Berserk!

Berserk![lower-alpha 1] is a 1967 British horror-thriller film directed by Jim O'Connolly and starring Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Diana Dors and Judy Geeson. The screenplay was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel.

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Berserk (disambiguation).

Berserk!
Original U.S. theatrical release poster
Directed byJim O'Connolly
Written byHerman Cohen
Aben Kandel
Produced byHerman Cohen
StarringJoan Crawford
Ty Hardin
Diana Dors
Michael Gough
Judy Geeson
CinematographyDesmond Dickinson
Edited byRaymond Poulton
Music byJohn Scott
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
September 1967 (UK)
11 January 1968 (US)
Running time
96 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3,195,000[1]

Berserk! marks Crawford's penultimate feature-film appearance.

Plot

Monica Rivers and Albert Dorando own a travelling English circus. Monica acts as ringmistress and Dorando is business manager. During one performance, tightrope walker Gaspar the Great is strangled when his tightrope breaks. An investigation reveals his rope may have been interfered with, but police are unable to solve the murder. When Monica suggests aloud Gaspar's death will yield the troupe needed publicity, Dorando is shocked. He asks her to buy out his share of the company, but she is unable. Instead, she hires daring, handsome tightrope artist Frank Hawkins, who performs his act over a carpet of sharp bayonets. Monica is impressed, especially with his physique.

Shortly after, Dorando is found gruesomely murdered. The troupe suspect Monica is the perpetrator. Hawkins, who witnessed her leaving Dorando's trailer shortly before his body was discovered, attempts blackmail. He confronts Monica with what he witnessed. He then demands a share of the action for his silence. She concedes.

After a series of successful performances throughout the UK, Monica's daughter Angela, recently expelled from school, shows up. Monica hires her to perform in a knife-throwing act. Matilda, another circus performer, unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Hawkins and Monica is jealous. Matilda is killed when the magician's trick involving the illusion of being sawn in half malfunctions.

A few evenings later, during Hawkins' high-wire performance, Angela is spotted throwing a knife, striking him in the back. He falls from his tightrope onto the bayonets and is killed. Angela confesses and reveals her motive, that it was all Monica's fault because she had ignored her and was absent throughout her childhood. The circus murders were attempts to eliminate the people who consumed Monica's time and attention. She tries to kill her mother but is stopped. While trying to escape capture, she is electrocuted by a live wire outside the circus tent during a rainstorm. Monica sobs inconsolably over her daughter's body.

Cast

Production

It was the first of a new deal that Herman Cohen had signed with Columbia Pictures. In August 1966, Joan Crawford signed to star, with filming to begin in October in London.[2] Cohen stated that the script was written with Crawford in mind.[3]

Crawford described her role in the film as "mistress of the ceremonies, lock stock and barrel. She's colorful, she's exciting, she's the most definite dame I've ever played. She knows what she wants and she gets it."[3]

Cohen wanted to cast Crawford's daughter Christina Crawford as Angela, but Joan vetoed the idea,[4] and Judy Geeson played the role instead.[5] Diana Dors played a key support role.[6]

Crawford claimed that the filmmakers wanted to title the film Circus of Blood or Circus of Fear, but she insisted on Berserk! "and I got my way in the end."[7] The title was changed in April 1967.[8]

Release

Box office

Box office receipts for Berserk! were considerable.[9] In North America, the film grossed more than $1,100,000 and ranked #85 on Variety's list of top money makers of 1968.[10] Box office receipts overseas nearly doubled that amount at $2,095,000.[11] This made Berserk! the most successful film that Herman Cohen had produced.[9]

Critical reception

Howard Thompson wrote a mostly negative review in The New York Times, comparing it unfavorably to Circus of Horrors, but also commented, "It's also hard to make a hopeless movie with a circus background and sawdust aroma. This is the one solid thing the picture has going for it—the intriguing workaday routine of circus folk and some good, spangly ring acts, all handsomely conveyed in excellent color photography. And under the reasonable direction of Jim O'Connolly, the film does project a kind of defiant suspense that dares you not to sit there, see who gets it next and, finally, why." Thompson stated that Crawford "... is professional as usual and certainly the shapeliest ringmaster ever to handle a ring microphone."[12]

Lawrence Quirk wrote in Hollywood Screen Parade that "[Crawford] is all over the picture, radiant, forceful, authoritative, a genuine movie star whose appeal never diminishes."[13]

Home media

Berserk! was released as a manufacture-on-demand Region 1 DVD on 6 September 2011, available online through the Warner Archive Collection and ClassicFlix in the U.S. only.

Mill Creek Entertainment released the film along with Strait-Jacket (1964) as a double-feature Blu-ray on 2 October 2018.[14]

Notes
  1. The opening credits do not include an exclamation mark in the title.

References
  1. "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969 p. 15. Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors.
  2. 'Bonnie and Clyde' to Roll Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 18 Aug. 1966: A10.
  3. 'Her Crawfordship' Conquers England Marks, Sally K. Los Angeles Times 9 Jan. 1967: D21.
  4. John Hamilton, The British Independent Horror Film 1951–70 Hemlock Books 2013 p. 181-185
  5. MOVIE CALL SHEET: 'Charlie' Next Film for Liza Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 21 Oct. 1966: C16.
  6. Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  7. Joan Crawford Can Still Cry on Cue Oakes, Philip. Los Angeles Times 2 Sept. 1969: E14.
  8. Italian Film for Virna Lisi Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 10 April 1967: C29.
  9. "Herman Cohen » Attack of the Monster Movie Makers: Part 6 of 6". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  10. "The Top Box-Office Hits of 1968", Variety Weekly, 8 January 1969.
  11. Herman Cohen Production Papers for Berserk!
  12. "Movie Review - Berserk - Circus Chiller - NYTimes.com". Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  13. Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.
  14. Strait-Jacket and Berserk!: Double Feature Blu-Ray Mill Creek Entertainment
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