BERSERK 1967lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2015/05/berserk-1967.html

Fans of late-career Joan Crawford (and who isn’t?) are sure to relish the sight of 61-year-old La Mommie Dearest asthe mannish owner and ringmaster of a traveling circus, juggling two younger lovers (“I just may let you tuck me intonight!” she threatens to one) while performers in her employ fall victim to gruesome, far-fetched fatalities. Similarly,variety show fans nostalgic for the bygone days when animal acts ruled primetime TV on programs like The EdSullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace, are sure to get a vaudeville kick out of Berserk!'s interminable parade ofcapering horses, indifferent lions, playful elephants, and intelligent poodles, all used to pad out the film's alreadymeager 96-minute running time.

But horror fans finding Berserk! a little tame and slow-moving by American Horror Story: Freak Show standardsmight do well to turn a viewing of this circus-set whodunit into a drinking game. Since Crawford was still on theBoard of Directors of Pepsi-Cola at the time, may I suggest taking a shot of 100-Proof vodka (Crawford’s preferredbeverage of choice) every time there’s a Pepsi sighting or moment of Pepsi-related product placement. Or perhapsyou can take a swig each time a mysterious band of shadow materializes out of nowhere to provide our star withdramatic framing and flattering neck shade whenever in medium shot or closeup. But be aware, should you choosethe latter option, you’re likely to find yourself plastered to the gills long before To Sir, With Love’s Judy Geesonmakes her mid-film appearance as yet another in Joan Crawford’s long procession of troublesome onscreen /offscreen daughters.

Joan Crawford as Monica Rivers "We're running a circus, not a charm school!"

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Ty Hardin as Frank Hawkins"In this world you only get what you deserve. No more, no less."

Judy Geeson as Angela Rivers"I was shunted around from place to place like a piece of luggage with the wrong

address pasted on it!"

Michael Gough as Albert Dorando"How can you be so cold-blooded?"

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Diana Dors as Matilda"The next time she puts her arms around you, make sure those lovely hands aren't

carrying a knife!"

Although Berserk! (I’m never going to be able to keep up this exclamation point thing) is often lumped together withother entries in the popular What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? hag-horror / psycho-biddy genre; Joan Crawford’sdedication to being the world’s most glamorous, well-turned-out circus proprietress qualifies it more as a gilt-edgedexample of Grand Dame Guignol. Dressed in a fashion parade of vividly monochromatic cocktail suits (from milady’sown closet, may I add), Crawford magisterially strides about the horse and elephant-trod circus grounds ‒ headheld aristocratically aloft while balancing a towering, tightly-braided bun ‒ barking orders and giving out directionswhile wearing the daintiest of impractical, strappy high-heel sandals.

Britain's Billy Smart Circus plays the role of Berserk's The Great Rivers CircusSmart's Circus (note the BS emblems) was also used in 1960s similar Circus of

Horrors

In contrast to the usual abasement heaped upon the typical hagspoitation heroine, every effort in Berserk is made tomake Crawford look good. Not only is she the center of the drama and propels the narrative, she's also the onlycharacter afforded an active love life or much in the way of a backstory ("Long ago I lost the capacity to love..." sheintones at one point; her words instantly making me aware of the weight of my eyelids). Unfortunately, due to thefilm’s obviously sparse budget and perhaps an over-determination on the filmmakers’ part to make its sexagenarianleading lady’s age into a non-issue (one of the more conspicuous Crawford-mandated script additions is a charactervoicing the opinion, "Your mother will never grow old, she has the gift of eternal youth!" ), the amount of attentionpaid to showcasing Crawford’s three-ring matronly glamour results in a kind of inverse-derogation.

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"Find your happiest colors - the ones that make you feel good." Joan Crawford- My Way of Life

Joan in her happy colors (given her expression, I guess that's something we'll have totake her word for)

Even if you've never seen a film before in your life, it’s likely you could guess the plot of Berserk from its settingalone. A traveling circus is plagued by a series of grisly murders; when the deaths have the side effect of boostingcircus attendance, the shadow of suspicion falls (usually across the neck) upon hard-as-nails, cool-as-a-cucumbercircus owner, Monica Rivers (Crawford). Some six years prior, Monica’s husband died in a trapeze accident, sincewhich time Monica has been “comforted” by dour-faced business partner, Albert Dorando (Gough), while onlydaughter, Angela (Geeson), remained stowed away at a hoity-toity boarding school.Of course, within the ranks of the circus’ motley troupe of performers, low-levels of British panic reigns, motives areplentiful, and red herrings abound. Figuring prominently amongst those most likely to have "dunnit" are faithful Bruno(George Claydon), the dwarf clown/toady who’s a tad overenamoured of his leggy employer. Then there’s brassyMatilda (Dors), the in-your-face, peroxided two-thirds of a sawing a woman in half illusionist act, who's skeptical ofMonica from the start (maybe due to Mrs. Rivers’ habit of addressing Matilda as "You slut!”). And finally, the circus'smost recent arrival, high-wire walker Frank Hawkins (Hardin); a six-foot-two hunk of flavorless beefcake with a

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sketchy past, hair-trigger temper, and a thing for women old enough to be his mother. Especially if they're inpossession of their own circus.

Mommie Likes

The body count rises and the lack of urgency displayed by the veddy-British investigating detectives comes to mirrorthat of director Jim O’ Connolly (Horror on Snape Island), who somehow imagines Berserk’s tepid tension andsluggish suspense can withstand the mood-killing interjection of several adorable circus acts (in their entirety) and acomic musical interlude. Still, thanks to Joan Crawford’s sometimes baffling acting choices (“You’re crrrrazy!”) andthe always-welcome presence of British bombshell, Diana Dors, Berserk!’s 40-minutes of plot padded out to 96-minutes of movie flows painlessly and entertainingly to its abrupt, highly-preposterous conclusion. One in which thesurprise-reveal killer has to utter the great granddaddy of unutterable, self-expository outbursts:“Kill, kill, kill! That’sall I have inside me!” And if you think that line reads ridiculous, wait until you hear someone actually try to say it witha modicum of sincerity.

Trog co-star Michael Gough braces himself while a frisky Joan Crawford movesin for the kill.

As a side note, is there anything more terrifying than a clown painting?

Berserk! Began life as Circus of Terror and Circus of Blood before Crawford vetoed those crude, cut-to-the-chaseoptions in favor of the infinitely more marketable, Psycho-friendly single name tag(see: Homicidal, Hysteria, Repulsion, Paranoiac, and Fanatic [the British title for Tallulah Bankhead’s loonymasterwork, Die, Die My Darling!]). As Crawford’s first film in a two-picture deal arranged by personal friend /producer Herman Cohen (the man who gave the world I Was a Teenage Werewolf and Bela Lugosi Meets aBrooklyn Gorilla), the British-made Berserk! was undertaken when Crawford’s reputation as a heavy drinkerrendered her an unacceptable insurance risk, stateside.

Coming as it did on the heels of the double-barreled horror blitz of William Castle’s Strait-Jacket (1964) and I SawWhat You Did (1965), Berserk! may have further distanced Crawford from her glory days at MGM in the mind of the

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public, but it did serve to cement her status as Hollywood’s then-reigning scream queen. A reputation reinforced byappearances on TV shows like Night Gallery and The Sixth Sense. And while rival Bette Davis may have appearedin a few slightly more upscale UK features during this time (The Nanny and The Anniversary in 1965 & 1968,respectively) Berserk!, bargain-basement as it is, at least provided Crawford with the all-important employment shecraved, and gave her a leading lady role and above-the-title billing at a time when many of her peers had beenforced into an early retirement.

"This is APPALLING! I have devoted myself to making Christina...er, Angela aproper young lady!"

In a moment redolent of Mommie Dearest's infamous Chadwick expulsion scene,Monica's daughter Angela is expelled from The Fenmore School for Young Ladies. Inreal life, Joan's daughter Christina campaigned unsuccessfully for the Judy Geesonrole, to which Crawford responded to the press, "Christina is not ready to have such

responsibility. To co-star with 'Joan Crawford'? Isn't that a lot of pressure to put on thegirl?"

Crawford’s second starring vehicle for Herman Cohen, which was also her last feature film, was that unforgettablecave-man opus, Trog (1970). In the 1994 book, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers by Tom Weaver, producerCohen refutes claims that Crawford was ever subjected to the kind of on-a-shoestring treatment his low-budget filmssuggest (such as the oft-repeated rumor Crawford had to dress in the back of a station wagon during Trog).According to Cohen, Crawford insisted on being treated like a major star, and to make her happy, forboth Berserk! and Trog, he was glad to stretch their budgets to accommodate the expense of a Rolls Royce anddriver, an apartment with maid and cook, and a large location dressing room caravan. Anything to make MissCrawford feel like the star she was (or used to be). Cohen also relates that it was important he never use the term“horror film” when talking to Crawford about their professional collaborations. Joan it seems hated the idea of horrorfilms and considered her films for Cohen to be dramas with “…some horrific moments.”

Scream QueenAt this stage it didn't matter to Joan what her name appeared on,

just so long as it appeared on SOMETHING....preferably in big letters

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WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILMI’m pretty much an all-around Joan Crawford fan, but a glance at my DVD collection reveals a decided preferencefor late-career Crawford. Joan at her worst is actually Joan at her best. I don’t deny the appeal of her early films, butI've always sensed the indelible imprint of the MGM assembly-line in how similar she seems (in terms of look,mannerism, and speech) to every other major actress on the roaring lion’s payroll at the time. However, the over-the-top, almost frightening Joan Crawford unveiled in Torch Song (1953) and thereafter is another Joan altogether.

Shedding all that was vulnerable and soft in Possessed (1947) and Daisy Kenyon (1947), while retaining – if notemphasizing – the hardness and severity of the characters she played in Flamingo Road (1949) and HarrietCraig (1950); Joan Crawford in the '50s transmogrified into a being of her own creation. A being who was not somuch an actress as the human embodiment of the combined characteristics of hard work, determination, discipline,and self-delusion. Joan was no longer just a star; she was stardom triumphant. A larger-than-life entity so committedto giving her fans The Joan They Knew And Loved, her final film appearances took on the quality of grand opera. Aquality blissfully ignorant of things like camp sensibilities, drag queen aesthetics, or modulating her performance tothe scale of the film at hand.

Berserk! is a thoroughly harmless (one might say affectless) suspenser that’s a great deal of silly fun in that wayunique to low-budget genre flicks which harbor few illusions about themselves and have no objective beyond givingthe audience a good scare. But as pleasant as it is to play “whodunit” in a setting brimming with animal acts, redherrings, and hoary fright effects; Joan Crawford is the entire show and she alone is what makes Berserk! worthwatching at all. As efficiently as she carries out her ringmaster duties while showing off her handsome legs in anEdith Head-designed leotard, Crawford single-handedly turns the mediocre Berserk! into a masterpiece of highdrama and unintentional circus camp.

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Diana Dors about to be sawed in half as magician's assistant to Philip Madoc inBerserk! 1967

Diana Dors about to be sawed in half as magician's assistant to David J. Stewart in the unaired 1961 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Sorcerer's

Apprentice

PERFORMANCESIn Berserk!, if Joan is less than 100% convincing as the owner of a traveling circus, it’s only because she runs it withan aggressive authority and Machiavellian cunning more appropriate to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company (thatand the fact one can't really imagine Joan putting up with the untidiness of circus life). I can’t say anything about herperformance here that I haven’t already covered in previous posts for Queen Bee, Strait-Jacket, and Harriet Craig,only to add that I get a particular kick out of the way Crawford's studied line readings in Berserk! have a way ofsliding from her usual over-enunciated, studio-taught elocution, into a curious brand of Texas-accented dialect:“That’s JUST whadda mean!”“Want me to spell it out fuh ya?”“He’s just mah business partner!”

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With dinner over, Hardin's ready for dessert

I enjoy the supporting cast of Berserk! a great deal, each actor wisely giving the film’s star as wide a berth possiblefor the histrionic grandstanding to follow. My favorites are Diana Dors, saddled with a truly awful wig, but giving eachof her scenes a vitriolic punch the film sorely needs. The appealing Judy Geeson is given scant to do, but does sowith a level or genuineness that almost feels out of place for the movie (“Geeson’s pretty but doesn't have the stuffto make it for the long haul,” sniffed Crawford). And the regrettably-named Ty Hardin (that is, until you learn his realname is Orison Whipple Hungerford …JR!!!) makes an appropriately incongruous choice for Crawford’s love-interest, his towering frame and obvious youth serving to cast just the right amount of suspicion on his character’smotives.

Ted Lune, Golda Casimir, George Claydon & Milton ReidBerserk! grinds to a screeching halt in order to accommodate the cutesy

but not-at-all-confessional musical number, "It Might Be Me"

THE STUFF OF FANTASYContractual show-biz pairings are nothing new. If you hired TV personality Steve Allen, you had to take JayneMeadows; director Bryan Forbes never worked without wife Nanette Newman; and, pre-split-up, getting Tim Burtonalways meant Helena Bonham Carter was not far behind. In the 60s, Joan Crawford and Pepsi were an onscreenpair made in product-placement heaven.

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THE STUFF OF DREAMSI was ten-years-old when Berserk! was released in theaters, and I recall how disturbing I found the TV commercialsand newspaper ads which prominently featured the image of a man about to have a stake driven through his headby a hammer. I was actually too afraid to see the movie at the time, but I wonder what I would have made of it. ThenI had no preconceived notions about Joan Crawford to distract me from the story at hand.

Watching the film today, the plot, such as it is, really fades into the distance, and the entirety of my enjoyment iscentered exclusively around Crawford and the Crawford mystique. Like a solar eclipse, Joan Crawford and all shehas come to represent as a gay icon and camp godsend blots out everything else. Every aspect of Crawford and herlife has been parodied and talked about for so long it's hard for me to even see her as a human being, much less afictional character she plays pretty much as herself. As is the case with all of Crawford's late-career films,watching Berserk! is like being given a tour of a Joan Crawford tribute museum. And I honestly wouldn't have it anyother way.There are scenes infused with near-confessional references to her real-life failed romances and dedication to workover all else. Plus Crawford's outmoded acting style lent interest to scenes with younger performers.

Joan and Ty adopt a pose ripped from countless vintage movie posters (not to mention paperback romance novels)

And every one of Geeson's scenes with Crawford can't help but subliminally call to mind the epic Mommie Dearest:

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"And what about your Christmas card list?"

"Because I'm not one of your FAAAANS!"

"You know Christina, flirting can be taken the wrong way...."

Perhaps a stronger film than Berserk! could surmount these distractions, but Berserk! has so little going for it that'sreally compelling, one can't help but welcome every self-referential, over-acted, self-serious moment the great MissJoan Crawford provides. So, for fans of the best that camp has to offer...step right up!

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BONUS MATERIALThe original (spoiler-filled) Berserk! trailer that scared me as a kid.Alfred Hitchcock Presents; "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1961) - DianaDors stars in this circus-themed episode that was never airedbecause sponsors deemed it too gruesome.

Circus of Horrors (1960) - Although it lacks Joan Crawford (and that'squite a lack, indeed) this feature film release is similar (and in manyways superior) to Berserk!, but is not nearly as much fun.

George Claydon, who played Bruno the clown in Berserk! appeared as the first Oompa Loompa on the left in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Diana Dors was not only quite the bombshell in her youth, but in later years became one of television's mostarticulate, witty, and charming talk show guests. Here's a clip of a 1971 television interview.

Wikipedia biography of actor Ty Hardin referencing his 8 marriages and eventual descent into right-wing, nutjob,ultra-conservatism.

Copyright © Ken Anderson

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Given how much Joan Crawford favored the dramatic lightingwhich cast a shadow across her neck, I suppose it's only fittingthat on the day I took this photo of her star on Hollywood's Walkof Fame (in front of the Capitol Records building near Hollywood& Vine) I was unable to avoid this band of shadow falling acrossit. I can imagine Crawford in heaven telling God how to light her

correctly.

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