BERSERK ! (1967): Film review by Dan West
They
certainly don't make 'em like this anymore, and, depending on the viewer, this
just might be a good thing. Berserk! (1967), starring Academy Award winner
turned Pepsi Cola pitch woman, Joan Crawford, is, for lack of a better term, completely Berserk! Part murder mystery,
part horror film, part Joan Crawford melodrama, part fetishistic historical
record of traditional circus acts, the film is a schizophrenic mishmash of
horror and camp that is a head-scratching delight for those who might be up for
that sort of deadpan lunacy.
The
festivities begin when Gaspar the Great's highwire tightrope act is literally
cut short, resulting in an impromptu lynching before a shocked circus audience
and a fantastic opening credit sequence in which the swaying corpse wipes
across the screen to reveal the film's apt title. Now that's the way to start a
goddamn movie!
As it turns out, a gruesome hanging death is apparently good
for circus business. The public's morbid curiosity proves insatiable, resulting
in booming ticket sales. Joan Crawford, as Monica Rivers, the owner and
ringmaster of The Great Rivers Circus, is a shrewd businesswoman who knows the
monetary value of exploiting the death of her former tightrope performer to
achieve maximum ticket sales. Is she responsible for the death? Is Joan/Monica
that cutthroat? Soon a ridiculously jaunty Scotland Yard detective comes a
sniffin' around asking that very same question, but not before we are
introduced to Gaspar the Great's ambitious and cocky replacement, Frank Hawkins
aka: The Magnificent Hawkins. Cougar Joan/Monica quickly develops a
lusty eye for this new daredevil beefcake who fancies performing his tightrope act
in a black hood, while hovering above a board of deadly bayonet blades below. Sexy!
It's a tightrope turn-on and Joan wants to bone!
These macabre developments do not sit well with circus manager, Dorando
(played by British character actor, and horror film regular, Michael Gough,)
but that's okay, as he is quickly dispatched with a Herschell Gordon Lewis-style-spike-
through-the-head-death. This particular kill scene unfortunately promises
similar over-the-top antics, which, sadly for the audience, fail to materialize
on camera. The main beef that most horror fans might have with this movie is
that several potential gory punches are pulled, resulting in off-camera mayhem
that ultimately leaves its audience feeling somewhat cheated. Gruesome though the deaths are, a bit
more of the good old spewing hemoglobin would have certainly been welcome.
While there may be a lack of blood splatter at times, there is certainly no
lack of Joan Crawford smoking cigarettes, wearing horribly garish,
monochromatic outfits and attempting to look half her age/sexy. Ultimately, the
dark, strategically-placed lighting that attempts to shroud Ms. Crawford in
flattering, soft focus only seems to exemplify her attempts to appear 30 years younger.
But,
to Crawford's credit she NEVER sells
the movie short and never once gives the impression that this film's subject
matter is somehow beneath a star of her (former) stature. Crawford could always
sell these pictures ... through sheer tenacity, ego, or just plain old-fashioned
professionalism, she never betrayed these later films as the atrocities that
some critics might have made them out to be. Perhaps that is why these last,
more exploitative films in her movie cannon remain so enjoyable, if only for
being oddities staining the career of a once great starlet and Hollywood
legend. I mean come on: Straight
Jacket, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Berserk!, Trog ... I LOVE these films. I'm as much a fan of Mildred
Pierce as any film buff, but if I had to choose between a viewing of Mildred
Pierce, or Straight Jacket ...
well, call me crazy, but I would have to be put in a Straight Jacket for that kind of cinematic judgment call.
The fact
that this film was shot with the cooperation of an actual working circus will not
be lost on any viewer. No fewer than five full-length circus acts are trotted
out as filler that seem to stretch the movie's 1 hour and 36 minute running
time to something more akin to 3 hours and forty minutes, (spoiler alert: the
best act is Phyllis Allen and Her Intelligent Poodles!)
There is
a lot to like here for any fan of oddball cinema. The eyesore ensembles worn by
Joan Crawford are reason enough to watch this film. John Waters himself would
envy these garishly grotesque gowns: the sparkling vomit/mint green evening
dress with matching gloves and handbag that look as if they were stolen from a
fashion forward refugee from the city of Oz, the Jack-o-lantern orange
monstrosity that could sizzle the irises of a color-blind viewer wearing arc
welder's goggles. And what the fuck is up with that insane Little Red Riding
Hood cape?
The
production values are high, offering crisp and colorful cinematography, great
art direction and a strong cast of notable British Character actors.
Though
the film is crafted as a who done it? it actually plays out as more of a what
the fuck is it? There is one particular scene in which the abnormally dapper,
Eric Idle-esque police inspector is conducting an interview with Bruno, a dwarf
dressed in a British Bobby's uniform, that resembles something straight out of
a Monty Python sketch.
The
most WTF, David Lynch style moment in this film, however, is reserved for the
sudden and somewhat bizarre musical number performed, quite out of the blue, by
the cast of sideshow performers: Human skeleton, bearded lady, strong man,
dwarf. It is a delightful, if truly puzzling moment in a movie chock full of
them. Berserk! is not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but by bad
horror film standards, this is a movie that is both horrendous and spectacular
at the same time. For fans
of Crawford's late career schlock escapades like Straight Jacket and Trog, Berserk!
is an absolute must see!
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