Karel Reisz-Morgan, A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966)

Morgan Delt (David Warner) is a social misfit obsessed with Karl Marx, large primates and stopping his beautiful ex-wife (Vanessa Redgrave) from marrying his former best friend. But as Morgan roars through swinging London, his pursuit of both love and sabotage begins to take some very bizarre turns. Can one charming madman save the only thing in the real world that’s lived up to his best fantasies? David Warner and Vanessa Redgrave became overnight stars in this ‘60s British comedy classic directed by Karel Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) that proves love is eternal, sanity is relative and nothing is more dangerous than a heartsick man in a gorilla suit. Anchor Bay




Morgan (David Warner), an aggressive and self-admitted dreamer, a fantasist who uses his flights of fancy as refuge from external reality, where his unconventional behavior lands him in a divorce from his wife, Leonie (Vanessa Redgrave), trouble with the police and, ultimately, incarceration in a lunatic asylum. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0060714/plotsummary)




The first hour on the whole ranks with the best British comedies of its time (Hard Day's Night, The Jokers, Nothing But The Best) but the seriocomic ending (with a superb closing laugh) leaves me as unsettled as Reisz's Saturday Night,Sunday Morning. Vanessa Redgrave plays Leonie, the sweet ex-wife who, though she clearly loves Morgan and his antics, is pressed into being a femme fatale by the social order (she's the rich one). David Warner is the eccentric failed artist, Morgan, who wishes he had been born to a gorilla rather than to a communist (he's the poor one). Yet Morgan is desperate to get his wife back (after having visited a zoo gorilla about his psychological problems). Irene Handl as Morgan's devoutly communist mother (she's unhappy Morgan has betrayed the working class) is a hilarious take on a mother complaining at her son's failures. It isn't a perfect film. It is nevertheless a real delight. It is a real swinging London statement in its own right. (amazon.com)




Underneath the zany gorilla suit, the automotive hijinks and the wacky pratfalls, this is at heart a love story about a rich society girl who can't help loving a penniless artist from the wrong side of the tracks. I fell in love with this movie when it first came out, and revisiting it nearly 40 years later is like heaven. The black & white print here is flawless, and the fantasy scenes mixing Tarzan footage, period nature films and Morgan's reveries are clever beyond their time. Jazz legend Johnny Dankworth provides an unusual soundtrack of woodwinds in a very Guiffresque style which has worn the years well. The movie contains several of the most memorable scenes ever committed to film, and the artful blending of fantasy and reality leads to an ending which is completely open to interpretation. The heart wants what the heart wants. This is a very life-positive movie. (amazon.com)




This film cannot be spoiled; its value comes from experiencing the film itself. You could focus upon the plot of a man distressed by his former wife's remarriage, but the core of appreciation comes when the viewer, with Morgan, realizes that when we chose our skins, our outward appearance, we may mask even from ourselves our inner selves. We roar with laughter as Morgan flees in a burning gorilla suit, then discover real inner terror when he stops.It helps if one understands the references to Marx and the loose grip on reality evidenced by Morgan's mother, and by implication Marx himself, but the final scene, with one amazing image, sums up the film. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0060714/usercomments)