The Damned (1963 film)
Encyclopedia
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.
after divorcing
his wife and leaving his career as an insurance executive. In the town of Weymouth he meets Joan, a 20-year-old girl, who lures him into a mugging staged by her biker Teddy Boy
brother King and his gang. Wells is beaten up and robbed.
Later Joan approaches Wells on his small boat. While he is prepared to forgive and forget, she implies that he asked for it after trying to pick her up. At that moment King and his gang appear. After they threaten and taunt Wells, he sets off on his boat. As he pulls away he calls on Joan to join him which she does, defying her over-protective brother.
As they float off of the coast Joan tells Wells of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her brother whenever she gets close to other men, noting a previous time when he locked her in a cupboard. Though Wells urges her to escape with him, she decides to return to shore. Wells heads back, unaware that he is being watched by a member of King's gang.
At night Wells and Joan return to a quiet part of the mainland and make love in a cliff top house surrounded by curious sculpture
s. Caught up and surrounded by the gang, the couple escape into a nearby military
base where guards and dogs are soon in pursuit of them all.
The house was rented by sculptress Freya Neilson whose lover, Bernard, is a scientist who runs the base. He will not discuss his work, warning her that he "might be condemning her to death".
Wells and Joan make their way down the cliff face. King goes after them. There they discover a small network of caves and bunker
s occupied by a group of nine young boys and girls, all aged about 11. Although well-dressed, cared-for and educated, it is clear that they do not know much about the outside world. The children's skin is also cold at the touch.
In fact the children are confined to the bunker which is the underground part of the military base. The premises, which double as a schoolroom and living quarters, are filled with surveillance cameras. Access to the children is limited though they are occasionally visited by men in radiation suits
. Bernard gives them lessons via a TV monitor but dismisses some of their more searching questions, saying that they will learn the answers "when the time comes". The children do not even know much about where they are. One of them thinks that they are in a spaceship
and are to populate a distant planet.
The children have a small hideout in a connecting cave where they keep pictures and mementos of people they think are their parents. They believe that it is a safe and secret place but Bernard and his associates are well aware of it. Bernard, who is in his own way genuinely fond of the children, has allowed them this degree of privacy in spite of objections by the head of security, Major Holland.
Time passes and Wells, Joan and King feel increasingly unwell but Wells and Joan have promised to help the children escape and pressure King into helping them. The children keep them fed by smuggling food that they have learned to make themselves past the surveillance cameras into the hideout.
Since security has been unable to find the intruders, Bernard tells the children via the TV monitor that he knows their secret and asks that they give up the grown-ups that they are hiding there. He reminds them of a rabbit
they once acquired as a pet but which later died and warns them that the same might happen to their would-be rescuers. The children rebel and destroy the cameras.
Men in radiation suits then enter the premises but are overpowered by Wells and King. Using a Geiger counter
, Wells discovers that the children are radioactive. Nevertheless he agrees to break them out. They escape the bunker and face the world, the Sun
and flower
s for the first time. Before they can take it all in, they are rounded up and kicking and screaming, are taken back to the bunker by other men in radiation suits. Freya Neilson the sculptress, witnesses the events.
King drives off in a sports car
accompanied by Henry, one of the children. Weakened by the radioactivity, King orders Henry out of the car saying that he is "poison". Henry is then grabbed by pursuers and is forcibly taken back to the bunker in a helicopter.
Chased by another helicopter, King crashes his car into a river when confronted with a roadblock at the end of a bridge. Joan and Wells are allowed to leave on his boat but the sickness catches up with them and the boat goes round and round in the sea monitored by a helicopter, which will destroy the boat once its occupants are dead.
Bernard's only real regret about the whole affair is that "his" children now know for sure that they are "freaks" and prisoners and will be more difficult to control. He explains to Neilson that they were radioactive from birth. The plan is to release them "when the time comes", i.e. the inevitable nuclear war
. Their bodies will resist the nuclear fallout
and the human race will continue. Now that Neilson knows his secret, Bernard asks her to join him. She refuses and true to his word he kills her.
The film ends with swimmers and beach-goers enjoying the sea and sand, oblivious to the children who are desperately and vainly calling for help from their cliff side prison. These are the damned.
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.
Losey originally wanted Neilson the sculptress 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 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 Damned has been referred to as "the highpoint of the first wave of the British postwar Science Fiction films".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film starring Macdonald Carey
Macdonald Carey
Edward Macdonald Carey was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera Days of our Lives...
, Shirley Anne Field
Shirley Anne Field
Shirley Anne Field is a British actress who has performed on stage, film and television since 1955.-Early Life:...
and Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
. It was a Hammer Film
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
production directed by Joseph Losey
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
and based on H.L. Lawrence's novel The Children of Light.
Plot
Middle-aged American Simon Wells is on a boating holiday on the south coast of EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
after divorcing
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
his wife and leaving his career as an insurance executive. In the town of Weymouth he meets Joan, a 20-year-old girl, who lures him into a mugging staged by her biker Teddy Boy
Teddy Boy
The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...
brother King and his gang. Wells is beaten up and robbed.
Later Joan approaches Wells on his small boat. While he is prepared to forgive and forget, she implies that he asked for it after trying to pick her up. At that moment King and his gang appear. After they threaten and taunt Wells, he sets off on his boat. As he pulls away he calls on Joan to join him which she does, defying her over-protective brother.
As they float off of the coast Joan tells Wells of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her brother whenever she gets close to other men, noting a previous time when he locked her in a cupboard. Though Wells urges her to escape with him, she decides to return to shore. Wells heads back, unaware that he is being watched by a member of King's gang.
At night Wells and Joan return to a quiet part of the mainland and make love in a cliff top house surrounded by curious sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s. Caught up and surrounded by the gang, the couple escape into a nearby military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
base where guards and dogs are soon in pursuit of them all.
The house was rented by sculptress Freya Neilson whose lover, Bernard, is a scientist who runs the base. He will not discuss his work, warning her that he "might be condemning her to death".
Wells and Joan make their way down the cliff face. King goes after them. There they discover a small network of caves and bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
s occupied by a group of nine young boys and girls, all aged about 11. Although well-dressed, cared-for and educated, it is clear that they do not know much about the outside world. The children's skin is also cold at the touch.
In fact the children are confined to the bunker which is the underground part of the military base. The premises, which double as a schoolroom and living quarters, are filled with surveillance cameras. Access to the children is limited though they are occasionally visited by men in radiation suits
Hazmat suit
A hazmat suit is a garment worn as protection from hazardous materials or substances. A hazmat suit is generally combined with breathing apparatus for protection and may be used by firefighters, emergency personnel responding to toxic spills, researchers, specialists cleaning up contaminated...
. Bernard gives them lessons via a TV monitor but dismisses some of their more searching questions, saying that they will learn the answers "when the time comes". The children do not even know much about where they are. One of them thinks that they are in a spaceship
Generation ship
A generation ship is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than the speed of light...
and are to populate a distant planet.
The children have a small hideout in a connecting cave where they keep pictures and mementos of people they think are their parents. They believe that it is a safe and secret place but Bernard and his associates are well aware of it. Bernard, who is in his own way genuinely fond of the children, has allowed them this degree of privacy in spite of objections by the head of security, Major Holland.
Time passes and Wells, Joan and King feel increasingly unwell but Wells and Joan have promised to help the children escape and pressure King into helping them. The children keep them fed by smuggling food that they have learned to make themselves past the surveillance cameras into the hideout.
Since security has been unable to find the intruders, Bernard tells the children via the TV monitor that he knows their secret and asks that they give up the grown-ups that they are hiding there. He reminds them of a rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
they once acquired as a pet but which later died and warns them that the same might happen to their would-be rescuers. The children rebel and destroy the cameras.
Men in radiation suits then enter the premises but are overpowered by Wells and King. Using a Geiger counter
Geiger counter
A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger–Müller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation. They detect the emission of nuclear radiation: alpha particles, beta particles or gamma rays. A Geiger counter detects radiation by ionization produced in a low-pressure gas in a...
, Wells discovers that the children are radioactive. Nevertheless he agrees to break them out. They escape the bunker and face the world, the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s for the first time. Before they can take it all in, they are rounded up and kicking and screaming, are taken back to the bunker by other men in radiation suits. Freya Neilson the sculptress, witnesses the events.
King drives off in a sports car
Sports car
A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
accompanied by Henry, one of the children. Weakened by the radioactivity, King orders Henry out of the car saying that he is "poison". Henry is then grabbed by pursuers and is forcibly taken back to the bunker in a helicopter.
Chased by another helicopter, King crashes his car into a river when confronted with a roadblock at the end of a bridge. Joan and Wells are allowed to leave on his boat but the sickness catches up with them and the boat goes round and round in the sea monitored by a helicopter, which will destroy the boat once its occupants are dead.
Bernard's only real regret about the whole affair is that "his" children now know for sure that they are "freaks" and prisoners and will be more difficult to control. He explains to Neilson that they were radioactive from birth. The plan is to release them "when the time comes", i.e. the inevitable nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
. Their bodies will resist the nuclear fallout
Nuclear fallout
Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...
and the human race will continue. Now that Neilson knows his secret, Bernard asks her to join him. She refuses and true to his word he kills her.
The film ends with swimmers and beach-goers enjoying the sea and sand, oblivious to the children who are desperately and vainly calling for help from their cliff side prison. These are the damned.
Production and Release
American director Joseph LoseyJoseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
had moved to Britain after being blacklisted by Hollywood
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
. The film was produced by Hammer, which had enjoyed great success with such science fiction/horror films as The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment
The Quatermass Xperiment is a 1955 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions, it was based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by Nigel Kneale. It was directed by Val Guest and stars Brian Donlevy as the eponymous Professor Bernard...
and The Curse of Frankenstein.
Losey originally wanted Neilson the sculptress 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 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 Damned has been referred to as "the highpoint of the first wave of the British postwar Science Fiction films".
Cast
- Macdonald CareyMacdonald CareyEdward Macdonald Carey was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera Days of our Lives...
.... Simon Wells - Shirley Anne FieldShirley Anne FieldShirley Anne Field is a British actress who has performed on stage, film and television since 1955.-Early Life:...
.... Joan - Viveca LindforsViveca LindforsElsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors , better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.-Life and career:...
.... Freya Neilson - Alexander KnoxAlexander KnoxAlexander Knox was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century.-Biography:...
.... Bernard - Oliver ReedOliver ReedOliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
.... King - Walter GotellWalter GotellWalter Gotell was a German actor, known for his role as General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the James Bond film series.Gotell was born in Bonn, Germany; his family emigrated to the United Kingdom after the Nazis came to power...
.... Major Holland - James VilliersJames VilliersJames Michael Hyde Villiers was a British character actor and a familiar face on British television...
.... Captain Gregory - Tom KempinskiTom KempinskiTom Kempinski is an English playwright and actor. He is best known for his 1980 play Duet for One, which was a major success in London and New York and which has been much revived since. Kempinski also wrote the screenplay for the movie version of Duet for One...
.... Ted - Kenneth CopeKenneth CopeKenneth Cope is an English actor. He is most famous for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk , Jed Stone in Coronation Street and Ray Hilton in Brookside.- Career :...
.... Sid - Brian OultonBrian OultonBrian Oulton was an English character actor.Born in Liverpool, he made his acting debut in 1939 as a lead actor...
.... Mr. Dingle - Barbara EverestBarbara EverestBarbara Everest was a British film actress. She was born in Southfields, Surrey, and made her screen debut in the 1916 film The Man Without a Soul.-Selected filmography:* A Romance of Old Baghdad...
.... Miss Lamont - James MaxwellJames Maxwell (actor)James Maxwell was an American actor, theatre director and writer, particularly associated with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.-Early life:...
.... Mr. Talbot - Nicholas ClayNicholas ClayNicholas Anthony Phillip Clay was an English actor.-Early life:Born in Streatham London, to Bill and Rose Clay, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began his acting career in the early 1970s with small parts in film and television.-Career:Clay also appeared in several West End...
.... 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
External links
- "Nefarious Doings in a World of Sunlit Decay" by Dave KehrDave KehrDave Kehr is an American film critic. A critic at the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune for many years, he writes a weekly column for The New York Times on DVD releases, in addition to contributing occasional pieces on individual films or filmmakers.-Early life and education:Dave Kehr did...
, a review in The New York Times, 02-04-2010.