... a dead daughter in Elizabeth Taylor’s life in Joseph Losey’s delirious SECRET CEREMONY.
conversation from the next table—this follows the shifts of power in a co-dependent or sym- biotic relationship between a wealthy neurotic and an adaptive hanger-on, though here the view- point character is the outsider and the unknowable manipulator is the home-owner. George Tabori (I CONFESS) isn’t as sharp a writer as Harold Pinter, who adapted Robin Maugham’s novel THE SERVANT. SECRET CER- EMONY—like Losey’s other Liz Taylor charade BOOM! (1968)— is indulgent of its stars (who pa- rade in amazing outfits and have theatrical meltdown scenes) in contrast with the firmer control Losey had on James Fox and Dirk Bogarde. It was also evi- dently a troubled production (as anything involving Mia Farrow and Elizabeth Taylor in 1968 was bound to be) with Universal as baffled and befuddled by the product as Warners were by PER- FORMANCE. Scenes not found on this DVD were shot by other
hands for a TV version which tried to explain and alter the storyline—making Leonora a wig- model rather than a prostitute, for instance.
It’s a creepy, disjointed film and neither Taylor nor Farrow are completely on form. When Cenci becomes by turns more childish (stuffing a toy frog up her dress to simulate pregnancy) and adult (seemingly abandoning the game of neurosis and appearing ratio- nal during her craziest stretch), Farrow seems in the dark about her character’s mental state. She’s oddly reminiscent of her sister Tisa in SOME CALL IT LOV- ING (especially when laid out in a coffin). In another odd parallel, Albert diagnoses Cenci’s problem as precisely the kind of regres- sion (“Merrye’s Syndrome”) suf- fered by the family in Jack Hill’s SPIDER BABY (1964/68). Argu- ably, the dotty, callous aunts pre- figure the DON’T LOOK NOW sisters... while the film’s art-ex- ploitation knife-edge is suggested
by the CVs of its producers Norman Priggen (CIRCUS OF HORRORS, THE CREEPING FLESH, TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS) and John Heyman (PRIVILEGE, HITLER: THE LAST TEN DAYS, JESUS, A PASSAGE TO INDIA). The seaside trip, which uses Dutch locations, shows why Fisher might have at- tracted the attention of Harry Kumel: a ring of wicker beach chairs arranged like stooping megaliths is an especially memo- rable image. Losey also makes careful use of sound—with a dis- turbing array of “noises off” throughout, and an eerie score (incorporating the occasional ondes martenot ululation) from Richard Rodney Bennett (THE WITCHES).
This Region 2 release from 2006 is far from optimal: the 1.85:1 ratio is preserved, but in non-anamorphic form with a black windowbox; the image is slightly grainy, but vivid enough to show off the shadowy imagery.
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