Berserk!

Infobox Film
name = Berserk!


caption = Original theatrical poster
director = Jim O'Connolly
producer = Herman Cohen
Aben Kandel
writer = Herman Cohen
starring = Joan Crawford
Ty Hardin
Judy Geeson
music = John Scott
cinematography = Desmond Dickinson
editing = Raymond Poulton
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = September 1967
runtime = 96 min.
country = flagicon|UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:4894
imdb_id = 0061398

"Berserk!" (1967) is a feature film starring Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, and Judy Geeson in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a circus plagued with murders. The screenplay was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel, and the film directed by Jim O'Connolly. "Berserk!" marks Crawford's penultimate big-screen appearance.

Plot and cast

Monica Rivers (Crawford) is the owner and ringmaster of a traveling circus where mysterious murders occur. After her tightrope walker (Thomas Cimarro) is killed, she hires high-wire walker Frank Hawkins (Hardin), and begins an affair with the muscular and handsome young man which arouses the jealousy of her previous lover Durando (Michael Gough). When Durando is found dead, the other performers begin to suspect Monica of the killings. Monica's unruly, sixteen-year-old daughter Angela (Geeson), is expelled from school and joins the circus as the partner of knife-thrower Gustavo (Peter Burton). Meanwhile, the deaths continue. An investigation reveals Angela Rivers is the killer. She has hated her mother for years as a result being ignored and has been "removing" those who take up her mother's time. At the end, she attempts to murder her mother, too, but is killed by lightning during a storm. Cast includes Diana Dors as Matilda, Robert Hardy, Geoffrey Keen, and Sydney Tafler.

Reception

Frank Leyendecker in "Greater Amusements" wrote, "Joan Crawford gives authority and extreme conviction to the colorful role of a circus owner and ringmaster...she consistently rises above the highly melodramatic, yet exploitable, material."

Lawrence Quirk wrote in "Hollywood Screen Parade", " [Crawford] is all over the picture, radiant, forceful, authoritative, a genuine movie star whose appeal never diminishes." [Quirk, Lawrence J.. "The Films of Joan Crawford". The Citadel Press, 1968.]

ee also

* Joan Crawford filmography

References

External links

* [http://www.hermancohen.com/stills-berserk.html "Berserk!" Movie Stills]
* [http://www.hermancohen.com/interview-attack6.html Interview, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers: Herman Cohen, Crazed Trog Goes Berzerk!]

Navbox
name = Joan Crawford
title = The 1940-1970 Films of Miss Joan Crawford
group1 = 1940-1949
list1 = nowrap| "Strange Cargo" (1940) • nowrap| "Susan and God" (1940) • nowrap| "A Woman's Face" (1941) • nowrap| "When Ladies Meet" (1941) • nowrap| "They All Kissed the Bride" (1942) • nowrap| "Reunion in France" (1942) • nowrap| "Above Suspicion" (1943) • nowrap| "Hollywood Canteen" (1944) • nowrap| "Mildred Pierce" (1945) • nowrap| "Humoresque" (1946) • nowrap| "Possessed" (1947) • nowrap| "Daisy Kenyon" (1947) • nowrap| "Flamingo Road" (1949) • nowrap| "It's a Great Feeling" (1949)
name = Joan Crawford
title = The 1940-1970 Films of Miss Joan Crawford
group2 = 1950-1959
list2 = nowrap| "The Damned Don't Cry!" (1950) • nowrap| "Harriet Craig" (1950) • nowrap| "Goodbye, My Fancy" (1951) • nowrap| "This Woman is Dangerous" (1952) • nowrap| "Sudden Fear" (1952) • nowrap| "Torch Song" (1953) • nowrap| "Johnny Guitar" (1954) • nowrap| "Female on the Beach" (1955) • nowrap| "Queen Bee" (1955) • nowrap| "Autumn Leaves" (1956) • nowrap| "The Story of Esther Costello" (1957) • nowrap| "The Best of Everything" (1959)
name = Joan Crawford
title = The 1940-1970 Films of Miss Joan Crawford
group3 = 1960-1969
list3 = nowrap| "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) • nowrap| "The Caretakers" (1963) • nowrap| "Strait-Jacket" (1964) • nowrap| "I Saw What You Did" (1965) • nowrap| "Berserk!" (1967)
group4 = 1970
list4 = nowrap| "Trog" (1970)