Made in 1978.
London is in chaos. A Jumbo jet has crashed into a tower block, spewing rubble through the streets and killing hundreds. John Morlar (Richard Burton) sits in his apartment watching the Achilles 6 moon mission go disastrously wrong. During this time, he is viciously attacked and left for dead.
Inspector Brunel (Lino Ventura) – a French exchange inspector- investigates. During the investigation, Morlar begins to breathe despite the savage beating to his skull. He is rushed to hospital in an attempt to save his life. Meanwhile, Brunel visits Zonfeld (Lee Remick) – Morlar’s therapist.
As Morlar lies in a hospital bed fighting for his survival, Brunel pieces together the victim’s life (which we visit as a series of flash-backs) and discovers a disturbing trend: disaster seems to follow Morlar wherever he goes. Morlar himself believes that he actually creates the disasters - and visits Zonfeld more for confirmation than anything else. As Zonfeld says: 'most people with delusions think the world is just too much for them, Morlar believes he is too much for the world.'
‘I am the man with the power to create catastrophe’
A few cryptic notes in Morlar’s journal are all that Brunel has to go on – ‘No sign of L’ and ‘The West Face’. He sets off through rubble strewn London on a quest, not only to find Morlar’s attacker, but also to find the truth about this enigmatic man before the story draws to its terrible conclusion.
This psychological thriller is a decent film. The music jarrs the story along at a suitable pace, but one thing stands out here, and that is Burton himself. This movie allows him to use his fantastic voice at full intensity – and that makes it my personal favourite of Burton’s work. You can almost feel the insanity dripping from his words. He is probably the only man for this part – and he makes it his own, big-time. Worth watching - just to see Burton in action.
London is in chaos. A Jumbo jet has crashed into a tower block, spewing rubble through the streets and killing hundreds. John Morlar (Richard Burton) sits in his apartment watching the Achilles 6 moon mission go disastrously wrong. During this time, he is viciously attacked and left for dead.
Inspector Brunel (Lino Ventura) – a French exchange inspector- investigates. During the investigation, Morlar begins to breathe despite the savage beating to his skull. He is rushed to hospital in an attempt to save his life. Meanwhile, Brunel visits Zonfeld (Lee Remick) – Morlar’s therapist.
As Morlar lies in a hospital bed fighting for his survival, Brunel pieces together the victim’s life (which we visit as a series of flash-backs) and discovers a disturbing trend: disaster seems to follow Morlar wherever he goes. Morlar himself believes that he actually creates the disasters - and visits Zonfeld more for confirmation than anything else. As Zonfeld says: 'most people with delusions think the world is just too much for them, Morlar believes he is too much for the world.'
‘I am the man with the power to create catastrophe’
A few cryptic notes in Morlar’s journal are all that Brunel has to go on – ‘No sign of L’ and ‘The West Face’. He sets off through rubble strewn London on a quest, not only to find Morlar’s attacker, but also to find the truth about this enigmatic man before the story draws to its terrible conclusion.
This psychological thriller is a decent film. The music jarrs the story along at a suitable pace, but one thing stands out here, and that is Burton himself. This movie allows him to use his fantastic voice at full intensity – and that makes it my personal favourite of Burton’s work. You can almost feel the insanity dripping from his words. He is probably the only man for this part – and he makes it his own, big-time. Worth watching - just to see Burton in action.
