Angel, Angel, Down We Go | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Thom |
Written by | Robert Thom |
Produced by | Jerome F. Katzman |
Starring | Jennifer Jones Jordan Christopher Roddy McDowall |
Cinematography | John F. Warren |
Edited by | Eve Newman |
Music by | Barry Mann Cynthia Weil |
Production company | Four Leaf Productions |
Distributed by | American International Pictures (US) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Angel, Angel, Down We Go, also known as Cult of the Damned, is a 1969 American film directed by playwright and screenwriter Robert Thom. It is Thom's sole directorial credit. Thom had previously written Wild in the Streets for American International Pictures, which distributed this follow-up. The film was made for Sam Katzman's Four Leaf Productions.[2][3] Thom based his screenplay on an unproduced stage play of the same title which he wrote c.1960 as a vehicle for his wife, actress Janice Rule.[1]
The overweight, emotionally troubled daughter (Holly Near) of an affluent but brittle Hollywood couple (Jennifer Jones and Charles Aidman) gets caught up with a charismatic rock singer (Jordan Christopher) and his friends. The singer proceeds to seduce and manipulate her entire family.
In August 1960 Thom, best known for writing the film Compulsion, announced he would direct a play Angel Angel Down We Go starring this then wife Janice Rule. It would be presented by Leland Hayward in December and was about a group of New York University students in Greenwich Village.[4] By November Hawyward said production was not going ahead because he had been unable to find a director and a theatre.[5] In August 1961 the play was acquired by a company, Theatrical Interests Plan.[6] In September 1962 Shirley Knight was going to star.[7]
The Broadway production did not occur and Thom turned it into a film script. Film rights were bought by Sam Katzman who sourced finance from AIP.[8]
Jones signed in December 1968 and filming began 18 February 1969.[9][10] Jordan Christopher, married to Richard Burton's ex wife Sybil, signed to co star.[11]
The part of the daughter was played by Holly Near who had not planned to be in movies but had been invited to audition off the back of her appearance at the Hugh O'Brian awards. "I got the part because I was beautiful and because I was fat," recalled Near in her memoir, adding that Thom asked her to put on a few pounds for the movie.[12]
Near said Jones "was the grand dame that she deserved to be. I watched her struggle with her part, with her role, with her fear. I felt like an ugly ducking next to an aging swan."[13]
Near wrote that she felt Thom "didn't have much compassion for my character... I struggled to give her dignity where there was none... I always wondered why Robert wanted to make this film."[14]
The songs in the film – "Angel Angel Down We Go," "The Fat Song," "Hey Hey Hey and a Hi Ho," "Lady Lady," "Mother Lover" and "Revelation" – were written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and were sung by Jordan Christopher.[1]
The Los Angeles Times called it "a pretentious mess" although "it can never be said to bore."[15]
According to the New York Times the film was "an unmitigated financial disaster."[16] "It was trash," said Near.[17]
AIP tried re-releasing the film as The Cult of the Damned in 1970. It was issued on a double bill with The Vampire Lovers. The Los Angeles Times called it "a terrible piece of trash."[18]