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Sunday 10 January 2021

The Medusa Touch

The Medusa Touch
Inspector Brunel (Lino Ventura), a French detective on a job swap in London, is called in to investigate the attempted murder of novelist John Morlar (Richard Burton) a man who, according to psychiatrist Dr Zonfeld (Lee Remick), had described himself as having "A gift for disaster."

Morlar, it transpires, is a powerful psychokinetic with a pathological hatred of humanity, a great line in wonderfully misanthropic and nihilistic dialogue, 

"And Mother was much like the hotels; a decade past her prime, a lot of paint covering the worst cracks, a pathetic pretence of being better than she was.

and a building desire to destroy the society he hates, 

"I’ve found a way to do God’s dirty work for him. The Royal Chieftain, the parasites, and the whole gang of international rabble rousers, are going to bleat to the Almighty Nothing in his great Temple, to give praise for three million pounds. I promise you, the moment they kneel to pray, I will bring the whole edifice down on their unworthy heads."

Over time 'The Medusa Touch' has been derided for some patchy effects particularly during the climactic set piece but such things are mostly irrelevant to me especially when they are surrounded by a tightly plotted and solid story and strong performances which director Jack Gold (The Naked Civil Servant (UK / US)) teases out of a uniformly excellent cast.

Burton, whose star was in terminal decline by 1977, is almost a peripheral figure in a movie that has his name at the top of the billing and revolves around his character but he still dominates the screen whenever he appears.  Ventura has a lovely light touch and a shabby Columbo like air in what is essentially the starring role, Remick is as rock solid and reliable a presence as ever and the rest of the cast is littered with familiar faces like Gordon Jackson, Harry Andrews, Jeremy Brett, Derek Jacobi, Michael Hordern and James Hazeldine

I first saw 'The Medusa Touch' as a young lad and the ending was one of the few things that ever freaked me out and as such it has remained in my head ever since but it wasn't a film I ever had the opportunity to return to so it was a wonderful surprise when writing this to discover that my memory hadn't rose tinted it and I enjoyed it just as much some 40 years later.

Buy it here - UK / US.



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8 comments:

  1. I had the same experience of watching it as a kid. Glad it stands up. Peter van Greenaway is one of Christopher Fowler's 'Forgotten Authors' and manages to make some of his other work sound intriguing too.

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    1. When I was writing this I gave him a quick look. I'll have to dig further.

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  2. Great film watched multiple times. Read the book last year and also very good, I've managed to get 2 of the other novels with the same detective in but not got into them yet. Also among the cast is Doctor Who's Ian Marter credited as Ian Masters if memory serves....specialist subject...can you tell :)

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    1. I'm definitely getting a Mastermind contestant sort of vibe 🙂

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  3. funny how, despite the few comments, i too had the youthful loving this film experience

    i think Exorcist 2 is hugely underrated - and this film is similarly underrated for political ie Hollywood at the top of the stack reasons ... Burton is sublime as ever
    apols - it wouldnt let me delete the other comment

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    1. it has gone. Sometimes it just takes a while.
      I like how often we all seem to have shared experiences of early viewings of these things that have stuck with us all and have proved so influential.
      I must be honest I can't remember ever having watched Exorcist 2. I probably have but I really don't remember.

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  4. I saw this as a young man and was blown away with it, never even heard of it, didn't know what it was about so it got me by surprise big time.
    I loved it, and have got it on tape to re watch, but it's one of those films that I'm scared to watch in case it ruins the memories.

    The Exorcist 2 film, is completely opposite though, I went to see this on the big screen, expecting a sequel to The Exorcist, which it isn't really, and felt a bit short changed by it.
    I think I'll have to give this another go as there's not any real fondness to lose here.

    Another Richard Burton film I watched around these times was Hammersmith is Out, again I was really taken with this and wouldn't mind watching this one again, probably won't impress as much these days, nostalgia ain't what it used to be, is it?

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    1. If it counts for anything, a rewatch didn't spoil it for me.

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