TROG (Warner Bros. 1970) Warner Home Video

A tragically bad ‘last act’ finale to an otherwise legendary movie career, Freddie Francis’ Trog (1970) was – I think – meant to be considered as an ‘intelligently made’ sci-fi drama about what would happen if scientists actually discovered the missing link between primate and man. That the picture ended the cinematic tenure of Joan Crawford on a note of absolutely colossal bad taste was therefore regrettable; this, and the publication of stepdaughter, Christina Crawford’s scathing biography about what life with the grand diva was ‘actually’ like, Crawford went to her death bed in 1977, likely knowing she had committed far too many sins to remain dead and buried after she was gone. Only some could be considered artistically unsound.  While it is perhaps prudent to reiterate that Crawford’s private life hardly mirrored what she portrayed to the public, the body of Crawford’s cinematic work cannot be discounted or ignored as anything but high art, even if Trog is an abomination of that otherwise lionized tenure in Hollywood. And, in the shadow of Mommie Dearest, we ought to acknowledge Joan Crawford, further still, as a great artiste who, unfortunately, did not recognize the time had come to gracefully fade into the distant memory of screen immortality like a first lady of American movies.  

All evidence to the contrary on this deeply flawed outing. Trog keeps getting listed on Top 100 rosters of all-time awful movies, or good ‘bad camp’ movies and midnight movies you ought not miss. That grotesque bastardization of movies worthy of anyone’s time and efforts has thus kept Crawford’s name synonymous with awful movies in general, despite her illustrious career to the contrary. Trog opens with a gaggle of male students hiking through the English countryside where they discover an ape-like creature (Joe Cornelius in a really bad make-up job). Trog kills one of the boys and sends the rest dispersing in fear. The survivors are rescued and brought to a nearby research institute where they regale Dr. Brockton (Crawford) with their harrowing experience. Brockton takes a particular interest in Malcolm Travers’ (David Griffin) account of the confrontation, perhaps because he is one of her students and therefore not subjected to her more critical skepticism and assessment of the boys’ story. Indeed, with Travers help, Brockton journeys to the moors to investigate the original sighting.

Brockton’s research thus far has been focused on the troglodyte – a prehistoric cave dweller and missing link in man’s evolutionary chain of development. Travers manages to get a snapshot of Trog for Brockton who thereafter presents the findings to the research institute in the hopes of acquiring funding for further study. Unfortunately, the discovery is met by violent denouncement from religious zealot, Sam Murdock (Michael Gough), who declares Trog a monster and whips the nearby town’s folk into a frenzy to seek out and kill this abomination before it kills someone else. Eventually lured from his cave by all the commotion, Trog is tranquilized and taken to the institute for study. The rest of the movie plays as a pseudo-serious attempt at Harry and the Hendersons with Crawford performing basic tests on Trog who is, at first, most cooperative and congenial – hardly the expected behavior for a man-eating monster. Murdock, angry that the public’s fascination has blossomed into curiosity for this beast, decides to break into the lab and free the creature.

Trog kills Murdock; then, goes on an uncharacteristic slaughter of some of the locals before abducting a child (Chloe Franks) from her playground equipment and returning to his cave. Brockton makes chase and eventually convinces Trog to give the child up. The police intervene and destroy Trog in a hailstorm of bullets. So much for plot. Trog is not Crawford’s finest hour. Indeed, as a horror movie Trog is lamentably cheap and unconvincing – its special effects so transparent we are frequently reminded the creature is actually just a man in a goofy monkey suit. One can only guess what was going through Crawford’s mind when she accepted this assignment. She was, at this point in her life, suffering from cancer. The script by Peter Bryan, John Gilling and Aben Kandel is so poorly written it reeks of a failed first-year film school assignment, and even that is an insult to all those currently enrolled in such academic programs around the world. In the last analysis, Trog is a dog of a movie; so bad, it’s just bad and ought to have, by now, been classified as such and completely forgotten. Were that this day would ever come!

Warner Home Video has released Trog as part of their Cult Classics Collection. The widescreen image exhibits dated colors, flat pasty flesh tone and very weak contrast levels. Desmond Dickenson’s cinematography always had a C-grade ‘made for TV’ quality about it. But this incarnation appears to be suffering from some marginal color fading. Blacks are rarely solid or deep, exhibiting a rather ‘dull brown’ patina. Whites register a slight bluish or yellow. Age-related artifacts are evident throughout. A hint of edge enhancement is also detected. The audio is Dolby Digital 1.0 mono and strident in spots. There are No extras. Not recommended.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

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VIDEO/AUDIO

2.5

EXTRAS

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