cult film freak: VAL GUEST DIRECTS THE DISEASE MELODRAMA '80,000 SUSPECTS'

Written by James M. Tate / 1/22/2022 / No comments / british , claire bloom , cyril cusack , disease , kim tracy , melodrama , richard johnson , sixties , val guest , vanda godsell

VAL GUEST DIRECTS THE DISEASE MELODRAMA '80,000 SUSPECTS'

1/22/2022 | No comment

Title: 80,000 SUSPECTS Director: Val Guest Year: 1963 Rating: **

Even for an epidemic drama, Val Guest's 80,000 SUSPECTS is extremely grim, starting with a busy and boisterous yet underlined melancholy British hotel New Years Eve bash where two wives of two doctors, polar opposites Claire Bloom, seemingly stalwart wife of our lead handsome doctor Richard Johnson, and drunken floozy Yolande Donlan, converse about being married to strict, aloof professionals... both husbands soon immersed in a small pox outbreak....

Given the stellar British cast also including secondary doctor Michael Goodliffe and empathetic priest Cyril Cusack, there's very little intrigue within the buildup, before the sickness has taken over the city, and, as the film balances the escalating illness with the lead couple's ironically (and soon literally) dying marriage, SUSPECTS has taken itself too seriously to grow into the kind of body-count disease thriller that, compared to the American Film Noir THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK, needed more suspense and less soapy melodrama.

Kim Tracy in 60,000 SUSPECTS

Claire Bloom in 60,000 SUSPECTS

Richard Johnson in 60,000 SUSPECTS

Yolande Donlan in 80,000 SUSPECTS

Claire Bloom in 80,000 SUSPECTS

Richard Johnson and Kim Tracy (The Girl Hunters) in 80,000 SUSPECTS

Share This Post :

Tags : british , claire bloom , cyril cusack , disease , kim tracy , melodrama , richard johnson , sixties , val guest , vanda godsell

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER