![]() ![]() In the end, though, these plot points probably matter less than the mood overall, which is so Midsomer Murders-like – all cricket pitches, leafy lanes and illicit affairs – you half expect John Nettles to appear. The novel, whose author is revered by Margaret Atwood (his earlier novel, The Chrysalids, influenced The Handmaid’s Tale), has twice been made a film, most famously The Village of the Damned (1960), starring George Sanders. The physical growth of these sinister cuckoos is hugely accelerated, they are telepathic, and they are able to control the actions of others even from afar. How did this happen? When the babies are born, it’s clear they are not wholly human. People fall unconscious, and when they wake up some time later, every woman of childbearing age finds herself pregnant, even those who were single. A strange happening occurs in Midwich, a small town somewhere in the Chilterns. “Hello, Sam!” I thought happily, as his character – a bigwig in the Home Office – looked grave and said something strict about the Official Secrets Act. In this instance, though, my relief was completely disproportionate. West is a fine actor he burnishes even the ropiest scripts. ![]() But then Sam West appeared, in one of those establishment-type roles that he does so well, and I perked up so much, I knew something was amiss. What’s wrong with Sky’s new adaptation of John Wyndham’s strange and influential 1957 novel, The Midwich Cuckoos? For a while, I thought there was nothing wrong with it at all. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |