These Are the Damned (1963) (Hammer Films)

These Are the Damned (1963) (Hammer Films)
"The Damned" (original title)
87 min  -  Drama | Fantasy | Horror  -  7 July 1965 (USA)


Director:
Joseph Losey
Writers:
Evan Jones (screenplay), H.L. Lawrence (novel)
Stars:
Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors
B/W

An American tourist, a youth gang leader, and his troubled sister find themselves trapped in a top secret government facility experimenting on children.  The Damned is a 1963 British science fiction film starring Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field and Oliver Reed. It was a Hammer Film production directed by Joseph Losey and based on H.L. Lawrence's novel The Children of Light.

American director Joseph Losey had moved to Britain after being blacklisted by Hollywood. The film was produced by Hammer, which had enjoyed great success with such science fiction/horror films as The Quatermass Xperiment and The Curse of Frankenstein.

A script was originally written by Ben Barzman which was reasonably faithful to the original novel. Losey then had this rewritten by Evan Jones two weeks prior to filming.

Losey originally wanted Neilson the sculptor to be killed by one of the helicopters, but the studio insisted that Bernard kill her personally. The studio also wished to tone down the incestuous references between King and Joan.

The film was made in May–June 1961 but, due perhaps to political considerations, was not released in Britain until 1963. Even then it was subject to several cuts, from 96 to 87 minutes in Britain and 77 minutes in America where it was released as These Are the Damned in 1965. A complete print was released in arthouse cinemas in 2007. On 15 January 2010, it was released on DVD as part of the Icons of Suspense Collection from Hammer Films.

The movie went over budget by ₤25,000.

The Damned has been referred to as "the highpoint of the first wave of the British postwar Science Fiction films".


Cast

    Macdonald Carey .... Simon Wells
    Shirley Anne Field .... Joan
    Viveca Lindfors .... Freya Neilson
    Alexander Knox .... Bernard
    Oliver Reed .... King
    Walter Gotell .... Major Holland
    James Villiers .... Captain Gregory
    Tom Kempinski .... Ted
    Kenneth Cope .... Sid
    Brian Oulton .... Mr. Dingle
    Barbara Everest .... Miss Lamont
    James Maxwell .... Mr. Talbot
    Nicholas Clay .... Richard

The children

    Kit Williams .... Henry
    Rachel Clay .... Victoria
    Caroline Sheldon .... Elizabeth
    David Palmer .... George
    John Thompson .... Charles
    Christopher Witty .... William
    Rebecca Dignam .... Anne
    Siobhan Taylor .... Mary


These Are the Damned (1963) (Hammer Films) LINK

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