Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966)

Director:

Karel Reisz

Writer:

David Mercer (writer)

Release Date:

20 October 1966 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Morgan, an aggressive and self-admitted dreamer, a fantasist who uses his flights of fancy as refuge from external reality...

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Flight Of Fancy | Lake | Prison | Gorilla Suit

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

David Warner	...	Morgan Delt
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Leonie Delt
Robert Stephens	...	Charles Napier
Irene Handl	...	Mrs. Delt
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Policeman
Arthur Mullard	...	Wally
Newton Blick	...	Mr. Henderson
Nan Munro	...	Mrs. Henderson
Peter Collingwood	...	Geoffrey
Graham Crowden	...	Counsel
John Garrie	...	Tipstatt
John Rae	...	Judge
Angus MacKay	...	Best Man
Marvis Edwards	...	Maid
Peter Cellier	...	Second Counsel

Also Known As:

Morgan! (USA)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | West Germany:16 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Hampstead, London, England, UK

Company:

British Lion Film Corporation

Trivia:

Vanessa Redgrave's Best Actress Oscar nomination for this movie coincided with sister Lynn Redgrave's similar nomination for Georgy Girl (1966). Such a coincidence had occurred only once before when sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland respectively vied for the Best Actress Oscar for Suspicion (1941) and Hold Back the Dawn (1941).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the beginning, Morgan is supposed to returned from being in Greece for a few days. However, when he goes up into his studio and pulls the sheets off, large clouds of dust fly up.

Quotes:

Morgan: [to Leoni] Do you really want little Napiers growing inside you?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Morgan - A Suitable Case For Treatment (Karel Reisz, 1966) ***

I've always had something of an ambivalent attitude towards the British "Swinging London" films of the 1960s: sometimes I enjoy their creative technique and anything-goes approach, while other times I find their brashness exasperating and extremely dated. Actually, MORGAN is now among the films I've revisited the most among them (more by accident than design) which has led me to toy with the idea of compiling a list of titles from that era - comprising above all films I've watched only once, or not at all, but also those which I haven't checked out in ages (some of which are in my endless "DVDs To Watch" pile).

Anyway, the film itself is certainly one of the most engaging of the lot: basically an update of the typical Hollywood 'screwball comedy' formula, with one member of a divorced couple disrupting the new marriage plans of the other, though here we don't get the conventional happy ending. Reisz was, along with Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson, one of the founding members of the "Free Cinema" movement; though he started at the very top with Saturday NIGHT AND Sunday MORNING (1960), the rest of his career was rather spotty with MORGAN being perhaps its closest in quality - even if the unflinching realism of the former had, by this time, given way to irreverent comic fantasy!

While the plot is somewhat thin and the lead character's pranks to reclaim his wife become repetitive, the film's hectic pace never wavers; stylish, amusing (particularly when dealing with Morgan's Communist background and his obsession with gorillas!) and bolstered by John Dankworth's playful score, it's delightfully enacted by the three principals - David Warner (the role of his life), Vanessa Redgrave (the recipient of many accolades, including a surprising Best Actress Oscar nomination) and Robert Stephens - none of whom are typically associated with slapstick (though David Mercer's script also offers perceptive comments about the painful consequences of a broken marriage).