Trog

This article is about the movie. For other uses, see Trog (disambiguation).
Trog

Original theatrical release poster
Directed by Freddie Francis
Produced by Herman Cohen
Written by Peter Bryan
John Gilling
Aben Kandel
Starring Joan Crawford
Michael Gough
Bernard Kay
Music by John Scott
Cinematography Desmond Dickinson
Edited by Oswald Hafenrichter
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
  • 24 October 1970 (1970-10-24)
Running time
 93 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Trog is a 1970 British science fiction horror film starring Joan Crawford in a story about the discovery of a living troglodyte. The screenplay was written by Peter Bryan, John Gilling, and Aben Kandel, and the film directed by Freddie Francis. Trog marks Crawford's last motion picture appearance.

Plot

Set in contemporary England, the film follows Doctor Brockton (Joan Crawford) who learns that in the caves of the countryside, a troglodyte is alive and might be able to be helped and even domesticated. She gets the creature to the surface and attempts to train him, but runs into trouble as a few people oppose this, especially a local businessman afraid of negative commercial consequences, Sam Murdock (Michael Gough). In the meantime, this creature, given the name of "Trog", has been given, by Dr. Brockton's surgery, the power of speech, and has expressed some romantic feelings for the doctor's daughter, Anne Brockton (Kim Braeden). Murdock frees the creature, leading to a rampage. Trog is eventually cornered, with Anne's help, but chooses to die rather than be reduced to a zoo specimen. The plot clearly owes something to both Frankenstein and King Kong.

Cast

Production

The film was originally developed by Tony Tenser at Tigon Films who sold it to Herman Cohen.[1]

Trog was the second of two films that Crawford starred in for her friend, producer Herman Cohen; the first was Berserk! (1968). It also paired her with Michael Gough, who starred with Crawford in Berserk!

The dinosaur sequence here was stock footage from the Warner Bros. movie The Animal World (1956).[2]

The film also features a small role by actor David Warbeck.

Reception

At the time of Trog's release, The New York Times panned the film but commented, "There is, however, a rudimentary virtue in Trog...in that it proves that Joan Crawford is grimly working at her craft. Unfortunately, the determined lady, who is fetching in a variety of chic pants suits and dresses, has little else going for her." [3]

Ned Daigle later commented, "Trog is truly ungodly. The performances are rotten, the Trog makeup is so bad it looks, at times, like it will slide right off the actor's face, and everything proceeds at a snail's pace to idiotic situations. It's really sad to see such a huge star [Crawford] be consigned to the Z-grade abyss of films like this. But, hey, a girl's gotta eat."[4]

The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.[5]

Release

The film was released theatrically in both the United States and United Kingdom by Warner Bros. in 1970.

The film received a belated VHS release by Warner Home Video in 1995. It was subsequently released on DVD in 2007.

References

  1. ↑ John Hamilton, The British Independent Horror Film 1951-70 Hemlock Books 2013 p 186-189
  2. ↑ Pettigrew, Neil (1999). The Stop-Motion Filmography. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 40. ISBN 0-7864-0446-9.
  3. ↑ New York Times film review: Trog.
  4. ↑ Bad Movie Night:Trog by Ned Daigle
  5. ↑ Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
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