Hellish vision of Victorian England, smoke and flame all over the place, with Hammer horror director Freddie Francis returning to the cinematographer's seat he used to occupy, and working masterfully in black-and-white as he did in The Innocents, Room at the Top, Sons and Lovers, and as few people know how anymore. The factual subject matter of the monstrously deformed John Merrick, and his promotion by Dr. Frederick Treves from sideshow freak to medical sensation and high-society celebrity, becomes a surprisingly conventional and sentimental drama, particularly to have come from underground director David (Eraserhead) Lynch. The appealing things about it are the static elements -- the charcoaly image, the monster mask worn by an unrecognizable John Hurt -- and not the grinding lessons in humanity. With Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft, Wendy Hiller. (1980) — Duncan Shepherd
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