(1970) Directed by Freddie Francis; Written by Aben Kandel; Story by Peter Bryan and John Gilling; Starring: Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, Bernard Kay, Kim Braden; David Griffin, John Hamill and Thorley Walters; Available on Blu-ray and DVD
Rating: **½
I’m elated to participate
in another iteration of Brian Schuck’s (from Films Beyond the Time Barrier)
“Favorite Stars in B Movies” blogathon. Be sure to check out all the exceptional
entries! Today’s offering features the late great Joan Crawford in the crowning
glory of her career (ahem) – okay, she probably wanted this deleted from her
resume, but her loss is our gain with Trog (1970)…
“We believe that Trog could be the connection between the creatures of early civilization and man as we know him today. This Troglodyte who somehow survived is a living reminder of what happened after our ancestors the apes left the forest, and first started to walk on hind legs, and take shelter in the caves.” – Dr. Brockton (Joan Crawford)
“You know what they'll say? They'll say that Trog has a very
nasty temper. But what can you expect from a slimy beast? Go ahead, missing link
– if that's what you are, you should be missing. You bloody monster!” – Sam
Murdock (Michael Gough)
What if, by some accident of nature, we were able to meet one of our ancient ancestors? What could we learn from them, and how would they adapt to the world of the present day? Could we develop a common language? Well, don’t expect any profound answers regarding our origins or insights about the human condition. Trog is strictly Saturday matinee material.* Originally envisioned as a Tigon production,** directed by Hammer alum John Gilling, the film project passed hands to American producer Herman Cohen (best known for ‘50s drive-in hits, I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein). Now with Freddie Francis (another filmmaker acquainted with Hammer) at the helm, Aben Kandel’s script was based on the original screenplay by Gilling and Peter Bryan.
* Fun Fact #1: When Trog premiered in the States, it was the second-billed feature, along with Hammer’s Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).
** Fun Fact #2: Some working titles for the project were Trog,
the Million-Year-Old Man, and The Missing Link.
A trio of spelunkers explore a cavern nestled in the English countryside, but excitement turns to horror when they discover they’re not alone. The angry cave resident kills one from their party and leaves another critically injured, with the surviving member emotionally scarred. Eminent anthropologist Dr. Brockton (Joan Crawford) returns with the surviving explorer to capture the troglodyte, whom she names “Trog.” Brockton attempts to make some sense of his presence, speculating that by some trick of nature, Trog overslept the Ice Age by a million years (give or take 100,000 years or so), ending up in the 20th century. The troubles are far from over, when Brockton brings Trog back to town to her research facility to observe his behavior. The village residents don’t take kindly to their new visitor (okay, technically he was there millennia before them, but who’s counting?) Their de-facto leader, unscrupulous real estate developer Sam Murdock (Michael Gough), argues that Trog is a menace that should be destroyed.
Ever the consummate professional, Joan Crawford brings more dignity and gravitas to the role of Dr. Brockton than it deserved. Whenever she appears on screen, she commands attention. It’s apparent there’s bad blood between Brockton and Murdock that goes back long before the Trog incident, although the movie never makes clear what they previously could have done to get on each other’s bad side (other than some bad old-fashioned misogyny on Murdock’s part). Whatever happened, I’d wager it didn’t come close to harboring an unfrozen cave man. While I doubt Crawford envisioned ending her film career with Trog, judging from her performance, she seemed to treat it with as much respect as she did with Mildred Pierce (1945). From many accounts, she mostly enjoyed her time on the set, and even worked to promote the film, so it seems a stretch to opine that Trog “killed” her career.* Her reasoning for stopping with her 80th feature film, was likely more prosaic.
* Fun Fact #3: Crawford was reportedly attracted to the film
because of her admiration for Planet of the Apes (1968), although Trog
likely wasn’t what she had in mind
Michael Gough clearly seems to be enjoying every minute as the
fiendish Sam Murdock. Under the guise of public safety advocate, we all know he
only wants Trog out of the way so he can build his housing project. It’s impossible
not to cheer when he receives his well-deserved comeuppance after smashing Dr.
Brockton’s laboratory like a petulant child. If anyone watching this film only
knows Gough from his performance as Bruce Wayne’s genteel butler Alfred from
the Batman movies, they’re in for a treat. If anyone dared to do a
modern remake of Trog (Hey, why not a musical?), Murdock would surely be a
NIMBY,
bristling at the proximity of an anthropological research facility in the
neighborhood (“Screw the anthropological find of the century! Don’t you know my
property value is going down?”).
Joe Cornelius does a respectable job playing the excitable missing link, with equal parts rage* and tenderness. While Trog clearly has a thing for Brockton’s daughter Anne (Kim Braden), this thread is never fully developed, despite the not-so-subtle hints at Beauty and the Beast. Instead, he carries away a random child at a nearby playground. We don’t get to see his softer side much, except for a brief scene where he tries on Dr. Brockton’s pink scarf (Sadly, we never get to see him get a makeover). Although the budget for Trog would probably make most Amicus or Hammer productions look lavish by comparison, at least the filmmakers splurged for a fairly decent mask.** While the mask is capable of producing different facial expressions, you can still see the actor’s eyes, suggesting the humanity within. Unfortunately, the relative care the filmmakers took with Trog’s face is marred by the fact that the rest of his body didn’t receive the same level of meticulous attention.
* Fun Fact #4: Producer Herman Cohen fought with the British censors not to cut the scene in which Trog goes on a rampage in a nearby village and hangs a butcher on a meat hook.
** Fun Fact #5: Film historian David Del Valle dispelled the
long-held myth that Trog’s mask was repurposed from 2001: A Space Odyssey
(“The Dawn of Man” sequence) (1968). Instead, two new masks were especially
created for the film by Charles E. Parker, who coincidentally made the ape man
masks for 2001.
Perhaps the most baffling aspect of Trog is that the missing link is uniformly regarded as a public nuisance by everyone outside of Dr. Brockton’s circle, instead of the unprecedented scientific find that he is. He’s little more than a dangerous exotic pet that must be kept locked up. Considering his scientific importance, he’s also the worst-kept secret. You’d think he would have been brought to a more secure facility, but then we wouldn’t have had Gough’s marvelously over-the-top lab destruction scene. We never get much insight into Trog’s motivations, although we catch a brief glimpse into his past, complete with anachronistic dinosaurs,*
* Fun Fact #6: Trog’s flashback scenes were lifted from
Irwin Allen’s The Animal World (1956), featuring animation from Ray
Harryhausen and his mentor Willis O’Brien.
If you’ve watched more than a few “creature on the rampage” movies, you know it won’t end up well for Trog. But in spite of the trail of mayhem and murder he’s left, you can’t help but feel sorry for the big hairy guy. The idea of meeting our primitive ancestors has long captured the fascination of film and television producers over the years, from Iceman (1984) to Encino Man (1992) to Saturday Night Live’s “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer” sketches (R.I.P., Phil Hartman). Trog is a paragon of this somewhat absurd tradition, with its curious mix of B-movie monster mayhem and camp.
Sources for this article: Shout Factory Blu-ray commentary
by David Del Valle; Interview with Kim Newman; IMD (for film quotes)
