircut wife Jody(Carol White). Val & Jody leave fairly soon- with Peter getting the cold shoulder in bed- then bang the next morning Angela wants to leave him.

As the film unfolds Peter moves in with Val & Jody, and Barry Black shows how arrogant, obnoxious, and unpleasant he can be. One of the key plot points is that he’s got a teen fan pregnant, and he/ management wants just to sweep it under the rug.

The film's tone is decidedly shifting- moving from being frivolous and lightly jokey- which at point moves towards brit sex comedy. Onto dramatic & argument bound, though to the decidedly dark. Initially, none of the characters are very likeable- this does start to shift as things unfold, and we get the proper introduction of characters/their arcs.

The acting thought-out is good, with the film itself flowing well enough over it one hour & half runtime- with a few surprising twists along the way. The film's mix of drama, humour, and the darker side of the 70s is rather unbalancing, and I can see why it might not have been popular/ found an audience when it was first released. But now it plays as an interesting enough mix of tone, so it’s good to see it getting this reissue on Powerhouse.

The Blu-Ray is region-free. It features a 4k scan- which nicely enhances the 70’s colour pallet, as well as giving well-balanced skin tones. On the new extras side, we just get one thing- A Bad Marriage (10.29) it’s an on-film interview with screenwriter Allan Scot- he discusses his long-running writing partnership with Chris Bryant, and how the pair started their career doing stand-up aboard.  He talks about the film having an American producer- how they were pleased with John Krish when he first came on to the project- though this faded as he started to adjust/ cut out scenes- though they later found out this was down to the producer's direction. He talks about how the film's title was very misleading, and what he thought about the film's cast. All in all, a short, if interesting interview.

Moving on to the archive side of things, and we get a nice selection of things. The BEHP Interview with John Krish (90 mins) this collates together audio interviews with the director from between 1994 & 2004. Break-In (44 mins): Krish’s 1956 dramatized training film about the military police. It was made for the British Army, and featured Jim Dale (Carry On Films) in his earliest-known screen appearance. Let My People Go (24 mins): Krish’s 1961 powerful, polemical film which combines archival footage and staged reconstructions to inform and educate about the brutal realities of Apartheid in South Africa. Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials.

The set is finished off with a forty-page booklet featuring a new essay by Vic Pratt, archival interviews with Rod Taylor and John Krish, new writing on Break-In, Patrick Russell on Let My People Go, and film credits.

In finishing The Man Who Had Power Over Women, is another rather intriguing/ difficult to pin down in one genre film from Powerhouse. With as always, a nice new print, and a good selection of extras- both new & old