Fox (The)
- Director: Mark Rydell
- Writer: Lewis John Carlino; Howard Koch
- Producer: Steve Broidy; Howard Koch
CGiii Comment
Considered rather risque for its time - 1967.
Consider when D.H. Lawrence wrote it, circa 1918, when it was terribly English and Victorian.
In this adaptation - made in the liberal-minded swinging 60s - with two American women not showing any restraint whatsoever.
Here lies the problem - there is no restraint, no shocking clash of etiquette - nothing that would raise an eyebrow - except for the penetrating bleatings from Sandy Dennis - never has a character come across with such insipid detestability.
The Fox did not need updating nor did it need a splatter of vulgar unsubtlety to make its point - the result is a ridiculous bastardisation of a moral that existed in a time gone by.
Bland by today's standards - an intensely dumb and annoyingly boring adaptation with one of the most contrived conclusions ever to disgrace the silver screen.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Based on D.H. Lawrence's novella about two young women - sickly, chattering Jill Banford and quiet, strong Ellen March - who are trying, hopelessly, to run a chicken farm in Canada. A gentle but powerful man named Paul Renfield who used to live on their farm returns and puts things in order. But his proposal of marriage to Ellen awakens the homosexuality dormant in the girls: Jill uses her weakness to make Ellen feel protective, and the women become active lovers.
Cast & Characters
Sandy Dennis as Jill Banford;
Anne Heywood as Ellen March;
Keir Dullea as Paul Renfield;
Glynne Morris as Overstreet, Estate Agent