The Medusa Touch ** (1978, Richard Burton, Lee Remick, Lino Ventura) – Classic Movie Review 9926

Director Jack Gold’s 1978 sci-fi psychological horror thriller The Medusa Touch stars a haunted-looking Richard Burton as John Morlar, a troubled author with strange telekinetic powers who can will people’s deaths, create catastrophe and cause disasters by thought powers. Lino Ventura plays Detective-inspector Brunel, the French detective investigating, with the help of analyst Dr Zonfeld (Lee Remick).

A cast of old faithfuls and a clever director work hard to try to keep this creaky, tall story engaging, but, sadly, it mostly eludes them. Burton is too heavyweight, Remick too lightweight and Ventura fits in uneasily in the British-French co-production mix. Improbably, Brunel is supposed to be with the British police force as a result of an exchange programme with France.

It is a case of such a classy cast, such a poor film. It lacks youth, pace and energy, though it does exhibit touches of ambition and imagination. John Briley’s intelligent if largely unconvincing screenplay is based on the novel by Peter Van Greenaway. The production values, special effects and visual effects are only moderate.

Also in the cast are Harry Andrews, Alan Badel, Jeremy Brett, Michael Hordern, Gordon Jackson, Marie-Christine Barrault, Derek Jacobi, Robert Lang, Michael Byrne, Robert Flemyng, Norman Byrd, Jennifer Jayne, Philip Stone, Avril Elgar, James Hazeldine, Gordon Honeycombe, Frances Tomelty, George Innes and Ian Marter.

The Medusa Touch is directed by Jack Gold, runs 109 minutes, is made by Coatesgold, ITC Entertainment, Bulldog and Citeca Productions, is released by ITC (1978) (UK) and Warner Bros (1978) (US), is written by John Briley, based on the novel by Peter Van Greenaway, is shot in Technicolor by Arthur Ibbetson, is produced by Anne V Coates, Jack Gold, Arnon Milchan (executive producer) and Elliott Kastner, is scored by Michael J Lewis, is designed by Peter Mullins, with special effects by Brian Johnson and Nick Allder, and visual effects by Doug Ferris (optical effects).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9926

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