"Trog"
Film Details:
Character name: Dr. Emily Brockton
Salary for the film: $70,000.00
Released by: Warner Bros.
Release date: September 30, 1970 (National)
Director: Freddy Francis
Author/Screenwriter: Peter Bryan and John Gilling (original story)
Aben Kandel (screenplay)
Principal Cast:
Joan Crawford - "Dr. Emily Brockton"
Michael Gough - "Sam Murdock
Bernard Kay - "Inspector Greenham"
Kim Braden - "Anne Brockton"
David Griffin - "Malcolm Travers"
John Hamill - "Cliff"
Thorley Walters - "The Minister"
Jack May - "Dr. Selbourne"
Film Synopsis:
When three explorers find the "missing link" in an English cave, local anthropologist,
Dr. Brockton(Crawford), attempts to study it while battling the local township, whom want to have the creature destroyed.
Production Details:
Producer Herman Cohen purchased the original story written by Peter Bryan and John Gilling in 1968, with filming scheduled to commence in November 1968 with a $2,500,000.00 budget.
Production delays prevented the filming until June 1969.
Joan signed-on in May 1969 in the role of "Dr. Brockton. The role originally written as a male doctor.
Filming began on June 30th (also cited as July 7th), 1969 in London, England. Principal photography ended September 8th, 1969.
Post production editing on "Trog" (which included 10 weeks of "Special effects work") ended in February 1970.
Herman Cohen screened the finished film to Warner Bros. executives in July 1970.
Click here to view filming locations.
Screenings & Release:
September 23rd, 1970: Released in New York, New York, Los Angeles, California and select cities
September 30th, 1970: Released nationally as a Double-Feature with the film "Taste The Blood Of Dracula".
Mid-October, 1970: Opens in Detroit, Michigan. Premiere attended by producer Herman Cohen.
Mid-November 1970: Released in London, England.
Box Office:
(Paired as a double-Feature with "Taste The Blood of Dracula" after the September 23rd, 1970 premiere in New York, Los Angeles and selected cities)
$96,000.00 (First week, September 23rd, 1970) 24 theaters - New York, New York, Los Angeles, California, selected cities
$44,000.00 (First week, September 23rd, 1970) Chicago, Illinois.
$22,000.00 (Second week, September 30th, 1970) Chicago, Illinois.
$7,000.00 (Second week, September 30th, 1970) Los Angeles, California.
$17,300.00 (First week, September 30th, 1970) Warfield Theater, Spruce Drive-in - San Francisco, California.
$7,600.00 (Second week, October 7th, 1970) Crown Theater, Spruce Drive-in - San Francisco, California.
$8,000.00 (2-day, second week, October 7th, 1970) Baltimore, Maryland.
$25,000.00 (2-day, Second week, October 14th, 1970) Multiple theaters - Columbus, Ohio.
Reviews:
'Trog' and 'Taste Blood of Dracula' - The New York Times (October 29th, 1970)
"Three hours of British-made pseudo science fiction and horror, such as "Trog" and "Taste the Blood of Dracula" that drenched the screens of the DeMille and other houses yesterday in ersatz plots and gore, could conceivably encourage potential movie buffs to turn, say, to the charms of plumbing. This might not be a disservice since neither entry shocks entertainingly nor enlivens the ailing cause of the B-type thriller on the lower half of double bills.
There is, however, a rudimentary virtue in "Trog," a sort of second cousin, 15 years removed from "Creature From the Black Lagoon," in that it proves that Joan Crawford is grimly working at her craft. Unfortunately, the determined lady, who is fetching in a variety of chic pants suits and dresses, has little else going for her.
As the anthropologist chief of a research center that has unearthed a living, hairy, half-caveman half-ape, Ice Age "missing link," a troglodyte she cutely nicknames 'Trog' and attempts to rear as you would a backward child, she poses no threat either to Dr. Margaret Mead or Dr. Spock. Of course, there"s the villainous Michael Gough who goads the gentled 'Trog' 'into murdering several villagers, a rampage that leads to "Trog's' climactic destruction.
"I never expected this," one of Trog's discoverers exclaims. But thanks to a script that makes everything vapidly obvious from the start, 'Trog' is no more exciting or scientific than the antics of a rambunctious kid in a progressive school.
If anything, "Taste the Blood of Dracula" is as "scientific" and humorless as "Trog." Christopher Lee, as Dracula and an old hand in the horror trade ("The Hands of Orlac," "The Gorgon," "Dr. Fu Manchu," "Dracula," "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave") now is involved in dispatching three improper Victorians, who not only are averse to drinking his blood but also have killed one of his disciples.
As the vampirish Count, complete with crimson eyes and king-sized incisors, Mr. Lee, his victims, Geoffrey Keen, John Carson and Peter Sallis, and their amorous sons and daughters, Linda Hayden, Martin Jarvis, Isla Blair and Anthony Corlan, succeed in making blood-letting an anemic show.
Early in the creepy proceedings in a ruined church, one of the timorous trio whispers, "My God, I don't like this." He proves to be absolutely right."
