LOGAN'S RUN

Logan-6 (Michael York) makes an appalling discovery

LOGAN'S RUN (1976). Director: Michael Anderson.

In the 23rd century, people live in huge domes by the sea and are only allowed to live until age thirty. At that time there occurs the ritual of the carousel, where people who have reached the deadline are either destroyed or renewed, (apparently a form of reincarnation). People who do not wish to take part in this ritual and hope to reach a ripe old age instead become "Runners" who are tracked down and killed by law officers known as "Sandmen." One of these Sandmen is Logan-5 (Michael York), who is given an assignment to trace over a thousand missing runners to a secret place known only as Sanctuary. He also learns to his horror that no one has ever been renewed, and then is technologically aged to near-death so he can masquerade as a runner. Quite understandably, Logan decides to become a runner himself, and takes off with a young woman named Jessica (Jenny Agutter), who is part of the Sanctuary network helping runners, but it's a question of what they'll find even if they manage to escape ... Logan's Run has an intriguing premise and the first half of the film is quite entertaining, but the second half (in which the story veers from the novel, which was already loosely adapted) becomes increasingly stupid and tedious, with a frankly ridiculous and almost comically simplistic finale. York [Something for Everyone] gives an excellent performance (the film is not really worthy of it) and perhaps demonstrates star charisma in this more than in any other movie. Jenny Agutter [Dominique] is also quite good as Jessica, as is Richard Jordan as another Sandman, and friend of Logan's, named Francis. Unfortunately Peter Ustinov is a little too weird as an old man our intrepid pair encounter, and Farah Fawcett-Majors is simply terrible as a nurse to a cosmetic surgeon. The surgeon, Doc, is played with flair by Michael Anderson, Jr., the son of this movie's director, in an exciting laser surgery-run-amok scene; Anderson Jr. had many credits, perhaps the most famous of which is In Search of the Castaways. The FX in the film are variable, but there are some striking shots of a deserted, half-ruined Washington, D.C.  Jerry Goldsmith has contributed his usual adept musical score. An interesting aspect of the film is that homosexuality seems completely accepted in the futuristic society, however flawed it may be in other respects. Logan's Run was, I believe, very successful, and influenced later films as much as it was influenced by earlier ones. The following year a very short-lived TV series was made from the film. NOTE: In the novel everyone must die at only 21!

Verdict: Semi-literate Hollywood "sci fi" with more than a few lively moments. **1/2.

THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE

Anderson, Stanwyck, and Wynn

THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE (1970 telefilm). Director:John Llewellyn Moxey.

Ruth Bennett (Barbara Stanwyck) and her niece Sara (Katherine or Kitty Winn) move into a country house built in the 1700's and willed to Ruth by her cousin. Ruth bonds with her neighbor, Pat (Richard Egan), while Sara makes good friends with Pat's student, Stan (Michael Anderson, Jr.). During a seance, restless spirits in the house make their presence known, and eventually begin to take over the minds of the inhabitants, especially Sara. Is she going mental, or is something supernatural going on? The viewer will be far ahead of the characters in this mediocre flick which was presented as an ABC "Movie of the Week" back in the day. At least there's an interesting cast. Stanwyck, who always gives a solid performance no matter what drivel she's in, is above the material, as expected. Winn later appeared with Al Pacino in The Panic in Needle Park and The Exorcist and its sequel; she was a very good actress and does the best she can with this material. Richard Egan was in everything from The View from Pompey's Head to Wicked Woman, and Michael Anderson Jr. was with Hayley Mills and Maurice Chevalier in In Search of the Castaways when he was a boy. The medium is played by Doreen Lang, the hysterical woman who slaps Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock's The Birds; she's only mildly hysterical in this. Mabel Albertson shows up briefly as another neighbor and a friend of Lang's. This was produced by Aaron Spelling from a screenplay by Henry Farrell [Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte].

Verdict: Stanwyck maintains her dignity in a forgettable and obvious ghost story. **.

IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS / THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT

Maurice Chevalier and Hayley Mills

THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT/aka Les Enfants du capitaine Grant, 1867. Jules Verne.

 IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS (1962). Director: Robert Stevenson.

"No matter where you are in the world, it is always different but it is always the same."

The Novel:

Jules Verne wrote Les Enfants du capitaine Grant [The Children of Captain Grant aka In Search of the Castaways], a three part novel, just before writing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Although it never became as well known as other works by the French author, it is a masterpiece, beautifully written, continuously suspenseful, and full of colorful adventures and thrills. The two young children of the missing Captain Grant are convinced that he is still alive due to a message in a bottle, and set off on the Duncan with Lord and Lady Glenarvan, who are touched by their story, to find Grant. The French geographer Paganel guides them, first to South America, and then to Australia and New Zealand. Despite all the changes in setting and solid research, the novel never becomes a dull travelogue and pulls one along from start to finish. Although two of the main characters are children, this is not juvenile fiction; in fact scenes when the group are captured by cannibalistic Maoris are not only gruesome but quite revolting. Verne not only throws multiple twists and turns at the reader, but sometimes piles danger upon danger -- the group take refuge in a tree during a flood, which catches fire, but when they try to escape into the water, a group of hungry gators come by etc. All in all, an excellent read.

The Film:

Having had a great success with an adaptation of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Walter Disney studios decided to try for another hit with Verne. 20th-Century Fox came out with Journey to the Center of the Earth and Columbia beat them to the punch with Mysterious Island (both a dreadful serial version in 1951 and an excellent feature film ten years later), so Disney turned to The Children of Captain Grant, probably attracted to its youthful protagonists and colorful storyline. Unfortunately, Disney also turned a rather brilliant adult novel (even if the emphasis is on harrowing action) into an unremarkable kiddie feature that hasn't stood the test of time at all well. The basic plot remains the same, but everything has sort of been dumbed down and anything remotely offensive to children or their parents excised, giving the whole thing a sanitized air. In the novel the characters often go through Hell but in the film it all seems like a jolly good time, even when they're careening down an icy mountain slope on a piece of cliff that has broken off during an earthquake (this scene is therefore deprived of true thrills). There is one marvelous bit of business in the movie, and that is when the flood overtakes them and they must seek refuge in an enormous tree in the middle of a formerly dry stretch of land (this, too, is taken from Verne). Although the FX in the film are variable and often outdated, in this sequence they are quite impressive. Once the story moves from South America to New Zealand, the film loses its tension (the only reference to cannibalism is a quick remark about a "stew pot").

Still, the movie is at least well-acted by Hayley Mills; little Keith Hamshere as her brother; Michael Anderson Jr,. as Glenarvan's son (not in the novel, if I recall correctly) and Mills' love interest; the ever charming Maurice Chevalier as Paganel; George Sanders as the villain of the piece (who was much more complicated and interesting in the book); Wilfrid Hyde-White as Glenarvan (his wife has been eliminated); and Wilfrid Brambell as the rather loony Bill Gaye (don't remember if he is in the book or not). Chevalier and Mills sing a couple of pleasant enough songs, including "Let's Climb." (At least the studio resisted bringing in, say, Fabian or Frankie Avalon to play a role and warble a ditty or two.)

A remake is in pre-production for 2014, so let's hope that this time they get it right. Verne and the novel deserve better. 

Verdict: The Children of Captain Grant. ****
             In Search of the Castaways **1/2.