The Medusa Touch (film)
| The Medusa Touch | |
|---|---|
 Original 1978 film poster. |
|
| Directed by | Jack Gold |
| Produced by | Anne V. Coates Jack Gold Arnon Milchan (executive) |
| Screenplay by | John Briley |
| Based on | The Medusa Touch by Peter Van Greenaway |
| Starring | Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, Lee Remick, Harry Andrews |
| Music by | Michael J. Lewis |
| Cinematography | Arthur Ibbetson |
| Editing by | Anne V. Coates Ian Crafford |
| Distributed by | ITC Entertainment (UK, theatrical), Carlton Video (UK, DVD), Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 14 April 1978 (United States) |
| Running time | 105 min |
| Country |  UK &  France |
| Language | English |
The Medusa Touch is a 1978 British supernatural thriller film directed by Jack Gold. It starred Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, Lee Remick and Harry Andrews, with cameos by Alan Badel, Derek Jacobi, Gordon Jackson, Jeremy Brett and Michael Hordern. The screenplay was by John Briley, based on the novel The Medusa Touch by Peter Van Greenaway.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
A French detective, Brunel, is on an exchange scheme in London. He is assigned to investigate the murder of novelist John Morlar. As they examine the crime scene, the policemen find that the victim is actually still alive in spite of his severe injuries and have him rushed to hospital.
With the help of Morlar's journals and Dr. Zonfeld, a psychiatrist whom the author had started visiting, Brunel reconstructs Morlar's past life. Seen in flashback, it is filled with inexplicable catastrophes, including the tragic deaths of people he disliked or who offended him.
Morlar is, in fact, a psychic with powerful telekinetic abilities. Disgusted at the world (in his 1988 book Nightmare Movies, Kim Newman described Morlar's dialogue as "incredibly misanthropic"[2]), Morlar has caused two recent disasters: an airliner crash and the loss of a manned spacecraft.
From his hospital bed, he manages to bring down a cathedral on the "unworthy heads" of a VIP congregation giving thanks for the building's preservation. Morlar seems able to keep himself alive by sheer willpower. An enraged Brunel himself tries to finish Morlar off and fails. The man has written on a pad the name of his next target - the nuclear power station at Windscale.
[edit] Production
Bristol Cathedral was used as the location for the fictional London place of worship called Minster Cathedral. [3]
[edit] Film and novel
The film follows the plot of Van Greenaway's novel fairly closely, but changes several details.
- In the novel, the detective is not a Frenchman but an English character named Inspector Cherry, who appears in several other Van Greenaway books.
- In the novel Zonfeld is male and is a Holocaust survivor whose experience of Sachsenhausen concentration camp contributes to his eventual suicide.
- At the end of the book, Morlar's hand does not scrawl Windscale but Holy Loch, the site of an American nuclear submarine base.
[edit] Cast
- Richard Burton as John Morlar
- Lino Ventura as Brunel
- Lee Remick as Doctor Zonfeld
- Harry Andrews as Assistant Commissioner
- Alan Badel as Barrister
- Marie-Christine Barrault as Patricia
- Jeremy Brett as Edward Parrish
- Michael Hordern as Atropos - Fortune Teller
- Gordon Jackson as Doctor Johnson
- Michael Byrne as Duff
- Derek Jacobi as Townley - Publisher
- Robert Lang as Pennington
- Avril Elgar as Mrs. Pennington
- John Normington as Schoolmaster
- Robert Flemyng as Judge McKinley
- Philip Stone as Dean
- Malcolm Tierney as Deacon
- Norman Bird as Father
- Jennifer Jayne as Mother
- James Hazeldine as Lovelass
[edit] Response
The film opened to negative reviews. Many critics felt it was a copy of the smash film Carrie. Critic Gene Siskel would cite many things that made film bad. The two worst he cited were the models filmed as to show they were miniatures and the overacting of Burton himself. Burton was especially attacked as he was not, in the critics opinion, the right man to play a horror villain.
[edit] Cultural References
A sample from the film was used in the Manic Street Preachers song Ready for Drowning.
[edit] References
- ^ Variety film review; February 8, 1978; page 18.
- ^ Newman, Kim (1988). Nightmare Movies: Critical History of the Horror Film, 1968-88. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7475-0295-1.
- ^ "The Medusa Touch". www.imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077921/trivia. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
