Berserk! (1967)

First, let me start this review off by saying that I may have enjoyed this movie way too much. I enjoyed see Joan Crawford, with her green gloves that went all the way to the elbow, use all her dramatic skills to try to produce some interest into this slow mystery. And I will say that Ms Crawford did not disappoint and could have even got Academy votes had she been in a movie that had some degree of entertainment. And now I will progress to the movie.Other than the mystery there is little that produces any worthy interest in the production. It involves a touring circus where someone is killing off the performers in a rather nasty way. There are many suspects that may look like the killer, including Ms Crawford as the owner of the circus, but it will be right at the end where we will learn the identity of the true murderer. And when the end of the movie approaches and we now know who is doing the killing, the person running from the scene will meet an unusual situation just steps from the big top.I watched this film for one reason, to see Joan Crawford perform. And early in this picture it was apparent that even with Ms Crawford in the lead cast, there was no helping this movie. Watch the movie to see Ms Crawford acting ability, to see her in love with a guy twice her younger, to see her in her green dress and to see her at age 62 in leotards. For if you are watching for any other reason you will feel defeated for being taken so easily.

At a traveling circus in Great Britain, the horrific death of her muscular tightrope walker angers leggy owner and ringmaster Joan Crawford (as Monica Rivers). Believing the hanging was an accident, Ms. Crawford coldly advises the notoriety will help ticket sales. "We're running a circus, not a charm school," she tells her more faint-hearted partner Michael Gough (as Albert Dorando). Crawford quickly hires bulging and handsome Ty Hardin (as Frank Hawkins) as a high-wire replacement. Supposedly, he was in the audience and had seen the man hung. Arriving with a mysterious past, Mr. Hardin begins to romance the much older Crawford. Circus tongues may wag about the age difference, but one woman sighs about Crawford having "the gift of eternal youth"...Meanwhile, tightly proportioned rival Diana Dors (as Matilda) tries to get Hardin...From Scotland Yard, detective superintendent Robert Hardy (as Brooks) arrives to investigate the murders. Also appearing is Crawford's delinquent teenage daughter Judy Geeson (as Angela). Expelled from finishing "school for young ladies," Ms. Gleeson prefers circus life. Crawford allows her to perform on the receiving end of a knife-throwing act. That's could be bad news, or not. It's hard to tell. This is because producer Herman Cohen seems to have forgotten to tell his production team that a story should make sense. This film concentrates efforts on the staging of the murders and the positioning of a shadow across Crawford's ageing neck. Both are fun to watch, but they forgot about the plot and we're left wondering how "whodunit" actually committed the crimes.*** Berserk! (11/26/67) Jim O'Connolly ~ Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Judy Geeson, Diana Dors

The circus. Bodies are beginning to pile up and Joan Crawford owns the joint! Crawford must have thought that it's about 20 years earlier and she is back on "Flamingo Road." Unfortunately, for her she wasn't.Crawford leads a very much unknown cast with the exception of Judy Geeson, who became popular thanks to To Sir, With Love vehicle around the same time.The film does start off intriguing enough with horrendous deaths at the circus. These accidents are an absolute horror. Perhaps, it would have been better if the British police had thrown their hands up and called in Jessica Fletcher to solve the mystery.The ending is abrupt and very quickly done. It did not tie all loose ends together. How could the murderer have been in two places at one time?

When I was a kid I used to look at the photos in my mother's old cookbooks: aged pastries in front of dated backdrops... still, they looked delicious..."Berserk!" is a classic slice of rich, frosted, sugary cake... it is wonderful, enjoyable trash, impossible to deny. First off, any movie that includes an exclamation point in the title is too obnoxious to miss. Secondly, this was Joan Crawford at her campy best... having long since turned to the Dark Side she lovably chews the scenery and fearlessly juggles midgets, murders & tightrope walkers with melodramatic grace.It's the same, familiar plot you've seen a thousand times: A psychotic killer is loose at the circus and begins to murder performers one-by-one in grisly ways, during the show! I saw this movie with my sister & my 80 year-old grandmother, and even though we were all rolling our eyes we were also all laughing and enjoying a movie that was genuinely fun.Don't miss this if it's on late-night TV... I promise it's worth staying up! GRADE: B+