Dr. Who & The Daleks
- Publication: Variety
- Date: 1965-07-07
- Author: Rich
- Page: 6
- Language: English
Dr. Who & The Daleks
(BRITISH-COLOR)
Sci fi adventure based on popular BBC tele serial. Exploitation opportunities seem boundless and lively for juve patrons.
London June 22.
Regal Films International release (through BLC) of an Aaru Films (Milton Subotsky Max J. Rosenberg) production. Features Peter Cushing Ray Castle, Jennie Linden Roberta Tovey. Directed by Gordon Flemyng Screenplay, Subotsky from BBC television serial by Tarry Nation: camera (Technicolor). John Wilcox editor, Oswald Hafenrichter; music Malcolm Lockyer; special effects, Ted Samuels Reviewed at Studio One, London. Running time le MINS.
Dr. Who Peter Cushing Ian Roy Castle Barbara Jennie Linden Susan Roberta Tovey Alydon Bartle Ingham Temmosus Geoffrey Toone, Mark Peterson, John Bown Ganatus Michael Coles Dyoni Yvonne Antrobus
A slice of sci-fi for beginners which lacks the horror potential of many in this field, but, with its mechanical gimmickry will ring the bell with the younger generation. There are boundless exploitation angles in this Techniscope-Technicolor pic. And in Britain, it will certainly be a big box office money getter. It will be interest ing to see how it stands up to stiffer Yank "sci-fi" competition, particularly since it lacks stellar pull.
Film is based on a click BBC children's tv serial by Terry Nation and the Daleks, and this gives a presold impact on moppets. Many parents, themselves Dalek addicts, will not be loath to go I along for the ride.
Absentminded professor Dr Who (Peter Cushing) has invented Tardis, a Time and Relative Dimension in Space Machine, capable of lugging people to other worlds, in other eras. By accident the prof, his grandaughters (Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey) and Miss Linden's boy friend, (Roy Castle) are ejected from the earth and landed on a huge petrified planet at a time many years back.
The planet is ravaged with radiation from a previous war and the a quartet finds themselves in struggle between the Daleks and the Thals. The Daleks protected from radiation in an all-metal city and wearing mobile metal cones fitted with flame-guns are determined to wipe out the gentle Thals. Dr Who's party sides with the Thals and it has to face the threat of a neutron bomb and increased radiation. The Daleks are quashed within a comfortable 83 minutes and Dr. Whos party t leave the Thals in peace and set off back lo the Earth.
A few more thrills and a rather more edged script (by Milton Subotsky) would have made "Dr. Who" a shade more acceptable to grownups. But the kids will revel in the fights and get kicks from the dangers facing Dr Who and Co., from the Daleks and the threat of monsters. The Daleks are remarkably ingenious machines in the way they move and fight though maybe they are given an excess of dialog, some of which is repetitious.
Gordon Flemyng has played his i direction straight, without trying either to play down too much to the kids or to set it up for the adults. His chore would have l been helped if the screenplay had had a little more bite and inventiveness. Peter Cushing plays Dr Who with amiable gravity Jennie Linden is a pretty routine heroine while Roberta Tovey is pleasantly cast as the little girl with scientific knowhow and common-sense. Roy Castle mugs and falls around a little too zestfully as the boyfriend with a fairly good sense of humor. Barrie Ingham is the stalwart leader of the Thals, a remarkable handsome bunch of stalwart young men and women decked up in wayout make up. Yvonne Antrobus has one or two brief effective moments as his girl friend. It is only fair to say that the over genteel voice emanating from her, which raised an unwanted yuck at the press pre view was dubbed and belongs to another, unidentified thesp.
Chief heroes among the technical crew are Ted Samuels, who has provided some slick special effects and the team responsible for manipulating the Daleks with such mobility. The deep, growling voices used by the Daleks has sometimes defeated soundmixer Buster Ambler. Though much of the film's exterior footage smacks of studio, art director Bill Constable has done a commendable job. Malcolm Lockeer's score is useful and John Wilcox's Technicolor lensing is variable in color tone.
Rich.
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Rich, Ric (1965-07-07). Dr. Who & The Daleks. Variety p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: Rich, Ric. "Dr. Who & The Daleks." Variety [add city] 1965-07-07, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Rich, Ric. "Dr. Who & The Daleks." Variety, edition, sec., 1965-07-07
- Turabian: Rich, Ric. "Dr. Who & The Daleks." Variety, 1965-07-07, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Dr. Who & The Daleks | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_%26_The_Daleks | work=Variety | pages=6 | date=1965-07-07 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 November 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Dr. Who & The Daleks | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_%26_The_Daleks | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=18 November 2024}}</ref>
