TV Review: The Silent Scream (1980)

Peter Cushing as Martin Blueck

I watched the classic BBC series with Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes recently and was blown away by his performance. I looked around for more of Cushing and came upon this gem.

Cushing plays an aged pet shop owner, Martin Blueck. He pays a visit to a prison inmate, Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) and helps him out by providing some financial help. Blueck is a self-proclaimed former concentration camp captive and sees a kindred soul in Chuck. When Chuck is released, he is happily reunited with his wife Annie (Elaine Donnelly). He discusses Blueck’s visit with his wife and pays a courtesy visit to Blueck at his shop and is offered a job.

Blueck has a collection of big cats and other exotic animals in his basement and has trained them so well that the animals are kept in open cages. The cages are powered by electricity and the animals make no attempt to escape whatsoever. Blueck wants to test the concept of open zoos and seeks Chuck’s help in his endeavour.

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As expected, Chuck accepts the job. He happens to notices a safe that is pretty much unattended. Old habits die hard and Chuck is sorely tempted to relieve the safe of its contents. The less than stellar financial well-being of his family does not help matters either. The very next day, Chuck attempts to break the safe and literally falls into a trap. His trap is similar to the cages that house the animals.

Brian Cox as Chuck Spillers

Annie enquires with Blueck about her husband and is surprised to be told that her husband did not come to the shop, despite the presence of his jacket. She raises the issue of her missing husband with the police, who thanks to Chuck’s history of crime do not take her claims seriously.

Taking matters into her hands, Annie sneaks into the shop and finds her husband captive. Is she able to save her husband? What are Blueck’s intentions?

Cushing is a terrific actor and is in top form here. His performance is a fitting tribute to his versatility. It is amazing that he can pull off Sherlock Holmes as flawlessly as he does with the character of Blueck.

It is interesting to see Brian Cox in one of his earlier performances and he is good as always. Elaine Donnelly gives an excellent performance as the strong-willed and intelligent Annie.

Elaine Donnelly as Annie Spillers

Hammer Studios are renowned for their horror films and this episode is no exception. It is more of a psychological thriller than a horror film and is superb scripted. I would highly recommend the reader to check this one out.

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Image Source: Aveleyman 

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Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

The movie is a reboot of the popular series Planet of the Apes. Directed by Rupert Wyatt, the movie attempts to explain the circumstances leading to the takeover of our planet by our simian relatives.

Will Rodman (James Franco) has working on developing a cure of Alzheimer's disease, that afflicts his father, Charles Rodman (John Lithgow). He tests his cure on chimpanzees, one of whom turns out to be pregnant (without the knowledge of the scientists and this is one of the logical loopholes in the movie). Will ends up adopting the new born baby chimp, who is named “Ceasar” by Charles.

Ceaser is quite the naughty one and soon receives a cut on his leg after a brief encounter with the neighbours. This leads to Will taking Ceasar to  a primatologist, Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto) and this leads to the mandatory romance part of the movie.

James Franco and Freida Pinto in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'

Ceasar soon starts showing signs of extraordinary intelligence, thanks to being exposed to the drug while he was still in his mother's womb.

Things take a turn for the worse, when Ceaser intervenes in a verbal altercation between Charles and his neighbor, Hunsiker (David Hewlett) and ends up biting off one of Hunsiker's fingers.

Ceasar is sent to a Primate Shelter run by John Landon (Brian Cox) and his sadistic son Dodge (Tom Felton). Ceasar studies his fellow inmates and soon assumes leadership by dethroning the alpha male.

Soon, it is a showdown between humans and the liberated chimps, led by Ceaser, atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Ceaser and his cohorts win the battle.

Meanwhile, Hunsiker gets infected with a newer version of the drug developed by Will and the infection quickly spreads all over the world. The stage is set for a sequel!

Andy Serkis gives an amazing performance as Ceasar

Andy Serkis gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Ceasar. His work marks a continuation of his winning streak since playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the titular character in King Kong. He is ably supported by the WETA team that does a flawless job bringing Ceaser to life.

Coming to the human cast, Franco and Lithgow are competent in their roles. Lithgow, in particular, is appealing.

Freida looks ravishing and brings grace and dignity to her role.

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I did have a hard time understanding how the initial troop of the apes that numbered around 50-60, suddenly swelled to around 200 in the climactic fight. This was something that I could not accept, even though it is understandable that the initial numbers were not enough to support an uprising. Still I wish the script/director had accounted for this.

Highly recommended to fans of Planet of the Apes series and/or people who love the Great Apes.

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Image Sources: G4TV, USA Today

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