Trog (1970)

User Rating:

2.9/10   

Director:

Freddie Francis

Writers:

Peter Bryan (story)
John Gilling (story)

Release Date:

24 October 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror

Tagline:

From a million years back...Horror explodes into today!

Plot:

A sympathetic anthropologists uses drugs and surgery to try to communicate with a primitive troglodyte who is found living in a local cave.

Plot Keywords:

Troglodyte | Anthropologist | Missing Link | Land Developer | Rampage

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Dr. Brockton
Michael Gough	...	Sam Murdock
Bernard Kay	...	Inspector Greenham
Kim Braden	...	Anne Brockton
David Griffin	...	Malcolm Travers
John Hamill	...	Cliff
Thorley Walters	...	Magistrate
Jack May	...	Dr. Selbourne
Geoffrey Case	...	Bill
Robert Hutton	...	Dr. Richard Warren
Simon Lack	...	Colonel Vickers
David Warbeck	...	Alan Davis
Chloe Franks	...	Little Girl
Maurice Good	...	Reporter
Joe Cornelius	...	Trog

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Australia:M | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Herman Cohen Productions

Trivia:

After seeing this film, Joan Crawford supposedly joked that if it hadn't been for her end-of-life conversion to Christian Science, she might have committed suicide due to her embarrassment at having been in it.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Bill emerges from the underground pool he is not wet.

Quotes:

Dr. Brockton: Trog!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: Berserk!/Trog (#1.23)" (2007)

Drunk?!?

People sure do make a big deal out of Joan Crawford being drunk, especially in dreck like this. I guess it would be surprising to learn that she was completely smashed during the filming of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane," but let's forget that. It was a decent movie. My point here is that most of these reviews slam the star for being tipsy. If you were making "Trog" you'd want to be as incoherent as possible! Second, Joan doesn't mangle her lines. They come out oddly, but they aren't mangled. It wasn't like Joan Crawford to mess up, at least not in public. The main problem with the lines is their utter idiocy.

My first big problem with the movie wasn't the horrible sets. It wasn't even Trog, who couldn't even get makeup from the waist down. Brockton Research Centre is run by Dr. Brockton, who just happens to be Joan Crawford. Here's my big problem. Of all the actresses (drunken or not) in all the world, why in the heck would someone pick Joan Crawford to play an anthropologist? Does she even know what one is? Hearing her discuss Neanderthals makes me shudder. I don't know anything about Neanderthals, and I don't think Joan can teach me a darn thing about them either. "Conceivably, Trog was frozen solid" etc. etc. etc. What?!? I simply cannot believe Joan would waste her breath talking about cavemen. It's wrong. Even more incredible, she has earned a research center with her name all over it! What did she do to get that? Paint the sign herself? I'm slamming Joan myself now, but still. This is weird casting.

As for the acting in the movie (this is a movie, not a film), Joan did better than the movie deserved. That was something she had a gift for. Giving more than she got. She didn't get anything with this one, but she still gave it her all. That causes people to snicker and laugh, saying "Joan must be stupid to think this movie merits all this." No, the movie doesn't, but Joan's mind needed the knowledge that she always did (and looked her best). We may laugh when she gets overly attached to what looks like a wrestler being attacked by a monkey, but we should give her some credit for trying. That's why I think that one moment at the end of the film is quite good. She refuses a newsman's microphone, and you can almost forget how awful this movie is when you see the weariness on her face.