MORGAN: A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT (1966)
Article 3861 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-1-2012
Posting Date: 3-10-2012
Directed by Karel Reisz
Featuring David Warner, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Stephens
Country: UK
What it is: Swinging sixties romantic comedy

Morgan, a man obsessed with gorillas and Marxism, tries to win back his wife by any means at his disposal.

The fantastic content is mostly around the edges in this one; the title character is eccentric bordering on madness, and there are references to Tarzan movies and KING KONG before its all over. It’s a romantic comedy of sorts, but it’s hardly a conventional one, and it certainly doesn’t end as most of them do. Still, the romantic elements may be a smokescreen; I suspect that Morgan loves the woman he does because she’s the only touchstone he has with reality, and when she’s gone out of his life, his sanity goes with it. I’m a big fan of David Warner, and his character here is a loose cannon; we don’t know just how likely he is to turn towards violence before it’s all over, but the possibility that he might is always lurking under the surface. Like a lot of swinging sixties British comedies of the period, it’s not quite as funny as I hoped it would be, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Besides, I like movies which feature a man in a gorilla suit.