Mr. Forbush and the Penguins

This extraordinary film was originally released under the name of MR. FORBUSH AND THE PENGUINS, which was the title of the book upon which it was based, written by Graham Billing. (Yes, Graham was Billing but not, one presumes, also cooing.) Forbush was the name given to the main character, played by John Hurt in the film. Now, this film has a strange history. The core of the story involves Forbush going to live in Antarctica to study scientifically and help save the penguins. And the penguins are the main characters in the story, one might justly say. This part of the film was actually shot on location in Antarctica, and it contains some of the best natural history footage of penguins ever recorded. The penguins wobble on the ground and are constantly attacked by some vicious birds from above called skuas. Forbush lives alone in a hut, visited from time to time by people bringing him supplies. He fights a war against the birds from the sky in order to try to save his precious penguins. John Hurt is really in his element here, as he lovingly portrays Forbush becoming more and more eccentric as his isolation is prolonged. But making a film in Antarctica was not enough for the box office. There had to be a back story set in London, a London still 'swinging', even though the sixties had ended a year before. John Hurt had to play a completely different Forbush in these sections, that of a skirt-chasing and flippant young man on the make. The two Forbushes did not really fit together very well, but never mind. The film was made by British Lion, which at that time was run by the twins known as the Boulting Brothers. They cast an actress as a girl friend of Forbush in London, but decided those scenes didn't work and she was not right. So they decided to choose a more suitable actress and reshoot the London scenes, which they did. This time Roy Boulting said to his young wife Hayley Mills he wanted her to be the girl. She was somewhat taken aback because she was at that time doing a London play. But the plan went ahead. Although the scenes were better this time, in my opinion and that of many others, the two halves of the film still did not come together sufficiently, so that one could say that the project was somehow misconceived. Though what one could or should have done is unclear. The South Pole and London are, after all, somewhat different, however much they may both manifest magnetic qualities. At this point, in the interest of 'openness and transparency' as the politicians say, I must state that I was a close friend of John Hurt from 1967 until his death. My wife and I were close friends of Judy Campbell, who appears briefly in the film as Forbush's mother. And we are also close friends of Hayley Mills. I shall betray only one confidence: Hayley told me recently that John had said to her that he absolutely hated the penguins and was inclined to side with the savage birds who attacked them. Now that the film can no longer be financially damaged by this strange fact leaking out, it is presumably safe to reveal it. In other words, despite his totally convincing performance, John was not at all in sympathy with Forbush. This strange amalgam of a film is worth seeing by anyone interested in penguins, that's for sure. And it is also entertaining. And then there are both John and Hayley to look at, which is always a joy.

The director was sacked, the leading lady was sacked and the film was held back from a US release for 10 years. Food for thought perhaps, before devoting time to seeing this (relatively) early John Hurt vehicle. He plays a self-absorbed biology student sent for an extended solo research project on penguins in the Antarctic. It's really not spoiling to add that at the conclusion of the exercise, he returns to his London home, a changed man.

Even though the penguin footage is some 50 years old, most viewers will still enjoy, perhaps even marvel at the birds' varied and comical behaviour at their rookery. They are eternally fascinating creatures and here we see them both at play and in a battle to survive (in some respects) with the large skua-gulls, which tend to prey on penguin eggs and hatchlings.

The trouble with the film is the awkward framing template cobbled together to give Mr Forbush a back story. Make no mistake, Richard Forbush is very much a fictitious character based on no one, certainly no scientist. As a university student, the last thing that appears to be on his mind, is his studies. Instead we see him primarily engaged in the hapless pursuit of the Hayley Mills character, Tara St John Luke (if you don't mind). This is a complete nothing role for the very capable Mills, who was brought in by her producer husband Roy Boulting, who sacked the previous leading lady, after she'd virtually completed the part. We get multiple scenes of Tara sitting in a London flat with her current boy friend, listening to tapes sent to her by Forbush ... as you do. Whoa! Be still my beating heart! While he was at it, Boulting decided to sack director Al Viola and replace him, with himself. Go figure!

Hurt does his best, with what for much of the movie is a pretty unsympathetic, unrealistic part. Don't even begin to think he plays a David Attenborough or Jane Goodall type scientist. No, he's of the vintage that manage to build (albeit cleverly) a Roman ballista, in the Antarctic, to attack the poor old gulls, who after all, are just out for a feed too.

The more successful movies of this type (E.G. Gorillas in the Mist, Born Free, Never Cry Wolf) are usually based to some extent on real scientists' lives and experiences, which serve as natural framing devices to accompany the animal content. In this film the very lame human's story pales in dramatic comparison to the birds' real life adventures and the whole movie is hobbled permanently as a result.

Alfred Viola, not everyone may know this, was a major American commercial director for several decades. If you watched television in the US for any amount of time in the last 30+ years you have assuredly seen some of his work. Keeping in mind that this film is the first feature by a commercial director, you will see the technical efficiency and streamlined storytelling of a VERY experienced filmmaker at work here. The backstory behind this production is that the studio performed some major hacking on the original Alfred Viola cut and brought in a new director to shoot a tacked-on slapstick opening, and the film suffers from this quite a bit. The first 10 minutes of the film lack style and indeed cohesion of any kind, but once we reach the glacier and John Hurt is left alone with his penguins, it is like a breath of fresh air. This is a beautiful piece of cinema history and although the DVD transfer is of extremely low quality, it is good to know that this piece has not been lost forever. A wonderful forgotten film of the 1970s.

According to Bryan Forbes' autobiography as well as David Nathan's biography of John Hurt, the story behind this film is as interesting as the film itself.

When the producers saw the finished material, it was decided that the opening in London should be completely re-shot, with a different director - Roy Boulting instead of Alfred Viola - and a different leading lady - Hayley Mills (Boulting's wife at the time), instead of an unnamed RADA actress who reportedly did not photograph well. According to Boulting, the reason was that "It presented a ridiculous picture of a character who lived in a swinging London that never ever existed and who was totally artificial, totally unreal and totally unsympathetic." Even though Hurt seems to have agreed at least in part, he was very unhappy about the prospect - understandably so, after the ordeal of the long and difficult location shooting in the Antarctica. Producer Bryan Forbes persuaded him not to quit.

Hurt's feelings about the animals were quite different from his character's. "The penguins were a real pain in the arse. They have all the faults of the human race without the redeeming gift of occasional intelligence. I preferred the predators, greatly admired the skuas. They farm the penguins, taking only a certain percentage of the eggs. The other skuas fish and battle for existence on the mountains in extreme conditions. If you killed off the predators the penguin colonies would become so huge they would probably become extinct. That would be a bad thing for the skuas. There's only one good thing to say about penguins and that is that they taste delicious - fishy, but nice." The film team actually had a few penguins for dinner - with HP sauce.

Several years later, Richard Burton happened to see this film, and it motivated him to suggest Hurt for 1984.

I enjoyed the film more than I expected. I am not a sentimental animal lover, and for scientific subjects, I prefer to watch a documentary or read a book. What I enjoyed about this film is Hurt's tour de force performance, the great location footage (by Arne Sucksdorff), but also the humour and style of the opening (as a fan of British swinging sixties films in general). The machine Forbush builds for his futile fight against the skuas reminded me of the Acme contraptions in the COYOTE AND ROADRUNNER cartoons.

I find it interesting that - probably male - commentators write that Hurt is not convincing as a ladies' man. Judging from the number of - probably female - commentators who fell in love with him in this film (and others such as IN SEARCH OF GREGORY), Hurt's quirky sex appeal seems to have been underused. Pity, but typical, because most of the decision makers in the industry are male.

I have only recently come across this film, and John Hurt is super. He is "Forbush", a rather rakish biology student who is coasting through life until his professor (Tony Britton) nominates him for a gig counting penguins - in Antarctica! Meantime, he has been bothering local barmaid "Tara" (Hayley Mills) who isn't really interested in him, and is frankly quite delighted when he announces his imminent project. He duly arrives, settles into Shackleton's hut and waits, and waits, and waits - no penguins! Then they arrive, slowly but surely and, despite himself, his interest is tweaked. He has to count them, weight them and generally monitor them and their behaviour. As winter sets in, they start to lay their eggs and incubate them from the extreme storms that very nearly do for him, too! As the chicks arrive and the skua's begin to raid, he becomes even more protective of his several thousand charges - and devises one hell of a catapult to exact his revenge. It's a bit of a slow starter, this, but once he is in situ, the story appealed to me. He has quite a few Eureka moments that vindicate the approach taken by his professor at the start - to help him grow up and develop a sense of purpose. The photography is fun - especially of the penguins milling about, and I really did quite enjoy Hurt's performance here. Well worth a watch, I'd say.