Looking for a film featuring life-sized puppets - and I am desperate

amysmart

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[FONT=&quot]Dear board members,

I realize that I've just joined, and already I am asking for something - but I am truly desperate. I have been looking for a film for more than 20 years now - I've seen it on TV as a kid, and I only remember tiny bits about it.

I would be sooooooooooo grateful if somebody could help!

Here's what I remember:
-it had life-sized puppets in it (maybe they were playing chess?)
-in the end, a man (or somebody) is tied up and gagged and left inside one and left to die, I think - he (or better, the puppet, is lying beneath a cactus or a tree, and I think it's in the desert

It's not Futureworld, but that's about all I know...

Again, I'd be soooooo grateful, I'm close to offering a reward

Thanks for even reading this,
amy[/FONT]
 
It isn't something I recognise. Could you remember any more?

Are the puppets playing Chess in one scene, or are they the main characters?
Is it all set in a desert or just the ending?
Is it a Comedy? Is it Satire? Is it Science Fiction? Is it Fantasy?
Is it post-apocalyptic?
When you saw it in 1990, was it a new film, or was it already old then?
 
Hi, thanks for taking the time.

It must be an older film, from the 60ies or 70ies, definitely not 80ies or newer.

The puppets look like mannequins you'd see in a shopwindow, only they are hollow (might have some clockwork-stuff inside? a bit like the robot from Hellboy). The overall feel would point exactly to Westworld or Futureworld, only the desert scene with the guy inside the puppet/mannquin does not fit.

Also, I remember it as quite scary, but I was about 8 at the time, so that might not be saying much :) Don't recall post-apocalyptic things in there, if it was funny, I didn't get it at the time. So, scifi (Futureworld-style-scifi) would be it.

Chess is played in at least one scene, but unfortunately I'm not too sure about that.

Thanks a bunch anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

amy
 
There was a Doctor Who series, Spearhead from Space, which featured shop window dummies coming to life in the high street. But then, there are no deserts in the UK... so it can't be that.
 
Do you know any of the actors names maybe? What year were you when you were 8? This can ease the search a bit more.
 
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Hi everybody, thanks for the replies...

I watched this on TV rund 1980 (so that's 30 years ago, how time flies, argh, I knida wished it was only 20 :))

Don't know any actors or anything else... it's driving me nuts as well. Wish I had a time machine... or the TV guide from back then...

amy
 
I'm thinking that it may have just been a single episode of a TV series - something like The Avengers, or The Prisoner - which had the occasional surreal episode. I did some searching on IMDb and came up with nothing. Sorry, but this one has stumped me.
 
I'm thinking that it may have just been a single episode of a TV series - something like The Avengers, or The Prisoner - which had the occasional surreal episode. I did some searching on IMDb and came up with nothing. Sorry, but this one has stumped me.

I'm pretty sure it's not The Prisoner but I'd agree it could be something like The Avengers (or The New Avengers).

Here's a link for The New Avengers episode guide. The Episode Target mentions mannequins

http://www.scififreaksite.com/newavengers.html
 
I wonder if it might be an episode of Fantasy Island? It sounds like something that might fit, and I certainly had a couple of long-term nightmares fueled by that show!
 
Well, maybe not. I searched the whole IMDB list of Fantasy Island episodes, and the only one that actually mentioned a mannequin was House of Dolls, and it was only the one mannequin.
 

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