The Shout (1978)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jerzy Skolimowski

Writers:

Robert Graves (story)
Michael Austin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

June 1978 (UK)

Genre:

Horror | Drama

Tagline:

A film of intense perversity - the madness of the mind.

Plot:

A traveller by the name of Crossley, forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon...

Plot Keywords:

Contemporary Composer | Mental Institution | Flashback | Supernatural Power | Bizarre

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Alan Bates	...	Crossley
Susannah York	...	Rachel Fielding
John Hurt	...	Anthony Fielding
Robert Stephens	...	Medical Man
Tim Curry	...	Robert Graves
Julian Hough	...	Vicar
Carol Drinkwater	...	Wife
John Rees	...	Inspector
Jim Broadbent	...	Fielder in cowpat
Susan Wooldridge	...	Harriet
Nick Stringer	...	Cobbler
Colin Higgins
Peter Benson

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Devon, England, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

The first cinema film of Jim Broadbent.

THE SHOUT (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978) ***

I'm always fascinated by the way a country like Britain is presented in a totally different, almost alien way when 'looked at' by a foreign film-maker. Skolimowski is an underrated director, and I've generally been impressed by what I've seen from his work; as a matter of fact, I might be watching three other films of his that I own on VHS - LE DEPART (1967), THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD (1970) and TORRENTS OF SPRING (1989)...

The plot of this film (from a story by Robert Graves) is compelling and relatively simple but, handled in such a weird fashion (one might say deliberately), it becomes somewhat hard to take! Still, there's a strong cast on hand: Alan Bates (who has had perhaps the most interesting, if largely unsung career from the British New Wave's flock of "Angry Young Men" - I followed this with one of his early films, THE CARETAKER [1963], via the BFI's R2 SE DVD), Susannah York and John Hurt in the lead roles and, in support, Robert Stephens, Tim Curry and an impossibly young - and thin - Jim Broadbent.

Bates and Hurt play typical roles - the former eccentric, the latter bewildered - but their rapport, and the one each shares with York, is what holds the film together. There's also an effective electronic score by two members of the then prog-rock band Genesis (appropriate considering that Hurt plays a musician with a penchant for experimentation with everyday sounds)! The scenes involving Bates' deadly shout are very well handled; its Aborogine connection links the film with another strange contemporary title, Peter Weir's THE LAST WAVE (1977), which I've only watched once but remember liking a lot - so much so that I considered purchasing the Criterion DVD, despite its being one of their lower-tier releases (then again, THE SHOUT is an absolutely no-frills edition but, at least, it was dirt-cheap!).

If there's any complaint I have to make about the DVD, it's the fact that the audio level is rather low and, consequently, the dialogue - part heavy British accents and part Bates' whispered delivery - is unintelligible at times (which can become frustrating, given that this is largely a dialogue-driven film!).