The Damned

A delightful piece of Cold War cynicism about a small group of radioactive children being raised by the British government to repopulate a future post-nuclear Earth. It opens with some beautiful footage of 60s Dorset, with Teddy Boys ruling the streets and the instant hit "Black Leather" blaring on the soundtrack. Even the mandatory love story has a cynical edge – the hapless middle-aged burnout falls for the shill who sets him up to get his arse kicked by the Teds, and she, hopeless and soapless herself, can't find anything better to do than fall for him. No one is right in this movie, and ultimately, we are all the Damned.

A lot of great horror films were produced by Hammer Studios, and The Damned certainly ranks up there both as one of the studios best, and as one of the weirdest. The film is a mix of drama, thriller, horror and sci-fi and is inventive and refreshing in the way it plays out and I guarantee that if you go into this film without first finding out what it's about, you'll never guess where it will take you! The plot structure basically has two main threads to it and neither one is related to the other, but the film pulls them together well. The first plot we are introduced to focuses on Joan, a young woman who gets involved with an American tourist. He gets beaten up by a gang of thugs and it soon transpires that Joan is the sister of the leader of them! The two run away with the angry brother and his gang hot on their tails. The second side of the plot concerns nine children who are being brought up in isolation inside a secret military base as they have somehow been born radioactive. The two plots combine when the American and his girl stumble into the base with the brother after them.

This film was always in danger of becoming messy considering how the story changes dramatically half way through, but it actually flows really well and the story manages to keep the first plot running even when the second one takes centre stage. The themes of the story do get lost somewhat under what we are directly seeing on screen, but 'The Damned' is a very fitting title as the movie deals with a situation born out of the need for a contingency plan in case of nuclear war. The fact that the plot focuses on both sanctioned and unsanctioned criminals makes it more interesting. The film is also very haunting; the children themselves echo those in the classic Village of the Damned and the gloomy plot line gives off its own formidable atmosphere, which is reinforced well by the way the children are treated in their prison/home. The central cast is excellent with Shirley Anne Field and Macdonald Carey getting good support from the always memorable Oliver Reed. The children give some of the best performances in the film and manage to capture what you would expect of children in their situation very well indeed. Overall, The Damned is one of Hammer's most strange and surreal films; but it marks a welcome change and it's not a film I will forget in a hurry. Don't miss out on this one!

I saw this recently on a late night "British Film Celebration" series, showing various odds and sods of yester-year. In some ways I wished I had videoed it now, as thinking about it afterwards (and thinking about it is certainly something you'll do)there's clearly something going on with the characterisation that was far more important than lets on at first. A second viewing was perhaps needed, certainly the characters don't seem quite fleshed out and when thinking about it I was wondering if that was the point. But here's what I mean by the characters:

• The spiritually hurt "old/young" man played (and in fairness, perhaps miscast) by MacDonald Carey, desperate in some way to "complete" himself; the numerous old English establishment/power figures, feeling out of time and place, as if powerless to deal with the worlds changes, still "in" power but somehow no longer; the devout artist, passionate about her work, which in itself is a little dehumanising (there is a great, heart rending scene, where she cries in agony as Oliver Reed destroys some of her art work, that will stay with me for a while); the young girl unable to "become" what she wants, perhaps of her "possessive" brother, who really genuinely wants to protect her from the evils of the world; the emotionless children, full of potential but ultimately radioactive and poison, and most of all the "angry young men" lead masterfully by Oliver Reed, They represent the irrational human, simply wanting to "be" and nothing more.

While trying to follow some sort of standard narrative, there seems to be something else going on in this film that is talking about a far wider, human theme with actually makes it much more of a "pure" science fiction/philosophical film than it maybe gets credit for. Yes, you can look at it at face value and ultimately see it as nothing more than a curious English B movie, but...

The film moves very slowly, but its shift from what looks to be a critique on teenagers turns into a science fiction film with a very gritty message about human survival and with its grim ending its something you tend not to see much in films, either then or now.

Perhaps I am reading FAR too much into the film, but cold war polemic aside there seems to be something far more rhetorical being said about "radiation" and the death of humanity/culture/civility. There seems to be comments made on how the individual deals with a world that can face potential catastrophic change at any moment which will deny you your very humanity and dignity. I'm not saying the film does this successfully, but nonetheless it's a very interesting "attempt" and well worth a little look.

Oh...and as for the "Black Leather, Black Leather, Smash, Smash, Smash" song. Well, it's interesting... Maybe there's a comment being made there too...about inanity? Perhaps I need to get out more.

Very intriguing film to watch. One must consider it was made during the era of the Cold War to begin with so the situation implied probably didn't seem as implausible in its time. One of the earliest films to portray a secret government organization up to no-good unawares to ordinary citizens. Would have benefitted if more time had been given to the children involved here as then their plight might affect us as and audience even more. Still it's a nice if not fully successful effort to put a thoughtful science fiction tale on film. Teen Gang side-story works mostly to take away the focus from the kids and was probably a mistake although it did give Oliver Reed a good role.

(THESE ARE) THE DAMNED is now being seen in the U.S. in a restored print that has been making the rounds (I caught up with it at the 27th Annual Boston Science Fiction Film Marathon & Festival (for info go to: www.sf.theboard.net) on February 17th.

After having seen it only in edited form on late night TV decades ago, it was fascinating to see the exquisite B&W photography on the big screen (with footage not in the TV prints). Although it was made under the Hammer Films banner, THE DAMNED is not a typical SF picture by any means. Expatriate director Joseph Losey set out to make a social parable more than an SF thriller. He succeeds in showing how society's increasing violence and callousness on the streets could lead to the horrible thought of "breeding" radioactive children in the government in order to survive an inevitable (?) nuclear war. The moral is both, of the time & time-less. Of course, modern audiences may feel that the end of the Cold War makes such a tale outdated and even silly - but are we only fooling ourselves?

"Black Leather, Black Leather....."