Editing Trog

{{Short description|1970 British science fiction horror film by Freddie Francis}}
{{about|the film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Trog
| image          = trog.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Original theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Freddie Francis]]
| producer       = [[Herman Cohen]]
| writer         = Peter Bryan<br />[[John Gilling]]<br />[[Aben Kandel]]
| starring       = [[Joan Crawford]]<br />[[Michael Gough]]<br />[[Bernard Kay]]
| music          = [[John Scott (composer)|John Scott]]
| cinematography = [[Desmond Dickinson]]
| editing        = [[Oswald Hafenrichter]]
| distributor    = [[Warner Bros.]]
| released       = {{Film date|1970|07||UK|1970|10|26|df=y|USA}}
| runtime        = 93 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
}}
'''''Trog''''' is a 1970 British [[Science fiction film|science fiction]] [[horror film]] directed by [[Freddie Francis]] and starring [[Joan Crawford]], [[Michael Gough]] and [[Bernard Kay]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Trog |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150044176 |access-date=23 April 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> The screenplay was by Peter Bryan, [[John Gilling]] and [[Aben Kandel]].

The film concerns the discovery of a troglodyte (or Ice Age "caveman") in twentieth-century United Kingdom. ''Trog'' marks Crawford's last movie appearance.

==Plot==
Set in contemporary Britain, the film follows Dr. Brockton, a renowned [[anthropologist]] who learns that in the caves of the countryside a lone male [[Caveman|troglodyte]] is alive and might be able to be helped and even domesticated. In the interest of science and the potential groundbreaking discovery of the [[wikt:missing link|missing link]], she gets the creature to the surface. While the rest of the townsfolk and police scatter in terror, Brockton stands steady with her tranquilizer gun and stuns the caveman into submission.

She brings him back to her lab for study, but runs into trouble as a few people oppose the presence of a "monster" in the town, especially Sam Murdock, a local businessman who is not only afraid of the negative commercial consequences but is also suspicious of a woman heading a research facility. In the meantime, the creature, given the name of "Trog", is taught by Brockton to play and share. A capacity for language is induced by a number of surgeries and a mysterious hypnotic device that causes Trog to see or relive his distant past, including clashes between various animals.

Still disturbed by Brockton's experiments, and enraged at a municipal court's decision to protect Trog, Murdock releases Trog in the middle of the night, hoping the caveman will be confronted and killed by either local residents or well-armed authorities. After being released, Trog wanders into town and kills the first three people he meets, a grocer, a butcher, and a citizen in a car, but not before he beats Murdock to death.

Trog then snatches a little girl from a playground and takes her to his cave. Dr. Brockton, the police, and army personnel soon gather at the cave's entrance. After pleading fruitlessly with the authorities to let her reason with Trog and safely retrieve the girl, Brockton suddenly acts on her own and charges down into the cave, where she finds the girl cowering in a corner. Trog initially behaves aggressively at the sight of the doctor in his refuge, but after a stern reprimand and a plea by Brockton, Trog surrenders the girl to her.

Shortly after the doctor and girl exit the cave, all of Brockton's work on behalf of science is shattered when soldiers ignite explosives before assaulting the cave. Trog is quickly wounded in a barrage of gunfire, falls, and is impaled on a [[stalagmite]]. The film ends with an on-site news reporter asking the doctor to comment on the death of the  missing link; Brockton pushes aside the reporter's microphone and slowly walks away from the scene by herself.

==Cast==
{{castlist|
* [[Joan Crawford]] as Dr. Brockton
* [[Michael Gough]] as Sam Murdock
* [[Bernard Kay]] as Inspector Greenham
* [[Kim Braden]] as Anne Brockton
* [[David Griffin (actor)|David Griffin]] as Malcolm Travers
* [[John Hamill]] as Cliff
* [[Thorley Walters]] as Magistrate
* [[Jack May]] as Dr. Selbourne
* Geoffrey Case as Bill
* [[Simon Lack]] as Lt. Colonel Vickers
* [[Chloe Franks]] as Little Girl
* Joe Cornelius as Trog
* Rachel Stephens as Child in the Park
* Maurice Good as television reporter
* [[David Warbeck]] as Alan Davis
}}

==Production==
Based on an original story by Peter Biyan and John Gilling, the film was initially developed by [[Tony Tenser]] at [[Tigon Films]], which sold the project to producer [[Herman Cohen]].<ref name="x cert">{{cite book |first=John |last=Hamilton |title=The British Independent Horror Film 1951–70 |publisher=Hemlock Books |year=2013 |pages=186–189}}</ref> In July 1968, Cohen announced he had signed a contract with Warner Bros-Seven Arts to produce ''[[Crooks and Coronets]]'' and ''Trog'', with the latter to begin filming in September.<ref>Martin, Betty (1968). "Geraldine Page Signs Pact", ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 11 July 1968: e17.</ref>

Filming was delayed for several months, until after [[Joan Crawford]] agreed to star in the production in May 1969.<ref name="LAT">Martin, Betty (1969). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Mariette Hartley to Star", ''Los Angeles Times'', 22 May 1969: e22.</ref> ''Trog'' was the second of two films that she starred in for Cohen, the first being ''[[Berserk!]]'' in 1967. It also paired her again with [[Michael Gough]], who costarred with Crawford in that earlier film. Crawford's character in the original script had been a man but Cohen rewrote it specifically for Crawford.<ref name="LAT"/>

The director Freddie Francis later commented on the benefits and challenges that he experienced working on the film:{{blockquote|''Trog'' wasn't my sort of picture. For political reasons, I'd rather not go too deeply into this. The only good thing...well, not the ''only'' good thing, but the best thing that happened on that picture was that I formed an association with Herman Cohen. He was delighted with what I did for him on ''Trog'', even though in a case like that you know you're going to take a beating no matter what you do.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Fangoria_030|magazine=Fangoria|date=October 1983|number=30|page=[https://archive.org/details/Fangoria_030/page/n18 16]|title=The British Terror of Freddie Francis}}</ref>}}

===Filming===
Crawford described ''Trog'' as "a low-budget picture", adding "I supply most of my own wardrobe."<ref>Oakes, Philip (1969). "Joan Crawford Can Still Cry on Cue", ''Los Angeles Times'', 2 September 1969: e14.</ref> Just weeks after she committed to performing in the project, the film began shooting on 30 June 1969.<ref>Weiler, A. H. (1969). "Stark to Film Sarah Bernhardt Story", ''The New York Times'', 27 May 1969: 42.</ref> The production also features actor [[David Warbeck]], who has a small role as Alan Davis.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16124/trog "Trog (1970)"], cast and crew, [[Turner Classic Movies]] (TCM), Atlanta, Georgia. Retrieved September 3, 2019.</ref>

In a 1992 interview with the horror-film fan magazine ''[[Fangoria]]'', Cohen notes that ''Trog'', which was shot at [[Bray Studios (UK)|Bray Studios]] and on location on the English [[Moorland|moors]], was more expensive to produce than ''Berserk!''<ref name="fan">{{cite magazine|magazine=Fangoria|url=https://archive.org/details/Fangoria_111_1992_Sleepwalkers_QualityControl-BONES_c2c|year=1992|title=Crime and Crimson Part Three|first=Tom|last=Weaver|page=[https://archive.org/details/Fangoria_111_1992_Sleepwalkers_QualityControl-BONES_c2c/page/n15 17]}}</ref> Cohen in that same interview also recalls the problems he had with Crawford's increased use of alcohol during filming:{{blockquote|Well, on ''Trog'', her drinking was worse than it was when we were doing ''Berserk''. I had to reprimand her a few times for drinking without asking. She had a huge frosted glass that said [[Pepsi-Cola]]—but inside was 100-proof vodka! In fact, when she arrived to do ''Berserk'' as well as ''Trog'', she arrived with four cases of 100-proof vodka, 'cause you can't get it in England.<ref name="fan"/>}}
 
The [[Stop motion|stop-motion]] dinosaur sequence in the film is [[stock footage]] originally produced by special-effects artists [[Willis O'Brien]] and [[Ray Harryhausen]] and used in the 1956 [[Warner Bros.]]  nature documentary ''[[The Animal World (film)|The Animal World]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Stop-Motion Filmography|last=Pettigrew |first=Neil |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]], Inc.|year=1999|page=40|isbn=0-7864-0446-9}}</ref> Also, according to [[Turner Classic Movies]], the "ratty ape-suit" used to create Trog's caveman appearance was a "leftover monkey outfit" from [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s epic 1968 film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16124/trog#trivia "Trog (1970)"], TCM. Retrieved September 4, 2019.</ref>

Freddie Francis later referred to ''Trog'' as "a terrible film" and as one he regretted directing:<ref name="Hammer">{{cite magazine|magazine=Hammer Horror|url=https://archive.org/details/Hammer_Horror_006_1995_Marvel|page=[https://archive.org/details/Hammer_Horror_006_1995_Marvel/page/n10 11]-12|year=1995|number=6|title=Tales from the Script|first=Christopher|last=Koetting}}</ref>{{blockquote|I did it because of Joan Crawford, and poor Joan by this time was a very sad old lady. We had to have [[Cue card|idiot cards]] all over the place because she couldn't remember her lines. It was the last thing she ever did and she shouldn’t have done it. Neither should I&nbsp;... She had no friends, and she kept writing sad letters to my wife and I {{sic}} until she died.<ref name="Hammer"/>}}

Joe Cornelius, who plays the feature's title character, provides a quite different perspective on Crawford's actions and demeanor during filming. As a professional wrestler in England, Cornelius performed in the ring for 20 years as "The Dazzler" and was chosen to portray Trog due to his physique and athletic abilities.<ref name="WatersBFI">[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xsIdokqEm4U "John Waters introduces Trog|BFI"], interview with Joe Cornelius by John Walters prior to screening of ''Trog'', published on [[YouTube]] October 28, 2015. British Film Institute (BFI), London, U.K. Retrieved September 4, 2019.</ref>

Cornelius's role provided him with numerous opportunities to observe Crawford both on and off camera. Forty-five years after the film's release, in an interview arranged and video-recorded by the [[British Film Institute]] (BFI), he shared publicly for the first time his experiences working on the production and more specifically with the veteran actress.<ref name="BFI2015">[https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/john-waters-season-bfi-southbank "John Waters season set for BFI Southbank"], program announcement, July 3, 2015, BFI website. Retrieved September 5, 2019.</ref> That interview occurred in September 2015, just prior to a screening of ''Trog'' by BFI in one of its film retrospectives. It was conducted by the American director and writer [[John Waters]], a notable promoter and creator of [[underground films|underground]] or "[[Cinema of Transgression|transgressive cult films]]", as well as a fan of many other types of low-budget, more mainstream productions like ''Trog''.<ref>Gallagher, Paul (2014). [https://dangerousminds.net/comments/shock_value_new_yorks_underground_cinema "Shock Value: New York's Underground 'Cinema of Transgression'"], ''Dangerous Minds'', September 26, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2029.</ref><ref name="JWalters">{{cite web |url=https://mubi.com/lists/john-waters-loves-these-films-so-should-you |title=John Waters Loves these films, so should you |first=Walt |last=Panorama |work=MUBI |year=2012}}</ref>

In his interview with Waters, Cornelius takes exception to reports that Crawford used "idiot cards" and was periodically drunk during filming. The former wrestler says he saw no use of such cards by her, and he described Crawford as "great" to work with, consistently on time and "lovely" on the set, as generous in giving gifts to the crew, and how for years after completing ''Trog'' she sent him a personal card every Christmas.<ref name="WatersBFI"/> While he concedes that Crawford "possibly" had vodka in her Pepsi-Cola container, he stated that he never saw her drunk or unable to perform for any reason during the film's production.<ref name="WatersBFI"/><ref>In the interview, John Waters initially corrects Joe Cornelius when he mistakenly refers to Crawford's preferred carbonated beverage Pepsi-Cola as "[[Coca-Cola]]", but Cornelius continues to say Coca-Cola for the remainder of their conversation, including in their discussions about Crawford's alleged drinking of vodka on set.</ref>

==Reception==
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "Aben Kandel's script has played down the horror to concentrate on the dramatic possibilities of the monster's humanisation. The result is a kind of horror-comic ''[[The Wild Child|L'Enfant Sauvage]]'', with Joan Crawford's lady anthropologist patiently initiating her uncouth pupil in the ways of classical music (it doesn't like jazz), clockwork toys, and finally human speech. Although credulity is tested by the fact that Trog never looks like anything but a beefy stunt man with make-up&nbsp;... the makers have taken pains to win us round by presenting all the newsmen as nasty sceptics whose agnostic mutterings ("Surely, doctor, this is all too simple") wilt before Joan Crawford's radiant cry of "Anthropology supports me".&nbsp;... It's a disappointingly lightweight addition to the horror films of Freddie Francis."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1971 |title=Trog |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305832662/8181A96021204FEDPQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=38 |issue=444 |pages=171 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>[[File:Tri-City Drive-In Ad - 23 September 1970, Loma Linda, CA.jpg|thumb|180px|A [[Drive-in theater|drive-in]] advertisement from [[Loma Linda]], California, 1970]]

Recalling his work on the film in 1992, Cohen noted that the film was completed on time, came in under budget, and was in his opinion "very successful".<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Fangoria|url=https://archive.org/details/Fangoria_111_1992_Sleepwalkers_QualityControl-BONES_c2c|year=1992|title=Crime and Crimson Part Three|first=Tom|last=Weaver|page=[https://archive.org/details/Fangoria_111_1992_Sleepwalkers_QualityControl-BONES_c2c/page/n55 57]}}</ref> Many 1970 reviews of the film, however, were not favorable. In September that year, after previewing ''Trog'', critic [[Roger Ebert]] begins his assessment of the film with a question:{{blockquote|Now what can you really say about a movie where Joan Crawford, dressed in an immaculate beige pantsuit, hunts through a cave shouting: "Trog! Here, Trog!" to her pet troglodyte? A scene like that surpasses absurdity, and so does this movie.<ref>Ebert, Roger (1970). [https://rogerebert.com/reviews/trog-1970 ''Trog!''], review originally published in the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', September 19, 1970. RogerEbert.com, Ebert Digital, Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved September 3, 2019.</ref>}}

In October 1970, only a few days after the film's nationwide release in the United States, ''[[The New York Times]]'''s review at least offers two faintly positive observations about Crawford's involvement in the low-budget production:{{blockquote|There is, however, a rudimentary virtue in "Trog"&nbsp;... in that it proves that Joan Crawford is grimly working at her craft. Unfortunately, the determined lady, who is fetching in a variety of chic pants suits and dresses, has little else going for her. As the anthropologist chief of a research center that has unearthed a living, hairy, half-caveman half-ape, Ice Age "missing link," a troglodyte she cutely nicknames 'Trog' and attempts to rear as you would a backward child, she poses no threat either to [[Margaret Mead|Dr. Margaret Mead]] or [[Benjamin Spock|Dr. Spock]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E04E4DC173BEE34BC4151DFB667838B669EDE |title=Movie Review: 'Trog' and 'Taste Blood of Dracula' |date=29 October 1970 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>}}

In the decades since its premiere, ''Trog'' has achieved a near [[Cult following|cult status]] among some movie fans, especially those who enjoy watching low-budget horror and [[Science fiction|sci-fi]] productions for their outlandish plots or for their sheer [[Camp (style)|campiness]], that a particular film is "'so bad it's good'".<ref>Erickson, Glenn. [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16124/trog#articles-reviews "Trog (1970)"], home video reviews, TCM. Retrieved September 6, 2019.</ref><ref>Lowder, J. Bryan (2013). [http://slate.com/culture/2013/04/camp-and-campy-theres-a-big-difference.html "Camp vs. Campy: There's a big difference"], ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' (New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C.), April 1, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2019.</ref> The British Film Institute in the promotion of its 2015 retrospective program on ''Trog'' provided attendees with an updated or more current take on the film's appeal:{{blockquote|One of the most ludicrous, touching, mind-boggling star vehicles ever. Joan Crawford, desperate for a job, teams up with director Freddie Francis(!) and an actor in a pitiful monkey mask for a sci-fi howler like no other.<ref name="BFI2015"/>}}
Warner Bros., the film's distributor in 1970, also chose "mind-boggling" to describe ''Trog'' during the company's "31 Days of Horror" promotion to sell copies of it in October 2015.<ref name="WarnerLibrary">[https://www.warnerbros.com/news/articles/2015/10/01/31-days-horror-vol-1/ "31 DAYS OF HORROR, VOL. 1: 20 Horror-fying Oscar Winning Actors"], news article in archives of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Los Angeles, California, October 1, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2019.</ref> In part of that promotion leading up to [[Halloween]], Warner Bros. assures "campy cult fans" they will "delight" in the film and that both the troglodyte's makeup and "Crawford's boldly colored pantsuits" are "hilariously bad".<ref name="WarnerLibrary"/>

The film is listed in [[Golden Raspberry Awards|Golden Raspberry Award]] founder John Wilson's 2005 book ''[[The Official Razzie Movie Guide]]'' as one of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=John|title=The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst |year=2005|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|isbn=0-446-69334-0}}</ref> In 2012, several years before his previously described [[British Film Institute|BFI]] interview with Joe Cornelius, [[John Waters]] recognized ''Trog'' as one of his favorite films on the streaming service [[Mubi (streaming service)|MUBI]].<ref name="JWalters"/>

The film was released as a double-bill with [[Christopher Lee|Christopher Lee's]] ''[[Taste the Blood of Dracula]]'' and after its first week in release, [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] on November 4, 1970, ranked the double-feature as the #1 top-grossing film(s) of the week, raking in $300,000.

==Releases==
The film was released theatrically in both the United States and United Kingdom by [[Warner Bros.]] in 1970.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066492/companycredits/?ref_=tt_dt_co | title=Trog (1970) - Company credits - IMDb | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref> [[Warner Home Video]] began marketing VHS copies of ''Trog'' in 1995 and in DVD format in 2007.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0066492}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=16124}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171229214647/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b902b80 ''Trog''] at the [[British Film Institute]]{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|trog}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212822/http://www.hermancohen.com/interview-attack6.html Interview, Attack of the Monster Movie Makers: Herman Cohen, Crazed Trog Goes Berzerk!]

{{Freddie Francis}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trog}}
[[Category:1970 horror films]]
[[Category:1970 films]]
[[Category:1970s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:1970s monster movies]]
[[Category:British science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:British monster movies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Freddie Francis]]
[[Category:Films scored by John Scott (composer)]]
[[Category:Films set in England]]
[[Category:Films shot at Bray Studios]]
[[Category:Films using stop-motion animation]]
[[Category:Films about cavemen]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]
[[Category:Psycho-biddy films]]
[[Category:1970 science fiction films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]