The Book Tower

Think of John Hurt before he became the grizzled character actor he is today. Still fairly young looking and playing an essentially weak man in The Shout, the sort of oddball role he excelled at early in his career – for example in 10 Rillington Place. Think also of Alan Bates at his nastiest. Co-starring with Hurt in The Shout he plays an extension of the character he portrayed in the film of Pinter’s The Caretaker years before; confident and dangerous, sharp eyed and deadly serious. Alan Bates and John Hurt together in one of the weirdest films ever made. Is there anything more you could ask for? The Shout is based on a short story by Robert Graves. It was directed in 1978 by Jerzy Skolimowski, and also features performances by Susannah York, Tim Curry and Robert Stephens.

The Shout opens at a cricket match. It’s no ordinary sporting event; this is a match at an asylum, the kind of country set Victorian bedlam that was perhaps still around in Graves’ day. Here it’s difficult to spot the inmates from the keepers. Tim Curry (restrained compared to his most famous role as Frank N.Furter) plays the Graves character, asked to keep score. He’s joined by an unsettlingly enigmatic man called Crossley (Bates) who elects to tell him a story as the match gets going….

Anthony and Rachel (Hurt and York) live in Devon, the former a church organist who also makes his own recordings at home. It’s a solitary pursuit as his recordings are decidedly odd – the sound of wasps trapped in glasses for example. All looks slightly removed from domestic harmony as Anthony appears to be carrying out a casual affair with the local cobbler’s wife. Coincidentally, Anthony and Rachel both appear to share the same disturbing dream whilst sunbathing on the sand dunes. They both wake suddenly to discover that Rachel has mysteriously lost the buckle of her shoe.

Anthony later encounters Crossley, dishevelled and apparently down and out, who claims not to have eaten for two days during his recent “travels”. He offers him food, and Crossley accepts, with the result becoming not the most pleasurable of lunch dates. Crossley aggrees to no more than a couple of thin slithers of meat. He reveals that he lived in a remote part of Australia for many years, acts generally weirdly and upsets Rachel to the point where she flees the kitchen. Anthony appears to weakly accept the anti-social behaviour and allows him to stay, looking only more and more disturbed as Crossley’s behaviour gets odder. He finds him sitting, naked, in the spare room and quietly boasting that he has perfected the shout, where all who hear it will die…

Now I don’t know about you, but at this point I’d be thinking about showing the man the door. Even calling the orderlies in white coats and possibly arranging a cricket match but certainly not, as Anthony agrees, to witness one of the shouts in person. Early the next day, Anthony follows Crossley to the beach. As a precautionary measure, he plugs his ears, which is a wise move as the shout kills several sheep, their shepherd and other nearby birds on the beach. This really is the stuff of nightmares.

The Shout is a difficult yet compelling film. Alan Bates is remarkable, creating one of the most effective cinema villains I’ve ever seen. This makes it all the more gripping as the puzzled Anthony tries to resolve the situation, especially when Crossley appears to cast a weird charm over Rachel and seduces her. The scenes are all very intense and quietly played out, which makes the release of the pent up energy in Crossley’s shout all the more disturbing. And this is a film that demands repeated viewing.

An extra on my DVD is a commentary by horror experts Kim Newman and Stephen Jones. The Shout isn’t really a horror film, it’s more an exploration of a battle between two men than might be something catastrophic, or might be just a game of cricket. I haven’t listened to all of the commentary yet but it’s very interesting. Nic Roeg turned down the film when he was offered it. Possibly he was too busy preparing Bad Timing. And David Bowie turned down the offer to provide the music, perhaps busy (and foolishly) filming Just a Gigolo. Instead Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford from Genesis took it on, and do a fair job – although this is a film about sound that doesn’t really need a soundtrack. And look out for Jim Broadbent in an early role – pulling the stops out as the cricket descends into mayhem…