The Damned. Joseph Losey. 1962.
What a brilliant little film this is. American tourist Simon Wells is vacationing in Weymouth on the south coast of England. After being brutally mugged and beaten by King and his biker gang Wells retreats to his yacht to lick his wounds. Approached by Kings sister Joan, he offers to take her away from the town and her clearly unstable brother and his gang. King tracks her down and the two escape in Wells boat. After reluctantly agreeing to return Joan to shore so she can go back to her brother the pair end up finding themselves trapped in a strange underground research facility beneath the cliffs, home to a group of strange and abnormally cold young children.
Given its sharp ninety-one minutes runtime this film squeezes a bit of everything in, and does it with room to spare. The characters all manage to be more than meets the eye and the bleak dystopian finally is haunting. The film looks wonderful, quite epic is some scenes and while I've heard of it before I'm surprised it's not better known. Also of note are a range of superb performances particularly a mesmerising Oliver Reed as gang leader King who I'll eat my hat if he wasn't some sort of inspiration for Malcolm McDowell's Alex in a Clockwork Orange. Shirley Anne Field is rather lovely if a little nuts as his sister Joan. Brilliant film and at 49p probably one of the best bargains I've ever got.
Last edited by J Harker; 3rd February 2017 at 10:05 PM.
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