Corruption (originally released in 1968)- Film Review 17/09/07

** Warning - This review contains plot spoilers**

Peter Cushing stars as an eminent plastic surgeon called Sir John Rowan who is engaged to a glamouress fashion model, Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd). They are not exactly the match made in heaven because Lynn is in "the in crowd" and likes the all night parties with booze and loud music whilst Sir John is more the port, cigars and game of golf at the club type. Even though Lynn assures her friends that she is marrying him for the man inside and not for his wealth and good position, one could see the marriage ending up in divorce sooner rather than later. One night Lynn persuades Sir John to come to one of her parties which he does somewhat reluctantly. Within a short space of time, he begs for them to leave, suffering from a terrible headache but Lynn is adament on their staying. Then a groovy fashion photographer called Mike Orme (Anthony Booth) persuades her to take part in an unofficial photo shoot that Sir John is unhappy about as Orme wants some "kinky shots" as he puts it. A struggle ensues between the two men during the course of which, an arc-lamp is sent crashing down on top of Lynn badly burning her face. Dr Stephen Harris (Noel Trevarthen), a fellow plastic surgeon, tells Sir John that the damage to Lynn's face is irreparable. But Sir John cannot except this and begins months of reclusive and obsessive researches in order to find a cure for his future wife's disfigurement. He finally discovers a means of curing her by extracting the fluid from the Pituitary gland. He begins by stealing the required organ from a corpse at the mortuary. The operation proves successful and an overjoyed Sir John and Lynn hold a celebratory dinner with Dr Harris and Lynn's sister Val (Kate O' Mara). Not only has Lynn been cured but Sir John has also broken new ground in plastic surgery. But this success is only short lived as her disfigurement returns within a couple of weeks and Sir John realises that the Pituitary fluid must come from somebody living and not dead and he turns to murder to acquire the necessary raw materials. He begins by slaying a Soho prostitute and again the operation is successful but only for a short time. The film depicts how Sir John Rowan slips further and further into depravity as a reluctant Jack The Ripper type serial killer who forced by his fiancee' whom is slowly degenerating into madness to kill and kill again to preserve her beauty.

Corruption is a crude exploitation shocker with much emphasis on gory detail such as Sir John's brutal slaying of a young girl on board a train - we even get to see his amputating knife cut into her neck as he decapitates her! Then there is the subsequent discovery of the unfortunate girl's head in the fridge freezer. Corruption can be seen as a film that helped set the trend for the increasingly more explicit horror films we have had to suffer since as film censorship became more and more lax. The proceedings are rather unattractively set in swinging sixties London with hippies that now make the film seem jaded. But the wonderful Peter Cushing always gave off his best no matter how bad the movie was and here he acts the film for a lot more than its worth offering another of his interesting character studies as Sir John Rowan. The part contrasts nicely with his marvellous portrayal of Baron Frankenstein. Sir John's obsessive traits do compare to those of the Baron's setting out to do good things for mankind or in this case for his wife whereas Frankenstein was obsessed with creating "the perfect human being". But the main difference between Frankenstein and Sir John Rowan is that the Baron was prepared to do anything necessary for the sake of his life work even if it meant killing people remorselessly. But Sir John Rowan does show remorse and after awhile it is his wife who is forcing him to kill even to extent of blackmailing him by threatening to report him to the police. There is one scene in the film where Lynn Nolan persuades him to murder a young runaway teenager who is staying the night with them and he says "No I cannot, I won't, not this kid because she has her whole life in front of her". Sue Lloyd who appeared with Steve Forest in the cult ITC series, The Baron, and later in the long running UK soap opera, Crossroads, offers a good performance as Lynn and David Lodge (an extremely versatile character actor) has a hilarious turn as a hippy. Director Robert Hartford-Davies although saddled with exploitation films such as this throughout his career is regarded today (by some) as an unsung hero in the British horror wave. He was also the director of the elegant costume ghost chiller, The Black Torment, which happily was recently given a DVD release in the United Kingdom. Here his direction can hardly be described as subtle but extremely effective in its erratic way and the climax involving a lazer is probably one of the most insane ever committed to film!