The Damned (1962)
(These Are the Damned)
Country: GB
Technical: bw/Hammerscope 87m
Director: Joseph Losey
Cast: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, Oliver Reed
Synopsis:
An American, a sculptress, a tart and her possessive Teddy boy biker brother are variously caught up in the activities of a government research facility in Dorset, which is conducting a top secret social experiment on irradiated children.
Review:
This extraordinary production, which comes over like a cross between The Wild One and The Midwich Cuckoos, is actually one of the more hysterical (and unscientific) imaginings of the nuclear age, with its scheme to foster and harness radioactive life forms. However, its heterogeneous plot strands and three-dimensional characters are by far the more interesting elements: Carey and Lindfors as 'pro-life' voices of scepticism, Field as the brutalised and jealously guarded moll with a heart of gold, and Reed as the prudish sociopath, the multi-accented biker in tweeds, who struts around with his umbrella sword and exchanges his bike for a Triumph roadster, two details among others that have caused critics to point to influences on A Clockwork Orange. The production is pretty cool, with a sustained POV walk through the children's apartments that gives you the chills, and an impressive swerve off a bridge into Weymouth dock. Unhappily, Hammer studios were not too keen on Losey's quirky blend of anti-social youf culture and parable of domination, and delayed the film's release in the UK until 1963, with cuts presumably intended to smooth out the rough Portland edges.
(These Are the Damned)
Country: GB
Technical: bw/Hammerscope 87m
Director: Joseph Losey
Cast: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, Oliver Reed
Synopsis:
An American, a sculptress, a tart and her possessive Teddy boy biker brother are variously caught up in the activities of a government research facility in Dorset, which is conducting a top secret social experiment on irradiated children.
Review:
This extraordinary production, which comes over like a cross between The Wild One and The Midwich Cuckoos, is actually one of the more hysterical (and unscientific) imaginings of the nuclear age, with its scheme to foster and harness radioactive life forms. However, its heterogeneous plot strands and three-dimensional characters are by far the more interesting elements: Carey and Lindfors as 'pro-life' voices of scepticism, Field as the brutalised and jealously guarded moll with a heart of gold, and Reed as the prudish sociopath, the multi-accented biker in tweeds, who struts around with his umbrella sword and exchanges his bike for a Triumph roadster, two details among others that have caused critics to point to influences on A Clockwork Orange. The production is pretty cool, with a sustained POV walk through the children's apartments that gives you the chills, and an impressive swerve off a bridge into Weymouth dock. Unhappily, Hammer studios were not too keen on Losey's quirky blend of anti-social youf culture and parable of domination, and delayed the film's release in the UK until 1963, with cuts presumably intended to smooth out the rough Portland edges.
(These Are the Damned)
Country: GB
Technical: bw/Hammerscope 87m
Director: Joseph Losey
Cast: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, Oliver Reed
Synopsis:
An American, a sculptress, a tart and her possessive Teddy boy biker brother are variously caught up in the activities of a government research facility in Dorset, which is conducting a top secret social experiment on irradiated children.
Review:
This extraordinary production, which comes over like a cross between The Wild One and The Midwich Cuckoos, is actually one of the more hysterical (and unscientific) imaginings of the nuclear age, with its scheme to foster and harness radioactive life forms. However, its heterogeneous plot strands and three-dimensional characters are by far the more interesting elements: Carey and Lindfors as 'pro-life' voices of scepticism, Field as the brutalised and jealously guarded moll with a heart of gold, and Reed as the prudish sociopath, the multi-accented biker in tweeds, who struts around with his umbrella sword and exchanges his bike for a Triumph roadster, two details among others that have caused critics to point to influences on A Clockwork Orange. The production is pretty cool, with a sustained POV walk through the children's apartments that gives you the chills, and an impressive swerve off a bridge into Weymouth dock. Unhappily, Hammer studios were not too keen on Losey's quirky blend of anti-social youf culture and parable of domination, and delayed the film's release in the UK until 1963, with cuts presumably intended to smooth out the rough Portland edges.