Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment [DVD]

In the mid-60s, I was a teenager in an unhappy place. I was bullied by staff and pupils at school and homelife was dominated by my parents nagging me to perform better at school.The cinema was my escape, although shortage of cash meant that I could not see all that I should like.Morgan was a well-reviewed film, which did not make the cut. In my advanced (and more wealthy) years, I am catching up with this and many others which also did not make the cut. All the recent obituaries about David Warner made me put this to the front of the lineHis performance is exemplary. I fully understand why the obituaries praise him so highly. As for the film itself - there is much to recommend it, but it was very much a film of its time and later generations may not appreciate it so much.The essence is a man who turns insane (or, perhaps, more insane) at the breakup of his marriage. This was highly relevant to me since I went through a similar Hell in 1979 when my relationship broke up.Warner's insanity is presented as comic and surreal. This was pretty typical of the era. This is my reason for suspecting that later generations may fail to appreciate the film. Mine was anything but comic. I stalked the lady concerned to an extent which would certainly be regarded as criminal today and may well have been (had she reported me to the police) back in 1979.My major takeaway from the film is that the breakup of a relationship can easily be the tipping point into insanity. The comic presentation of this important insight definitely justifies 4* I am holding back from 5*, because I sense that post-Boomers may not see the funny side.

Having read both the praise and criticisms below of Karel Reisz's 1966 tender paean to nonconformity, this reviewer feels that both sides have valid arguments. This is one of those films that one either loves for its insanity, or hates for the same reason. I suspect that which side individual viewers end up on has more to do with who the viewer is (or, more likely, once was), than with the film's actual merits or lack thereof."Morgan!" positively reeks of its era, not just with its "look" but with its style of cheeky wit and obvious biases. The script shamelessly stacks the deck by making the representatives of normalcy unappealing. There is no doubt as to where the sympathies of Czech director Reisz (who also directed the iconoclastic "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning") or scriptwriter David Mercer lie.Nevertheless, for this reviewer the film, seen only once years before on a very rare cable run, retains much of its defiant charm. At the very least, the film is worth viewing for the work of its two stars: an incandescent young Vanessa Redgrave, beginning to reveal the magnitude of her gifts, and David Warner's poignant, irresistible, and unforgettable Morgan. Possibly one of Warner's compatriots at the time (Alan Bates comes to mind, thinking of his performance in "Georgie Girl" with Redgrave's sister, Lynn) could have done an equally sympathetic job, but it is difficult to imagine anyone but Warner moving one to tears as he murmurs with his happy, crooked smile, "I've gone all furry. . ." That said, the play had previously appeared on BBC Television, with Keith Barron in the title role - a performance that appears to have faded into obscurity after the film premiered. I cannot find a review of it.Redgrave has been a mature stateswoman of theater and screen for so long that one can forget how beautiful she was when young - the chiseled bones, flashing blue eyes, and long, flyaway limbs scream the natural aristocracy that makes her deep but conflicted love for her Marxist-fantasist ex-husband all the more touching.Morgan Delt (David Warner) is that ex-husband, a working-class artist obsessed with the nobility of our primate cousins and Karl Marx, thanks to his upbringing by his staunch Marxist mother. Mrs. Delt is played by Irene Handl with a perfect blend of stolidity and quixoticism that nearly steals every scene she is in. Morgan has just been divorced by his well-born society wife, Leonie (Redgrave). Leonie, in the grand tradition of eccentricity that Britain's upper-classes used to breed, is almost as loony as Morgan but "almost" is the operative word, on one side of an abyss that Leonie cannot cross. She still loves Morgan, but cannot cope with his refusal to make even minimal accommodation to the "normal" world. Leonie, in the unenviable position of dual-natured persons, shares Morgan's contempt for the "normal" yet longs for a more stable family life. In search of that life, Leonie has become engaged to Morgan's friend and art dealer, the normal but unctuous Charles Napier (Robert Stephens). Napier's bourgeouis normalcy is the reason he doesn't have Leonie's heart, although he seems neither to know nor care - her social standing, money, and good looks are all he requires. Nevertheless, Leonie is determined to marry Napier so she can have the kind of home in which, as Napier acidly puts it, "The function of the nursery is to be occupied by the children, not the parents."Morgan is equally determined to stop Leonie from marrying Napier and betraying art, the revolution, and what he knows is their true love. As Morgan does everything he can to wreck Leonie's wedding plans and win her back, he takes the viewer on a sometimes rollicking, sometimes painful journey through his psyche. The accomplishment of the film and its stars is to make the viewer understand both Leonie's wish for a normal family life AND her intense response to Morgan's enchanting but maddeningly inconvenient authenticity. How far one's sympathies go in either direction is probably a reliable indicator of how much one will appreciate this unique film.Redgrave picked up a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Leonie, and won the Palme d'Or for it at Cannes that year. The film was also nominated for Best Costume Design in a Black-and-White film. The equally cheeky score is by John Dankworth, who also contributed the subtle but sad score to "Darling", another classic British film from this same era.Redgrave, of course, went on to a hugely distinguished career. Warner, however, who started out as a promising stage and Shakesperean actor, had a disappointingly checkered film career, shunted off into repetitive "villain" roles such as Jack the Ripper in "Time Afer Time". In 2005, his stage career experienced something of a renaissance with a highly-praised performance of King Lear. Regardless of the uneven quality of the films he has played in, Warner has never been less than interesting to watch, but surely he was never more so than in "Morgan!".The bittersweet ironies of "Morgan!" are not for everyone. The film has a definite point of view to which it is openly and passionately committed. For those of you who wish you'd been there for the 1960s, or who were there for the 1960s and miss them, or have a ghost of the counterculture rebel still breathing inside, this film is worth your time and effort.

Here's one I've been trying desperately to find again for the last 20 years. This is the film that makes me watch silly things like "Titanic" and "Nightwing" just to watch David Warner. The first hour on the whole ranks with the best British comedies of its time (Hard Day's Night, The Jokers, Nothing But The Best) but the seriocomic ending (with a superb closing laugh) leaves me as unsettled as Reisz's Saturday Night,Sunday Morning. Vanessa Redgrave plays Leonie, the sweet ex-wife who, though she clearly loves Morgan and his antics, is pressed into being a femme fatale by the social order (she's the rich one). David Warner is the eccentric failed artist, Morgan, who wishes he had been born to a gorilla rather than to a communist (he's the poor one). Yet Morgan is desperate to get his wife back (after having visited a zoo gorilla about his psychological problems). Irene Handl as Morgan's devoutly communist mother (she's unhappy Morgan has betrayed the working class) is a hilarious take on a mother complaining at her son's failures. It isn't a perfect film. It is nevertheless a real delight. The picture quality on the DVD is good for the price. Only special feature is the trailer, but it is a real swinging London statement in its own right.

This movie made an impression on me after seeing it for the first time back in the ‘60’s; because parts of the movie come to life in my mind over the years as I travel through my life. And recently I bought the movie as a birthday gift for my fifty year old son. But the real reason I bought the movie was to see the scene in the movie I was always reminded of lately whenever they show the clip of President Donald Trump riding down the escalator at the Trump Tower. For some reason I thought the scene in the movie was a lot longer than it actually was. I really enjoyed watching the movie several times before regifting it to my son for his 50th birthday. I myself am a spry 76 year old Adrenalin junkie.

This is a period piece, clearly swimming in mid-60's pop culture, even down to Lesteresque fast-camera slapstick episodes. There is a deeply dysfunctional protagonist who seems today less of a rebel than a borderline psychotic, and his on-again-off-again girlfriend/wife who seems to be less of an active agent than a passive girl-child. Yet on the whole, it weathers surprisingly well -- the story of a man who is, after all, a Marxist goriila, and that is not misspelled! There is real tenderness here, and great chemistry, with a superb cast, and a lot of funny stuff,in a very London English dry-humor way. This would make a superb double bill with "A Hard Day's Night". Redgrave is stunning, (Oscar nod here) even if her character lacks spine, as she renders such a person quite believable, at least at first glance. This is David Warner's first film, and a fine performance, both of them nuanced way beyond the silliness.Watch for Irene Handl's masterclass performance as Morgan's mom. She damn near steals the film. (Sometimes listed as "Morgan!", with the exclamation point included.)

I watched this film as a kid and thought it amusing. I still do but it has a poignancy that I did not capture when young. Plus, there is so much I did not remember! It was nearly like watching a new film.

Took me back to the sixties. David Warner at his crazy best.

saw this film when it first came out in the sixties still funny with a message

Complex, really interesting characters.