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(Blue Velvet, Dune, The Elephant Man, Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, The Straight Story, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Wild at Heart, TV: Hotel Room, On the Air, Twin Peaks)
Producer:
Jonathan Sanger
Screenplay:
Christopher de Vore, Eric Bergren and David Lynch
Music:
John Morris
Cast :
Frederick Treves: Anthony Hopkins
John Merrick: John Hurt
Mrs Kendal: Anne Bancroft
Carr-Gomm: John Gielgud
Mothershead: Wendy Hiller
Bytes: Freddie Jones
Night Porter: Michael Elphick
Mrs Treves: Hannah Gordon
Princess Alex: Helen Ryan
Fox: John Standing
Bytes' Boy: Dexter Fletcher
Nora: Lesley Dunlop
Nurse Kathleen: Nula Conwell
Alderman: Frederick Treves
2nd whore: Pauline Quirke
Plumed Dwarf: Kenny Baker
Screaming Mum: Patricia Hodge
Dubbed The Elephant Man when appearing at the local circus show,
in the 19th century, the one thing John Merrick (portrayed by John Hurt, who was nominated for an Oscar and
won a BAFTA for his performance) didn't have was the condition of elephantitis. However, the
condition is still one that cannot be cured and those with the power won't allow his body
to be released for DNA testing.
In what is based on a true story, Merrick was a young man of 21 years of age rescued from
exploitative circus showman Bytes (Freddie Jones) by Doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) in order to
study his affliction and give him a better lease of life. As the story unfolds he is introduced
to established actress Mrs Kendal (Anne Bancroft), Treves' wife (Hannah Gordon)
and specialist Mr Carr-Gomm (John Gielgud), each of whom treat him with the kindness
and respect he deserved, but there's less welcoming opinions from Mrs Mothershead (Wendy Hiller),
the Nurse Ratched of her time who runs the hospital where Merrick is staying and the
Night Porter (Michael Elphick, currently appearing in Eastenders and looking
well past his prime), who tries to make some money out of the man and behaves towards him in a
sick and disgusting manner.
Don't watch this film expecting to find some answers or realistic reasons why Merrick became
the way he was from his birth to his death in 1890, but do watch it for the staggering and tear-jerking performances from Hurt,
most notably when he breaks down in front of Hannah Gordon because he just can't accept people
being nice to him after suffering brutal treatment in the circus. Hopkins is one of my favourite
actors and his performances of determined characters are always his best. Classic moments also
include nurse Nora (Lesley Dunlop, appearing in ITV's Where The Heart Is at the
time of writing) taking Merrick some dinner but without being forewarned of his appearance
and the wanton public harrassing him and chasing him into a public toilet. Note also that it's
nearly an hour before we actually get to see what Merrick looks like.
Cameos are abound in this film. Nula Conwell, as Nurse Kathleen, used to play WPC Viv
Martella in ITV's The Bill until her character was gunned down, Birds of a Feather's
Pauline Quirke plays "2nd whore", R2D2's Kenny Baker is the Plumed Dwarf,
Press Gang's Dexter Fletcher plays Bytes' boy and Patricia Hodge is the
"Screaming Mum". There's also a Frederick Treves playing the part of an alderman in this
film, but checking the
Internet Movie Database didn't show
how, if at all, he is related to the character played by Hopkins.
David Lynch shot the film in 2.35:1 Panavision and in black and white, to evoke the
feel of the period, which aids it immensely. Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio,
this is the first time this film has been released on Blu-ray and for the most part it looks fantastic. It's sharp
and detailed and makes an excellent film look even better. Occasionally, there's a slight shimmering on the dark areas,
such as with the recent
Luc Besson releases, but while it doesn't affect it as often,
it's still annoying when it happens and makes me wonder how this has actually come about at Optimum. Put on a very
dark scene, such as when Treves first meets Merrick, and it stands out like a sore thumb.
For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
Note that a widescreen video was once released in the dim and distant past before such things became mainstream,
but it wasn't labelled as such so would've been a real find at the time.
As for the sound, this was only ever filmed with a mono soundtrack. Dialogue
is clear and I think if a DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 version was created with split-stereo rear effects
it would take away the closeness of the atmosphere created rather than add to it in any way.
The extras are as follows:
"Joseph Merrick: The Real Elephant Man" featurette (19:53):
Elephant Man fan Jonathan Evans, an archivist at the Royal London Hospital Museum, talks about the man, the characters
in the film and how well they relate to real-life events. For example, he was apparently more in control of his own
life and didn't keep getting captured and did actually sign himself up for a freak show rather than being forced into it.
This is a fascinating supplemental.
Interviews:
Firstly, there's three here with David Lynch. One at the Cartier Foundation, Paris in 2007 (14:50), entited "The Air is On Fire",
in which he meets for the first time with Michel Chion, who wrote the first book on Lynch's Cinema back in 1992;
a Q&A-style one (24:49) on several topics within the film; and also one between Lynch and director Mike Figgis (19:50).
There's also a Q&A-style interview with John Hurt (20:14).
BD Live:
Hook your Blu-ray player up online and... well, I got a 'download error. Apparently the solution is that "The server
may be temporarily unavailable. Please wait a few minutes and try again later.", but why can't all this info be on the
disc itself? That'd be easier, surely? I got a few other error messages when I tried later. Oh well.
The menu mixes images from the film with a short piece of the opening theme playing over and over.
mixes footage from the film in black and white with some of its eerie music.
There are English subtitles but the Chaptering is, again for Optimum, appalling with just 12 over the
123-minute running time.
FILM CONTENT
n PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Blu-ray: 
David Lynch shot the film in 2.35:1 Panavision and in black and white, to evoke the
feel of the period, which aids it immensely. Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio,
this is the first time this film has been released on Blu-ray and for the most part it looks fantastic. It's sharp
and detailed and makes an excellent film look even better. Occasionally, there's a slight shimmering on the dark areas,
such as with the recent
