TROG is famous for one reason and one reason only: it was Joan Crawford's last starring role in a feature film.
Joan Crawford (1905-1977) was among Hollywood's greatest "golden age" stars. She began her career in silent films, became an overnight sensation in OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS in 1928, and went on to a career starring as leading lady in numerous classic and near-classic films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. By the 1960s, however, good roles were hard to find--until, in 1962 Crawford and long-time rival Bette Davis teamed for WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? The success of the film touched off a cycle of inexpensive shockers starring fading leading ladies, and with such films as STRAIT JACKET, I SAW WHAT YOU DID, and Berserk! Crawford was easily the leader of the pack.
Filmed in England, TROG sought to capitalize on Crawford's new-found fame as a "scream queen" by casting her in the role of Dr. Brockton, a famous anthropologist who captures a prehistoric troglodyte--and who, much to the annoyance of real estate developer Sam Murdock (Michael Gough), seeks to test, explore, and in general renovate him to gain knowledge of the prehistoric era. Needless to say, things go awry and Trog eventually runs amok--but not before we are treated to endless images of Crawford with blonde hair and expensive, if extremely dated and very matronly, clothes.
Say what you like about Crawford, but she never, ever gave any project less than one hundred and ten percent. When the script calls for her to be sweet, she's very sweet; when it calls for her to be emphatic, you feel it to the marrow of your bones; and when it calls for her to be angry, you suspect she could gouge your eyes out without turning a hair. Even so, Crawford herself was vocally displeased about the production. According to film lore, the budget for TROG was so low that her costumes came straight out of her own closet, and there was no dressing room in which she could change when shooting on location. In later interviews, Crawford said that she decided TROG would be her last film long before shooting wrapped: when you've reached a point where you have to change costumes in the back of your own car, it's time to go.
As for the film itself--The story is silly, the script is horrendous, and Trog himself is about as frightening as left over cafeteria banana pudding. When the film at last debuted, it was so savaged by critics and public alike that Crawford jokingly said she'd have been tempted to kill herself from embarrassment had she not recently become a Christian Scientist.
Now, in actual truth, TROG isn't any worse than a lot of other cheapie British horror films of the time. But the dividing line between enjoyably bad films and unenjoyable ones seems to be pace--and even though it clocks in at around ninety minutes, TROG seems to go on forever, an endless collage of bad dialogue, aggressive performances, and uninspired everything else. It's not simply bad: it's dull. Crawford did not fade immediately into the dark following the film, doing a handful of television shows before a complete and reclusive retirement about 1972, so one can't say that TROG was so awful it ended her career; all the same, it a rather inglorious conclusion to her feature film career, to say the least.
I can't really recommend TROG, not even to die hard Crawford fans or cult movie enthusiasts. More than silly, it is just plain dull. The DVD offers the film trailer, which is actually more entertaining than the film, and a so-so widescreen edition of the film itself--but in truth, this is one you're really better off catching on the late-late show.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Joan Crawford (1905-1977) was among Hollywood's greatest "golden age" stars. She began her career in silent films, became an overnight sensation in OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS in 1928, and went on to a career starring as leading lady in numerous classic and near-classic films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. By the 1960s, however, good roles were hard to find--until, in 1962 Crawford and long-time rival Bette Davis teamed for WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? The success of the film touched off a cycle of inexpensive shockers starring fading leading ladies, and with such films as STRAIT JACKET, I SAW WHAT YOU DID, and Berserk! Crawford was easily the leader of the pack.
Filmed in England, TROG sought to capitalize on Crawford's new-found fame as a "scream queen" by casting her in the role of Dr. Brockton, a famous anthropologist who captures a prehistoric troglodyte--and who, much to the annoyance of real estate developer Sam Murdock (Michael Gough), seeks to test, explore, and in general renovate him to gain knowledge of the prehistoric era. Needless to say, things go awry and Trog eventually runs amok--but not before we are treated to endless images of Crawford with blonde hair and expensive, if extremely dated and very matronly, clothes.
Say what you like about Crawford, but she never, ever gave any project less than one hundred and ten percent. When the script calls for her to be sweet, she's very sweet; when it calls for her to be emphatic, you feel it to the marrow of your bones; and when it calls for her to be angry, you suspect she could gouge your eyes out without turning a hair. Even so, Crawford herself was vocally displeased about the production. According to film lore, the budget for TROG was so low that her costumes came straight out of her own closet, and there was no dressing room in which she could change when shooting on location. In later interviews, Crawford said that she decided TROG would be her last film long before shooting wrapped: when you've reached a point where you have to change costumes in the back of your own car, it's time to go.
As for the film itself--The story is silly, the script is horrendous, and Trog himself is about as frightening as left over cafeteria banana pudding. When the film at last debuted, it was so savaged by critics and public alike that Crawford jokingly said she'd have been tempted to kill herself from embarrassment had she not recently become a Christian Scientist.
Now, in actual truth, TROG isn't any worse than a lot of other cheapie British horror films of the time. But the dividing line between enjoyably bad films and unenjoyable ones seems to be pace--and even though it clocks in at around ninety minutes, TROG seems to go on forever, an endless collage of bad dialogue, aggressive performances, and uninspired everything else. It's not simply bad: it's dull. Crawford did not fade immediately into the dark following the film, doing a handful of television shows before a complete and reclusive retirement about 1972, so one can't say that TROG was so awful it ended her career; all the same, it a rather inglorious conclusion to her feature film career, to say the least.
I can't really recommend TROG, not even to die hard Crawford fans or cult movie enthusiasts. More than silly, it is just plain dull. The DVD offers the film trailer, which is actually more entertaining than the film, and a so-so widescreen edition of the film itself--but in truth, this is one you're really better off catching on the late-late show.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer