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Berserk! (1967)
From the "So bad it's funny" school of filmmaking comes 1968's Berserk!, a cliched and melodramatic attempt at thrills that really doesn't do anything but produce unintentional laughs.
In her second to last feature film appearance, Joan Crawford plays Monica Rivers, the ruthless and icy owner of a second rate traveling circus having financial troubles, who is shocked by what initially appears to be the accidental death of her tightrope walker. The event brings a surge in box office receipts that Monica gladly welcomes and decides to soldier on, but when her business partner is murdered the following night, his death has authorities looking at the tightrope walker's death and it is decided that both deaths were murder and Monica quickly comes into spotlight as the prime suspect.
Monica's troubles are complicated by the appearance of Frank Hawkins, a tightrope walker with a shady past who way too coincidentally shows up to replace the dead guy and eventually decides he wants to be Monica's new business partner. Monica's daughter, Angela, also shows up, freshly kicked out of boarding school, who wants to become part of her mother's circus as way of getting the attention she feels she has never gotten from Mom.
Once again, as with The Greatest Show on Earth and Billy Rose's Jumbo, the circus appears to be a hopelessly dated setting for a soap opera-ish screenplay that is constructed with little imagination or originality. The first half of the movie works so hard at setting up Monica as the killer, that we just know there's no way it could possibly be her. Despite her acting guilty for the first half of the story, her guilt all of a sudden turns to fear as a third murder occurs and people start following her in the shadows.
There's no denying that it is a lot of fun watching the legendary Crawford, 60 years old at time and being allowed to display an incredible pair of legs, chewing up scenery like only she can and almost making this silliness watchable. There is no denying that whenever Crawford is not screen, the film screeches to a dead halt, especially when director Jim O'Connelly hands the screen over to what appear to be real circus acts, including trained poodles, angry lions, and elephants trained to step over terrified looking showgirls. Even more screen time is eaten by a silly musical number called "It Must Be Me" featuring the strong man and the bearded lady.
Crawford does her best to disguise her obvious embarrassment over what she has gotten herself involved in. Ty Hardin's bland performance as Frank doesn't help and he has no chemistry with Crawford. Judy Geeson, who fared much better the same year as Pamela Dare in To Sir with Love, is over the top here as the spoiled brat Angela. Sixties sexpot Diane Dors also provides her share of laughs as the nasty magician's assistant. Even hardcore Crawford fans will have trouble getting through this unintended giggle fest.
From the "So bad it's funny" school of filmmaking comes 1968's Berserk!, a cliched and melodramatic attempt at thrills that really doesn't do anything but produce unintentional laughs.
In her second to last feature film appearance, Joan Crawford plays Monica Rivers, the ruthless and icy owner of a second rate traveling circus having financial troubles, who is shocked by what initially appears to be the accidental death of her tightrope walker. The event brings a surge in box office receipts that Monica gladly welcomes and decides to soldier on, but when her business partner is murdered the following night, his death has authorities looking at the tightrope walker's death and it is decided that both deaths were murder and Monica quickly comes into spotlight as the prime suspect.
Monica's troubles are complicated by the appearance of Frank Hawkins, a tightrope walker with a shady past who way too coincidentally shows up to replace the dead guy and eventually decides he wants to be Monica's new business partner. Monica's daughter, Angela, also shows up, freshly kicked out of boarding school, who wants to become part of her mother's circus as way of getting the attention she feels she has never gotten from Mom.
Once again, as with The Greatest Show on Earth and Billy Rose's Jumbo, the circus appears to be a hopelessly dated setting for a soap opera-ish screenplay that is constructed with little imagination or originality. The first half of the movie works so hard at setting up Monica as the killer, that we just know there's no way it could possibly be her. Despite her acting guilty for the first half of the story, her guilt all of a sudden turns to fear as a third murder occurs and people start following her in the shadows.
There's no denying that it is a lot of fun watching the legendary Crawford, 60 years old at time and being allowed to display an incredible pair of legs, chewing up scenery like only she can and almost making this silliness watchable. There is no denying that whenever Crawford is not screen, the film screeches to a dead halt, especially when director Jim O'Connelly hands the screen over to what appear to be real circus acts, including trained poodles, angry lions, and elephants trained to step over terrified looking showgirls. Even more screen time is eaten by a silly musical number called "It Must Be Me" featuring the strong man and the bearded lady.
Crawford does her best to disguise her obvious embarrassment over what she has gotten herself involved in. Ty Hardin's bland performance as Frank doesn't help and he has no chemistry with Crawford. Judy Geeson, who fared much better the same year as Pamela Dare in To Sir with Love, is over the top here as the spoiled brat Angela. Sixties sexpot Diane Dors also provides her share of laughs as the nasty magician's assistant. Even hardcore Crawford fans will have trouble getting through this unintended giggle fest.