SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot.
With its potent mix of mysterious scientific experiments, radioactive children, portents of dystopian doom and biker gang violence, The Damned is a strange, sometimes uneven, but always compelling hybrid of science fiction and 1950s teenage gang exploitation. It is unquestionably one of the more unusual films to have emerged from the Hammer stable.
Despite misgivings about the original novel’s pulp content and science fiction theme (he had no interest in the genre), director Joseph Losey was drawn to the project by his belief that the novel spoke passionately about the irresponsible use of atomic power. Although Losey was unconvinced by the central premise, that the human organism could be radioactive and still able to survive, the finished film bears no trace of his doubts, and the tragic plight of the children is handled with moving sensitivity.
The introduction of Freya (a character not in the novel) also serves to introduce a science fiction theme, whether knowingly or not, first used by H.G. Wells in Things to Come, that of art (represented by Freya) in opposition to science (Bernard). While in Things to Come the victory of the scientist over the artist represented progress as seen through the eyes of Wells, in The Damned, as elsewhere in postwar science fiction cinema, the opposite viewpoint prevails, with the scientist’s victory, symbolised by Bernard’s shooting of Freya, is presented as regressive and ultimately responsible for humanity’s impending demise.
Ironically, considering Losey’s antipathy towards the genre, The Damned is at its strongest when it focuses on these very science fiction themes. It is weakest with the second element that attracted him to the project – the biker gang. The novel’s teenage gang subplot was retained to express Losey’s contention that the overt violence of society’s young was a corollary of the more covert violence of the Establishment. However, the director’s attempts to convey this by paralleling King and his gang with Bernard and his military subordinates feel forced and underdeveloped.
Regardless, The Damned is one of the director’s most intriguing and undervalued works, and among Hammer’s finest and most haunting productions. Not that the studio saw it in this light at the time. Aghast at the downbeat result, they shelved the film for two years before granting it a release, and only then in a cut form.
John Oliver, BFI Screenonline
THE DAMNED (aka THESE ARE THE DAMNED)
Director: Joseph Losey
©: Swallow Productions, Ltd.
A Hammer Film production
Presented by: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Executive Producer: Michael Carreras
Producer: Anthony Hinds
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Manager: Don Weeks
Assistant Director: John Peverall
Continuity: Pamela Davies
Casting: Stuart Lyons
Screenplay: Evan Jones
Based on the novel The Children of Light by: H.L. Lawrence
Director of Photography: Arthur Grant
Camera Operator: Anthony Heller
Editor: Reginald Mills
Sculpture: Frink
Wardrobe Supervisor: Molly Arbuthnot
Make-up Artist: Roy Ashton
Hair Stylist: Frieda Steiger
Music Composer: James Bernard
Musical Supervisor: John Hollingsworth
Sound Recordist: Jock May
Sound System: RCA
Sound Editor: Malcolm Cooke
Made at: Bray Film Studios
uncredited
Continuity: Tilly Day
Original Screenplay: Ben Barzman
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson
Design Consultant: Richard MacDonald
Art Director: Don Mingaye
‘Black Leather Rock’ Arranged by: Douglas Gamley
Cast
MacDonald Carey (Simon Wells)
Shirley Anne Field (Joan)
Viveca Lindfors (Freya Neilson)
Alexander Knox (Bernard)
Oliver Reed (King)
Walter Gotell (Major Holland)
Brian Oulton (Mr Dingle)
Kenneth Cope (Sid)
James Villiers (Captain Gregory)
Thomas Kempinski (Ted)
Barbara Everest (Miss Lamont)
Alan McClelland (Mr Stuart)
James Maxwell (Mr Talbot)
Rachel Clay (Victoria)
Caroline Sheldon (Elizabeth)
Rebecca Dignam (Anne)
Siobhan Taylor (Mary)
Nicolas Clay (Richard)
Kit Williams (Henry)
Christopher Witty (William)
David Palmer (George)
John Thompson (Charles)
uncredited
David Gregory, Anthony Valentine, Larry Martin, Leon Garcia, Jeremy Phillips (Teddy Boy gang members)
Edward Harvey (doctor)
Neil Wilson (guard)
Fiona Duncan (control room guard)
UK-USA 1961©
95 mins
Digital
MARTIN SCORSESE SELECTS HIDDEN GEMS OF BRITISH CINEMA
Shooting Stars
Sun 1 Sep 11:30; Mon 9 Sep 20:40
Brief Ecstasy
Tue 3 Sep 18:30; Wed 11 Sep 20:35
The Man in Grey
Fri 6 Sep 18:10; Tue 17 Sep 20:40
This Happy Breed
Fri 6 Sep 20:40; Tue 24 Sep 18:00
The Seventh Veil
Sat 7 Sep 15:10; Wed 25 Sep 20:40
Green for Danger
Sun 8 Sep 15:40; Thu 26 Sep 20:55
It Always Rains on Sunday
Sun 8 Sep 18:10; Fri 27 Sep 20:50
Hue and Cry
Sat 14 Sep 20:30; Mon 30 Sep 18:15 (+ intro by Josephine Botting, Curator, BFI National Archive)
Uncle Silas
Sat 14 Sep 18:20
Terence Fisher Double Bill: To the Public Danger + Stolen Face
Sun 15 Sep 18:10; Tue 1 Oct 20:30
Mandy
Mon 16 Sep 18:35; Sat 28 Sep 12:20
Yield to the Night
Fri 20 Sep 18:00; Sat 28 Sep 15:10
The Flesh and the Fiends
Sat 21 Sep 14:50; Wed 2 Oct 20:40
The Damned
Sat 21 Sep 20:40; Fri 4 Oct 18:30
Station Six Sahara
Sun 22 Sep 12:30; Sat 5 Oct 16:00
The Mind Benders
Sun 22 Sep 18:00; Wed 2 Oct 18:20
Went the Day Well? + intro by James Bell, Senior Curator, BFI National Archive
Mon 23 Sep 18:20
The Pumpkin Eater
Fri 27 Sep 18:00; Sun 6 Oct 15:00
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Sat 28 Sep 18:10; Thu 3 Oct 18:15 + intro by Sam Clemens, son of Brian Clemens
The Legend of Hell House
Sat 28 Sep 20:40; Mon 7 Oct 18:20
Guns at Batasi
Sun 29 Sep 18:20; Sat 5 Oct 18:20
With thanks to
Martin Scorsese and Edgar Wright
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Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
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