Not sure why, but I'd never paid much attention to Robert Hartford Davies' CORRUPTION before. I watched it many, many years ago, enjoyed it somewhat, but moved on without too much contemplation.
Last night's viewing just made me angry. Cushing, good as always, plays an established surgeon who's dating (wait for it!) a selfish, twenty-something C.U.Next.Tuesday (Sue Lloyd) whose utter stupidity and lack of sensitivity ends up forcing Cushing into a physical confrontation with a smug, irritating, sleazy photographer who's decided to take salacious pix of Lloyd with Lloyd's full blessing.
During the altercation, a lighting fixture falls on top of Lloyd and gives her an almighty burn and a throughly well deserved slap to the ego. The rest of the film then follows Cushing as he –– wait for it again! –– gives up his amazing career as a surgeon so he can dedicate his life to finding a surgical "cure" for Lloyd. Yep, that's ten years of medical school and decades of hard work down the drain for this self-obsessed, twenty-something bitch who should have died an agonizing death when the light fixture hit her.
The film opens with Cushing sleeping after a hard, long day of surgery. He's interrupted by a phone call from Lloyd. Despite his insisting that he's much too tired to hit the town and attend a stupid, swinging London party filled with unbearable wankers, he relents. At the party, he's immediately insulted by Lloyd's photographer friend who wants to get into her pants, and is forced to stand around listening to some brainless, drugged-out twit while Lloyd dances and flirts with the sleazy photographer. Eventually, an impatient, justifiably pissed-off Cushing approaches Lloyd, tells her he's really tired, and suggests they leave. Of course, Lloyd couldn't give a fuck about his feelings, and shoots off again with the photographer, quickly disrobing.
Instead of dumping Lloyd right there and then, as any dignified man would, and exiting, Cushing acts like a simp and gets into the above-mentioned fight with said photographer The rest of the film hinges on Cushing's devotion to this horrible woman, and that's its big mistake amongst a litany of smaller ones.
Could the writer not have contrived the scarring of Lloyd in a more amateurish way? It's unbelievable that we're expected to give a damn about a woman whose connection to Cushing is invisible beyond Daddy issues, but all of Cushing's law-breaking and body-butchering is for her. Not once does this horrible shrew admit that the scarring was essentially her own fault, and if she had been sensitive to Daddy's tired state in the first place and not flirted with the photographer, none of this would have happened.
As much as I love Cushing, I had so little sympathy for him in this film. He comes across, per screenplay, as a pathetic cuck and simp, and any man who'd give up his career and devote his life to such a narcissitic, no-account monster is a damn fool. So the film is about a damn fool throwing his life away for a spoilt child in adult clothing. Unfortunately, this situation is often duplicated in real life with similar results, so perhaps the writer was sounding a painful warning to older men whose penises seem to forgive the sins of toxic females if they're young –– not a set-up that usually ends well, I hear.
The film has plenty of murders, but the staging is poor, the writing obvious and odious, and because of the idiotic character dynamics, I just found the situation pathetic.
After this, I needed a full-on dose of FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, a classic Cushing film with a script about fifity times better than this one.
Note to Pete: know when to kick someone to the curb, buddy!, and look up MGTOW on-line for some pointers on how not to fuck up your entire life chasing pussy.
Last night's viewing just made me angry. Cushing, good as always, plays an established surgeon who's dating (wait for it!) a selfish, twenty-something C.U.Next.Tuesday (Sue Lloyd) whose utter stupidity and lack of sensitivity ends up forcing Cushing into a physical confrontation with a smug, irritating, sleazy photographer who's decided to take salacious pix of Lloyd with Lloyd's full blessing.
During the altercation, a lighting fixture falls on top of Lloyd and gives her an almighty burn and a throughly well deserved slap to the ego. The rest of the film then follows Cushing as he –– wait for it again! –– gives up his amazing career as a surgeon so he can dedicate his life to finding a surgical "cure" for Lloyd. Yep, that's ten years of medical school and decades of hard work down the drain for this self-obsessed, twenty-something bitch who should have died an agonizing death when the light fixture hit her.
The film opens with Cushing sleeping after a hard, long day of surgery. He's interrupted by a phone call from Lloyd. Despite his insisting that he's much too tired to hit the town and attend a stupid, swinging London party filled with unbearable wankers, he relents. At the party, he's immediately insulted by Lloyd's photographer friend who wants to get into her pants, and is forced to stand around listening to some brainless, drugged-out twit while Lloyd dances and flirts with the sleazy photographer. Eventually, an impatient, justifiably pissed-off Cushing approaches Lloyd, tells her he's really tired, and suggests they leave. Of course, Lloyd couldn't give a fuck about his feelings, and shoots off again with the photographer, quickly disrobing.
Instead of dumping Lloyd right there and then, as any dignified man would, and exiting, Cushing acts like a simp and gets into the above-mentioned fight with said photographer The rest of the film hinges on Cushing's devotion to this horrible woman, and that's its big mistake amongst a litany of smaller ones.
Could the writer not have contrived the scarring of Lloyd in a more amateurish way? It's unbelievable that we're expected to give a damn about a woman whose connection to Cushing is invisible beyond Daddy issues, but all of Cushing's law-breaking and body-butchering is for her. Not once does this horrible shrew admit that the scarring was essentially her own fault, and if she had been sensitive to Daddy's tired state in the first place and not flirted with the photographer, none of this would have happened.
As much as I love Cushing, I had so little sympathy for him in this film. He comes across, per screenplay, as a pathetic cuck and simp, and any man who'd give up his career and devote his life to such a narcissitic, no-account monster is a damn fool. So the film is about a damn fool throwing his life away for a spoilt child in adult clothing. Unfortunately, this situation is often duplicated in real life with similar results, so perhaps the writer was sounding a painful warning to older men whose penises seem to forgive the sins of toxic females if they're young –– not a set-up that usually ends well, I hear.
The film has plenty of murders, but the staging is poor, the writing obvious and odious, and because of the idiotic character dynamics, I just found the situation pathetic.
After this, I needed a full-on dose of FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, a classic Cushing film with a script about fifity times better than this one.
Note to Pete: know when to kick someone to the curb, buddy!, and look up MGTOW on-line for some pointers on how not to fuck up your entire life chasing pussy.
