SKULLDUGGERY (1970) - Andy's Kino Lorber Early Review
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:09 pm
3/10
(Available September 21)
Seriously confused genre mash-up – a reportedly troubled picture from producer Saul David – pairs Burt Reynolds and Roger C. Carmel as opportunists who hook up with scientist Susan Clark's efforts to uncover the missing link. They all find a prehistoric tribe living in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, but this momentous discovery ultimately leads less to a scientific celebration than a legal battle over whether the creatures are human or animals, culminating in a bizarre courtroom finale – complete with a Black Panther ultimately testifying that the creatures aren't from his ancestry!
“Skullduggery” might sound fun but this is a total trainwreck of a film that found Gordon Douglas replacing Richard Wilson and David shooting the movie partially in Jamaica. Nelson Gidding's script may well have been rewritten because the tone is all over the map, the movie starting off like a lightweight comedy before briefly becoming an adventure, and, later, a courtroom drama (oh and did I mention Carmel gets one of these ape-creatures pregnant? Let's not dwell on that plot element!). Adding insult to injury is the melodramatic finale, with Reynolds mournfully tossing a Raggedy Ann doll into the water – a downbeat conclusion to a mixed-up movie that tries to do a whole bunch of things, and none of them well.
Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray of this seldom-screened Universal release debuts in HD with a very strong 2K master (2.35) with mono sound, the trailer, and a commentary by Howard S. Berger and C. Courtney Joyner.
(Available September 21)
Seriously confused genre mash-up – a reportedly troubled picture from producer Saul David – pairs Burt Reynolds and Roger C. Carmel as opportunists who hook up with scientist Susan Clark's efforts to uncover the missing link. They all find a prehistoric tribe living in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, but this momentous discovery ultimately leads less to a scientific celebration than a legal battle over whether the creatures are human or animals, culminating in a bizarre courtroom finale – complete with a Black Panther ultimately testifying that the creatures aren't from his ancestry!
“Skullduggery” might sound fun but this is a total trainwreck of a film that found Gordon Douglas replacing Richard Wilson and David shooting the movie partially in Jamaica. Nelson Gidding's script may well have been rewritten because the tone is all over the map, the movie starting off like a lightweight comedy before briefly becoming an adventure, and, later, a courtroom drama (oh and did I mention Carmel gets one of these ape-creatures pregnant? Let's not dwell on that plot element!). Adding insult to injury is the melodramatic finale, with Reynolds mournfully tossing a Raggedy Ann doll into the water – a downbeat conclusion to a mixed-up movie that tries to do a whole bunch of things, and none of them well.
Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray of this seldom-screened Universal release debuts in HD with a very strong 2K master (2.35) with mono sound, the trailer, and a commentary by Howard S. Berger and C. Courtney Joyner.