La nuit des alligators

Review of The Penthouse 1967. Crocodiles Live in the Sewer! This movie is about crocodiles but it is a talkie. One reviewer put it: 'crocodiles can live buried in the hardened mud for two years'. This movie introduces the twist that crocodiles can live in the sewer. Some captivating dialogue. No action. Ratings: Crocodile: 8; Black Monolith with apes: 0; Monkeys on a typewriter: 0.

ADDENDUM: The "Alligator Monologue" terror scene is available at COMPETITOR. OOGA BOOGAl!

At about minute 40, the home invader runs out of material to terrorize the bound human female. Like a Medicine Ape Storyteller of old, his mind grabs for a preposterous premise ..."and crocodiles live in the sewer." Which is actually a terrifying thought to those who live above said infested sewers. And to those 40 stories up in The Penthouse, apparently. Or, the human male home invader ran out of material in his said pea-brain and chose to extrapolate and enrich the "crocodiles live in sewers" bit as his next piece de resistance for the purposes of terrifying The Penthouse female for another 30 minutes? Great material for some of us thirsting for new ideas about crocs. But bad theory generally.

This movie has been added to the "Some Humans Are Wily"/"Hostage Narrative" Genre Category.

This one of a number of movies that were popular in the 60's and 70's (i.e. "Cape Fear", "Kitten with a Whip", "Lady in a Cage", "Wait Until Dark", "Straw Dogs", "Death Game")where complacent middle-class people find their comfortable lifestyles (and often their very lives) threatened by lower-class cretins, who rather being after just the usual things (money, sex), almost seem to have been sent as divine messengers to punish them for their sins. In this particularly nasty example a married, middle-age business man is in his isolated luxury penthouse with his young mistress when the two are attacked by a trio of crazed and seemingly motiveless characters calling themselves "Tom", "Dick", and "Harry" (the latter is a woman brilliantly played by ex-Bond girl Martine Beswick). The criminals soon expose both the immoral lifestyle of the couple and the cracks in their shallow relationship of convenience.

The movie is every bit as sleazy as the more notorious "Straw Dogs" (and it shows what you can get away with in Britain and America if you only adopt the proper moralistic tone). The two men take turns raping Kendall, but a la "Straw Dogs" her rape is portrayed more as a humiliation of her boyfriend than of her as she gets drunk and develops the most rapid case of Stockholm Syndrome in history and thus may be an at least somewhat willing participant.

The movie was no doubt based on a stage play--it has a very limited set and excessive amount of dialogue--and the stageiness gets a little annoying at times. Still it is one of the more interesting films of director Pete Collinson ("Straight on Until Morning", "Fright") who was the three Pete's of British genre cinema (the other two being Pete Walker and Pete Sasdy). Oh yeah, and it has some very uncharacteristic (if pretty tame)nude scenes from Suzie Kendall. Not a bad to kill way an hour and a half overall.

Nasty, gripping, home invasion flick, directed by Peter Collinson who was always able to tell a tight, no nonsense tale. Known, I suppose for The Italian Job, although I prefer his, Straight On Till Morning, he had a background in TV and broke out with this film. Its a bit stylised with Pinteresque dialogue that seems to get in the way of the action at first. Gradually though these oafish clowns become far too sinister to dismiss and this really doesn't let up till the end, which isn't the end because we still have Martine Beswick to look forward to. Suzy Kendall had a mixed career, including several giallo, notably Bird With the Crystal Plumage and was apparently a 'guest screamer' in the recent, Berberian Sound Studio. Here she is majestic. It cannot have been an easy role but she does everything right as she veers from fear to seduction and rape aftermath. She looks fantastic throughout but even she is outshone when Beswick finally appears. An interesting actress, always referred to as 'the Bond girl' for her roles in From Russia With Love and Thunderball but I always think of her for Dr, Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Prehistoric Women and A Bullet For The General. Always good and in The Penthouse, she is at her very best. Not a pleasant watch and nobody comes out of this well but one of a kind and two great female performances.

This is the only movie I regret not having got up and walked out! Although it is some 30 years since I had the misfortune of seeing this film in the cinema, I have never forgotten what a thoroughly unpleasant experience it was -- with unlikeable characters and stupidly unbelievable circumstances. I can forgive all sorts of things in a film if there is at least one redeeming quality, but you can look in vain for it here. I am amazed that its rating is as high as it is since I would have given it a minus rating were this possible.

If Peter Collinson's intention when writing and directing this film was to present the most bizarre characters imaginable, then he has succeeded admirably. If, however, he was trying to make a serious thriller with genuine excitement, realistic situations and a meaningful underlying moral subtext, then he has failed utterly.

The story has married estate agent Bruce Victor (Terence Morgan) and his secret lover Barbara Willason (Suzy Kendall) shacking up in a penthouse suite in an unfinished tower block. A pair of knife-wielding hoodlums turn up, posing as meter readers, and proceed to hold the adulterous lovers at knifepoint. Bruce is tied up and forced to look on as the lecherous intruders get Barbara well-and-truly drunk and then degrade her for their entertainment.

The film is based on a stage play, and it comes across - unsurprisingly - as a very stagy, talky affair. This is not necessarily a weakness (films like Sleuth, made five years after this, proved that stagy and talky films can actually be very good). However, The Penthouse is not only stagy and talky - it is very unpleasant too. The characters are awfully hard to like and their predicaments are extremely difficult to care about. Director Collinson frequently demonstrated a fascination with violence and aggression during his career, and this is a perfect vehicle for his favourite two themes. Collinson also had a fondness for stylistic flourishes in his movies, but here his outlandish camera angles and visual/aural tricks seem merely self-indulgent and meaningless. For the first twenty minutes, the film's surreal style is oddly enjoyable, but it pretty soon becomes wearisome. On the whole, The Penthouse is a failure and the fact that it is rarely-seen ought to be viewed as a blessing in disguise!