a.k.a. THE DAMNED
Hammer Film Productions [1961] 96′
country: United Kingdom
director: JOSEPH LOSEY
cast: ALEXANDER KNOX, MACDONALD CAREY,
cast: SHIRLEY ANNE FIELD, KENNETH COPE

THESE ARE THE DAMNED (or, as released in 1965 in the USA, THE DAMNED) is an oft overlooked genre outing from blacklisted director Joseph Losey that, thanks to a few recent theatrical screenings and at least one television broadcast via Turner Classic Movies, is beginning to receive some of the positive reception it so richly deserves. Originally produced in 1961, the film encountered some trouble in its attempts to be distributed, eventually appearing in the UK in 1963 and the United States two years after that, albeit parred down to 87′ (or less, in some cases). More recently, Sony has taken to restoring the film to its original 96 minute running time and playing it on a very small scale theatrically and, as already mentioned, on television.

The film begins, suitably, with an act of senseless violence – Joan (Field) leads American tourist Simon (Carey) into an ambush in which Joan’s brother King (Reed) and his band of motorcycle-riding miscreants brutally attack and rob him before leaving him, prostrate, on the side of the road. All the while the gang whistles its violent anthem, Black Leather Rock (“black leather, black leather, smash smash smash!”). “Are you happy in your work, Joanie?” asks Sid (Cope).

At the same time, sculptor Freya (Lindfors) has just arrived from London and sat down for a chat with her lover Bernard (Knox), who manages a restricted government project in the area. The two are having a peaceful enough time in the local cafe, with Bernard admiring Freya’s latest grotesque sculpture as much (and, disturbingly, possibly more so) than he admires her, until two more local officials dressed in plain clothes – one of whom is identified as a major – bring Simon in from the street. Here, Simon and Freya are both identified as being rather anti-establishment (with Freya encouraging Simon’s distrust of figures of authority) in direct juxtaposition of the conservative authority of Bernard (who admits that letting Freya in on his deep dark secrets would be condemning her to death).

Meanwhile, Joan is showing considerable interest in Simon, much to her possessive brother’s chagrin – the next day she meets up with him at the harbor, where he’s preparing his boat for sailing. Finding his beloved sister in conversation with an older man (or any man, for that matter) puts King in a fowl mood – “Do you think I’ll let a man put his dirty hands on you?” he says, indicating that the possessive nature of their relationship goes well beyond that of mere siblings, at least in his mind. Faced with her first opportunity to escape his oppressiveness, Joan leaps into Simon’s boat as he pulls away from shore, leaving King promising to kill Simon should he come to shore again.

King’s pursuit of Simon and his sister leads to Bernard’s coastal home, where the gang leader destroys one of Freya’s sculptures, and eventually to the seaside grounds of the secret government project. There it is revealed that children, all sons or daughters of mothers contaminated by nuclear accidents, are being raised in complete isolation from the outside world so that they might survive to inherit the world after the mankind of the present lays waste to it through an impending nuclear exchange. Bernard fulfills his own prophecy from the opening of the film, having Simon, Joan, King, and all of their tag-alongs pursued by ominous black helicopters and personally executing Freya. The film ends with a helicopter following Simon and Joan as they zig-zag across the Atlantic in his boat, both dying from radiation poisoning, while the sounds of the children calling for help rise unheard from the seaside cliffs . . .

THESE ARE THE DAMNED is a near-perfect allegory for the seeming insanity behind the ideas that led to the Cold War – that nuclear war was possible, probable, potentially winnable, and hopefully survivable. Bernard’s fixation on the subject, exemplified by his fascination with Freya’s grotesque sculptures* (which intentionally evoke the scarred and twisted corpses left behind by the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki), has led him to believe whole-heartedly that a nuclear war is entirely unavoidable and that his pursuits are, without question, the right thing to do. His belief in his absolute moral authority to pursue his project eventually leaves him cold and inhuman (in obvious juxtaposition with the literally cold blooded but wholly human children), entirely focused on the project’s successful completion, and capable of killing his own lover to see that it goes ahead without question.

Losey’s film is all about parallels, the most obvious of which is between Bernard, with his gaggle of military drones, and King, with his gang of leather-wearing Teddies. The opening ten minutes of the film introduce both groups of people, with King’s gang ransacking poor Simon and Bernard’s acting as his unwelcome savior (it’s amusing and important to note that two military men follow Bernard about in civilian clothing, just as King’s gang follows him in their leather duds – they’re literally two different capitulations of the same thing). King’s violence towards Simon is in reaction to the latter’s taking his sister by the arm and thus endangering, somehow, his obsessive control of her – Bernard’s extreme violence in the closing reels is in reaction to the same sort of endangerment, only this time the fear is for the safety of his top secret science project. The similarities extend into the two leader’s love interests as well, with both having somewhat destructive relationships with their respective sirens.

Even though they are obviously two sides of the same coin, there are notable differences. As the film progresses the brutality of King subsides – he finds himself impotent in his attempts to act violently towards Freya (after destroying one of Freya’s statues he announces that he “enjoyed it”, which is belied by the tears in his eyes at the time and the hasty retreat he beats thereafter) and more willing to aid Simon and Joan in their plight. Bernard, on the other hand, becomes decidedly less civilized as things go on, building up to his showcase of unstoppable militant aggression against those who have strayed into his tramping grounds. The biggest difference, however, is in the fact that Bernard actually kills, creating a definite line between himself the brutal but ultimately childish King.

Then there is the nature of the violence itself – King’s swells out of his unfortunate childhood and the fact that he doesn’t know what else to do. Bernard’s violence, on the other hand, is built out of his certain belief that there is nothing else to be done. In the end, there is something in the way of hope for King (his act of salvation is in attempting to flee Bernard’s facility with one of the children in his passenger seat and helicopters in hot pursuit) – the same cannot be said for Bernard, however, who is (every bit as much as the children he hides away) one of the damned of the title.

If there is hope to be found in THESE ARE THE DAMNED it is with the characters who are the furthest removed from authority – King, for instance (and in spite of his earlier position of authority), succeeds in improving upon himself when the world finally rises up against him. Simon, Joan, and Freya, as well, are beacons of hope within the film, however depressing their inevitable ends may be, simply because they refuse to sacrifice their humanist principles in the face of utter destruction. The destruction in Bernard’s case is purely imagined, however impending it may seem to him, and as his fear of it grows those characteristics that made him human die. The message here is obvious and perhaps best exemplified by a quote from the Bible* – “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Alexander Knox deserves no small amount of praise here in playing a villain more memorable to me than most any other that comes to mind – his work in THESE ARE THE DAMNED is exceptional and anyone taken by his performance should are encouraged to seek out the rarely-shown but none-the-less exceptional THE SIGN OF THE RAM [1948] as well. His role here is certainly one of the best he was to play in the 1960′s, when he was largely relegated to lesser supporting parts (a la CRACK IN THE WORLD; 1965).

THESE ARE THE DAMNED is an amazing film that has become one of my favorites in the few short months since I saw it first – though somewhat difficult to come by at present, I have high hopes that Sony will see fit to release it to home video proper in the near future particularly given the ever-growing critical acclaim it is garnering. It certainly ranks up there as one of the most fulfilling science fiction films ever made, in my opinion (both critical and personal), and is an absolute must-see for readers of this site. Highly recommended.

* The sculptures themselves were by artist Elisabeth Frink, who’s showcased work was in the style dubbed “geometry of fear” (art representing the trauma of World War II and the nuclear anxiety that followed it).

** Quoted from the King James version, MARK 8:36.

There is far more to analyze in this film than I feel I’ll ever be able to in a single humble article – as such, I advise my readers towards these other fine articles on the nature of its production and substance:

FCOURT (LAWRENCE RUSSEL): THE DAMNED

DVD SAVANT: THESE ARE THE DAMNED REVIVAL REVIEW NOTES

TIM LUCAS (VIDEO WATCHBLOG): THIS IS THE DAMNED

SENSES OF CINEMA: COLD, COLD HEART: JOSEPH LOSEY’S THE DAMNED AND THE COMPENSATIONS OF GENRE

THE SCIENCE FICTION READER: THE DAMNED

THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF THE POST-GRAMMATIC STRESS DISORDER B-MOVIE ROUNDTABLE: