Great Britain

• Morgan!

The trouble with Morgan is that he is a nut-case. Not actually certifiable of course, but still in the opinion of his psychiatrist 'a suitable case for treatment'. His problems all stem, so Morgan himself confides in us, from his not having been conceived in the womb of an understanding female gorilla. Instead, his ever-loving Mum (Irene Handl) is a cheerful Cockney lady who runs a workman's cafe, a veteran Party member whose days off are spent with her backsliding son on pilgrimage to Karl Marx's grave in Highgate Cemetery. Morgan's own somewhat shaky belief in the inevitability of the Revolution has become inextricably confused with his more abiding private fantasies, products of the cinematic cults of King Kong and Tarzan of the Apes. When we first meet Morgan driving his ramshackle home on wheels to his wife's house in one of the more chic London suburbs, matters have come to a head consequent upon the lovely Leonie's decision to divorce him in favour of a more sensible union with a successful art dealer. After elaborate electronic and explosive booby-traps fail to break up the proposed marriage Morgan, aided by a friendly wrestler known professionally as The Gorilla (Arthur Mullard), carries off a captive Leonie to wildest Wales to effect a reconciliation. Unfortunately this too fails and Morgan, clad in a hired gorilla costume, tries to win Leonie back in one last catastrophic effort, which leads to a mad chase across London, ending on a gigantic riverside rubbish-dump. Morgan (1966) is perhaps the most successful and best-loved of the earlier feature films made by Karel Reisz, Czech-born critic, editor and director; one of the brilliant group who emerged from the Free Cinema movement of the late 'fifties, and whose later successes included Isadora, The Gambler and The Dog Soldiers. As the gangling Morgan, affectionate, despairing, ingenious and totally impossible, David Warner gives a moving and memorable performance, and a youthful Vanessa Redgrave is radiantly lovely as the pained and puzzled Leonie. JACK IBBERSON