Berserk!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the film. For other meanings, see Berserk (disambiguation).
| Berserk! | |
|---|---|
 Berserk! |
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| Directed by | Jim O'Connolly |
| Produced by | Herman Cohen |
| Written by | Herman Cohen Aben Kandel |
| Starring | Joan Crawford Ty Hardin Diana Dors Michael Gough Judy Geeson Thomas Cimarro |
| Music by | John Scott |
| Release date(s) | September, 1967 |
| Running time | 96 min Technicolor |
| Country | Filmed in England at Shepperton Studios and at the Billy Smart Circus |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Berserk! is a Columbia Pictures horror/thriller/mystery motion picture.
[edit] Synopsis
The Great Rivers Circus, which is owned and operated by the still fit and sexy ringmaster Monica Rivers (played by Crawford), has not been doing very good business as it travels across England. Then a peculiar death occurs during a performance as the tightrope walker, "Great Gaspar" (played by Cimarro), is hanged by his tightrope when it frays and snaps.
Almost as soon as Gaspar dies, Frank Hawkins (played by Hardin) appears on the scene looking for a job and just happens to be a tightrope walker. Monica hires him to replace Gaspar and he performs as "Magnificent Hawkins." Scotland Yard assigns a detective, Superintendent Brooks (played by Hardy), to investigate and solve the case. It is revealed that Gaspar's fall was no accident; the tightrope had actually been cut.
The resultant publicity from the death causes business to pick up tremendously as large crowds are drawn to the circus audience, apparently hoping to see a repeat performance of death under the Big Top. Monica, a hard-edged, no-nonsense and pragmatic business woman, is determined that "the show must go on." She argues with her business manager and lover, Dorando (played by Gough), about how to handle the investigation. When he wants out of the circus, she refuses. In the meantime, Frank is quick to gain favor with her and Dorando is jealous of her attraction to the strapping and much younger man.
The deaths continue in a gruesome manner when, shortly afterward, Dorando is found murdered inside the Big Top with a medal spike driven through his skull. Despite the murders, Monica is pleased with the newfound popularity and the large sums of money being generated. She refuses to shut down her now flourishing circus and is herself a prime suspect.
To complicate matters further, Monica's beautiful young daughter, Angela Rivers (played by Geeson), has been expelled from an exclusive women's college for unruly and disruptive behavior. In one scene, the devoted and beleaguered mother goes and gets her daughter from the school where Angela has been boarding. Angela then joins the knife throwing act at the circus.
Monica's affair with her new lover, Frank, who has a secret about his past that he does not want anyone to know, runs into trouble when he begins blackmailing her for a share in the profits. She makes him her new business partner, but still manages to keep him on a short leash. They are both suspected because they appear to be the only two with the most to gain from the murders.
The flirtatious blonde bombshell Matilda (played by Dors), who is part of an act where she is sawed in half, wants Frank for herself. In one scene, she barges in on the tightrope walker, who is wearing no shirt, carrying a bottle. As he is seeing Monica for his own personal reasons, he resists Matilda's attentions.
The members of the circus troupe have become increasingly frightened and argue among themselves. In one scene, they secretly convene late at night to theorize who the perpetrator might be. Trouble-making Matilda is outspoken in her conviction that Monica is the murderer. In one scene, buxom Matilda and another female performer get into a violent fight on the ground. Monica, who has maintained a pretty regal air throughout, breaks it up with a deep, threatening shout.
Any of the key players, including all the circus employees, could be the guilty party. It seems no one is safe. Frank receives a stray knife in his back while performing his act on the tightrope. Before Matilda can prove her theory to the police, she meets with a grisly end when she is literally sawed in half by a faulty electric saw. Although Monica is suspected of the crimes, in one scene she is eerily stalked at night by a mysterious silhouette between some trailers on the circus grounds.
At the end of the movie, the investigation by Superintendent Brooks reveals the identity of the homicidal maniac, Angela Rivers. Her twisted motives for committing the brutal and bizarre murders are divulged as a thunderstorm rages outside the Big Top. She has harbored an insane hatred of her mother after years of being practically ignored. In order to get Monica's attention, she has been "removing" those who take up her mother's time. Finally going completely insane, she attempts to murder Monica. However, when Angela runs from the circus tent, she is herself struck down by lightning and dies in the rain.
[edit] Trivia
- Costume was done by Jay Hutchison Scott but Crawford's sensational two-piece leotard outfit was designed for her as a favor by Edith Head.
- Berserk! was the first of two movies that Crawford starred in for her friend, Herman Cohen. The next was Trog (1970), her final screen appearance.
- Although she has been criticized for having no judgment in accepting the low-budget features she later appeared in, Crawford said in a number of interviews, "I wanted to remain a working actress, not just an ex-performer plugging soft drinks." She was on the Board of Directors of PepsiCo.
- The movie is slightly reminiscent of Lady of Burlesque (1943) starring Barbara Stanwyck. Based on a novel by Gypsy Rose Lee, Lady of Burlesque features a series of backstage murders involving a jealous performer.
- Michael Gough also played Sam Murdock in Trog. He played Alfred Pennyworth, the loyal butler, in the movies Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997).
- Reportedly, Crawford's adopted daughter, Christina Crawford, wanted to play the role of her onscreen daughter, Angela Rivers, but was by then in her late twenties.
