'Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment'
Karel Reisz, 1966, bw (8*)
This small and unique film made actor David Warner a star. He’s more lovable here than as Evil Incarnate in Time Bandits, or the evil computer program in Tron, as he plays Morgan, a zany but lovable psychotic who’s obsessed with giant apes, Communism, and ex-wife Vanessa Redgrave. However she’s moving on and about to get re-married, sending Morgan on a chest-thumping binge of jealous insanity.

Yes, there's some silliness, but also some deceptively subtle psyshosis portrayed on film, some from Morgan's point of view. It's very easy to empathize with him here as we've all been driven a little nuts by love. Vanessa has such a beautiful laugh in this that you can easily imagine what deprivation Morgan must feel being separated from her.

Director Reisz (who also directed The French Lieutenant's Woman) has made an original comedy that reminds me of perhaps a forerunner to the Charles Kaufman comedies Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Being John Malkovich. Uneven, but so original they remain in your memory. One of the last black-and-white classics as well, I think as a throwback to the classic Ealing Studio comedies of the 40's and 50's.