Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1974
Craze (film)
Buy Craze (film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Craze' is a 1974 horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It stars Jack Palance as a psychotic antiques dealer who sacrifices women to the statue of Chuku, an African idol.
It was the last film produced by Herman Cohen.Herman Cohen: [Final 1 Edition]
The Times; London (UK) [London (UK)]11 June 2002: 31.
Cast
* Jack Palance as Neal Mottram
* Diana Dors as Dolly Newman
* Julie Ege as Helena
* Edith Evans as Aunt Louise
* Hugh Griffith as Solicitor
* Trevor Howard as Bellamy
* Suzy Kendall as Sally
* Michael Jayston as Wall
* Martin Potter as Ronnie
* Percy Herbert as Detective Russet
* David Warbeck as Detective Wilson
* Kathleen Byron as Muriel Sharp
Production
The film was based on a 1967 novel 'The Infernal Idol'. In 1972 it was reported Herman Cohen had the rights and a script was being written.
In March 1972 it was announced Jack Palance would star in a film version, which would be a co production between Herman Cohen and Joe Solomon.MOVIE CALL SHEET: Juliet Mills Set for 'Avanti'
Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times 4 Mar 1972: b8.
Freddie Francis had made a number of horror movies for Amicus and other producers, including Herman Cohen for whom he directed 'Trog'. Francis later said "no sooner had I started it than I realised I was flogging a dead horse." The director says there were "only four good things about" the movie - Palance, Trevor Howard, Edith Evans and Hugh Griffith, adding "Jack lost interest in it almost straight away, Hugh and Trevor were both heavily on the bottle and dear Edith thought we were making a "proper" film and therefore had all the time in the world." Francis says because the cast included Howard and Griffith, Evans thought there was plenty of time to block scenes, when Francis only had a six week schedule.
Palance arrived in London to make the film which began filming in March 1973.MOVIE CALL SHEET: Cicely to Portray Shirley Chisholm
Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times 24 Mar 1973: b8. Cohen says he got along with Palance but "everyone else was afraid of Jack - he has that aura about him. Freddi Francis was scared stiff of him."Weaver p 84
Francis later said, "Even Jack couldnt help that one. I thought we couldve made something of it with Jack, but once again Herman had this old Aben Kandel writing the scripts and I think Abe would do anything Herman told him.
Diana Dors had previously made 'Berserk' for Cohen.
Reception
Cohen says the film "did very well" financially but was hurt because the producer had sold the film to National General in the US, who were bought about by Warner Bros; this caused a delay in the film's release in the US.Weaver p 85
Notes
*
References
Buy Craze (film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1974