Mr. Forbush and the Penguins

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.

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.

Like so many good films, this one is obscure, brought out of "hiding" perhaps by the popularity of other penguin movies. The wildlife footage in this film is amazing and wonderful, taking the viewer directly into the Antarctic. It also has a nice British-humor edge to it. Get past the slow beginning and you will discover a good love story between two people as well as between animal and human. I watched this to see what Halley Mills looked like when she was older and got a nice surprise; I couldn't take my eyes off John Hurt, not only because of good looks but his superb acting and the interesting character he played. I wanted the film to go on much longer and I believe it could have been improved by at least 5 minutes more. The penguins, his interaction with them, as well as his believability in that role, were amazing.

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.

Look at the cast and crew list and you will see this is a film of the highest pedigree. Sometimes you get the impression that there are several films happening here and the multiplicity of directors may be a clue to the reason of this.

The title may confuse, but yes they are real penguins!

I suspect that this is one of those films that gave the deskbound money men at the studio many nightmares.