Those Damned Kids

 

“…if one is not blinded by a sense of indispensability, one must take it that we, like the other lords of creation before us, will one day be replaced. There are two ways in which it can happen: either through ourselves, by our self-destruction, or by the incursion of some species which we lack the equipment to subdue. Well, here we are now, face to face with a superior will and mind. And what are we able to bring against it?” – Gordon Zellaby (The Midwich Cuckoos) 

Children are our hope for the future, if we can divorce ourselves from our egos long enough to appreciate them. At least for most parents, we wish our children will supersede us, becoming more successful, but above all, not repeating the same mistakes we made. While we’re waiting for our kids to conquer the world, we beam with pride over every major and minor milestone and accomplishment (“Aren’t they the smartest? Aren’t they the cutest little dickens?).

If we are to survive as a species, humanity must undergo a transformation, and our children are the key to evolving into something better. As a parent, I want my kids to inherit an Earth without hate, war, or self-serving agendas, but who will be the architects of this bold new society? John Wyndham’s 1957 novel The Midwich Cuckoos examined the dark side of the answer to this question. A film adaptation, Village of the Damned (1960) debuted a few years later, followed by the sequel, Children of the Damned (1964). How do these films stack up? Read on… 

Village of the Damned (1960) Directed by Wolf Rilla; Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla and Ronald Kinnoch; Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham; Starring: George Sanders, Barbara Shelley, Martin Stephens, Michael Gwynn and Laurence Naismith; Available on Blu-ray and DVD 

Rating: ****½

“I’ve got to confess I’ve been complimented over the years for my direction of the children, and who am I to scoff at compliments? In fact, there was no particular art to directing these children. The trick was entirely in the concept. The only principle from which I started was that the normal behavior of children is very restless. I made these children keep very still at all times, move very deliberately, and very unchildlike ways. They sat upright and very still. That’s what made them rather frightening.” – Wolf Rilla (from Steve Haberman’s Blu-ray commentary) 

Something strange is afoot in the quiet rural English town of Midwich, where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Until one fateful day, the townspeople seemed secure in the knowledge that nothing much has changed, and nothing likely will. Suddenly, without warning, everyone within the confines of the village becomes unconscious, collapsing in place. Anyone who attempts to enter the confines of the town suffers the same consequences as its residents, succumbing to the whatever invisible forces are at work (as one unfortunate pilot soon learns, the effect extends several thousand feet into the sky). On leave for the weekend, Major Alan Bernard (Michael Gwynn) plans a visit to his sister Anthea Zellaby (Barbara Shelley) and brother-in-law Gordon (George Sanders)* in Midwich, only to discover the place cordoned off. Just as abruptly as they fell asleep, the townspeople wake up, and things are apparently back to normal – at least for the moment.   Shortly after, Anthea learns that she’s expecting. The proud parents-to-be celebrate their good luck, but their elation is short-lived. 

* Fun Fact #1: Stirling Silliphant wrote the first iteration of the screenplay in 1957, with Ronald Coleman in mind for the lead.

It’s not only Anthea, but all of Midwich’s fertile women who have simultaneously become pregnant – whether they had partners or not. This obviously creates friction in the tight-knit community, especially for one unfortunate woman, whose husband returns from a year at sea to discover she’s expecting. The simultaneous birth of the dozen children* only further forces a wedge through the village’s inhabitants. The children, all born with flaxen hair, unusually shaped fingernails and dark eyes,** immediately begin to exhibit formidable intelligence, while developing at an unnaturally fast rate. They share a hive mind – what one knows, the others instantly understand, exemplified by the scene where one of the now two-year-old children solves a complicated wooden puzzle box, which the others duplicate. Most alarming, however, is their ability to influence the adults’ minds, to carry out their bidding or exact retribution. As we soon learn, similar occurrences are simultaneously appearing in several locations across the globe, with some communities taking drastic measures to combat the perceived threat. 

* Fun Fact #2: While there were 60 children in the book, the number was reduced to 12 for the film version. 

** Fun Fact #3: The filmmakers cast children with dark eyes to contrast the light hair (actually wigs). The cut of the wigs accentuated their foreheads, suggesting somewhat enlarged frontal lobes. According to film historian Steve Haberman, the studio wanted the children to look weirder. Thankfully, restraint prevailed.

As written in the novel, Gordon Zellaby in the novel was a hopeless pedantic, in love with his own words and ideas. George Sanders’ interpretation, is much less insufferable – still the consummate intellectual, but more grounded and relatable. Perhaps because of his love of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, he forms a tenuous bond with the children, who greedily devour anything he chooses to teach them. Barbara Shelley was reportedly unhappy with her character as written, hoping for a more substantial role. To her credit, she imbues Anthea with the appropriate amount of ambivalence towards her son, David (Martin Stephens),* with her motherly love tempered by fear for what she’s unwittingly brought into the world. When David leaves home to join the other children, her visible relief can’t be contained. 

* Fun Fact #4: According to Haberman, Stephens left acting in 1965 to pursue a career in architecture.

Village of the Damned uses the limited $225,000 (approximate) budget to its advantage, wisely never revealing the specific cause of the children’s abrupt appearance, leaving us to speculate about their presumably extraterrestrial origins. Likewise, the children’s intentions are ambiguous, with David their de facto leader and spokesperson. Our only clue to their ultimate goal is when they reveal they wish to spread out and propagate more of their kind in the world. The idea that they can willfully exert control* over the townspeople becomes a prospect too terrifying to ignore, becoming an “us or them” proposition. In one of the film’s most chilling scenes, where a would-be assassin turns the shotgun on himself, we witness the magnitude of their powers. The prospect of killing children is unthinkable, but to allow them to continue with their shadowy plans is to hasten the extinction of the human species (at least in its present form). Gordon devises a defense against the children, envisioning a brick wall – an impenetrable mental barrier, where he conceals his innermost thoughts. 

* Fun Fact #5: The glowing eye effect (when the children focus their powers) was achieved by using a matte of the actors’ irises. The positive image was then reversed to negative, making the children’s eyes appear white.

Reviews of Village of the Damned were mixed, with some critics calling it “sick.” MGM didn’t have much faith in the film, but once again proving William Goldman’s Hollywood adage that “nobody knows anything,” the little movie became a big hit (as well as ensuring the viability of a sequel). A largely faithful adaptation of John Wyndham’s novel that preserves the main themes, Village of the Damned is a thoughtful science fiction/horror hybrid that asks difficult questions and doesn’t provide easy answers.

Children of the Damned (1964) Directed by Anton Leader; Screenplay by John Briley; Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham; Starring: Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, Barbara Ferris, Alfred Burke and Sheila Allen; Available on Blu-ray and DVD 

Rating: ****

 

“It’s a science fiction thriller. That’s on one level. On another level, it’s a moral fable about the use of brains by the two major powers during the cold war. Because I took this tact, it became very different from The Village of the Damned, where the intelligent children were all evil and destructive. The children in this screenplay are mysteries until the very end…” – John Briley (from Blu-ray commentary) 

Children of the Damned uses the original story as a springboard, rather than a bible.*/** Instead of clusters of children, individual children are born in various corners of the world – presumably a second attempt by an extraterrestrial influence to gain a foothold on Earth. In contrast to the first film, by all outward appearances, they resemble ordinary children. Their behavior, however, is eerily similar: all possess extraordinary IQs, devastating psychic ability,*** and display the same emotional detachment as their predecessors. Children from the Indian, Kenyan, Chinese and Soviet embassies connect with their British counterparts, with all converging in London. While the common denominator is that they were all born to mothers without partners, their origins remain a mystery, with the second film playing as coy as the first. 

* Fun Fact #6: This was John Briley’s first sole credit for a screenplay. Briley would go on to write the screenplay for Gandhi (1982), which also earned him an Academy Award. 

** Fun Fact #7: The film also marked Anton Leader’s feature film directorial debut. 

*** Fun Fact #8: In an effort to distance themselves from the first movie, the filmmakers didn’t want to depict glowing eyes, but they were overruled by MGM top brass, who insisted on the effect. As a result, the glowing eyes are employed much more sparingly this time around.

Depicting international characters required more diverse casting choices, compared to the original movie (with its purposely homogenous kids). As outcasts among their own compatriots, they sequester themselves in a crumbling, abandoned cathedral, where they attempt to continue their obscure plans undisturbed. Although their ultimate intent is unknown, they construct a device that can deliver a shrill, incapacitating signal, stopping some would-be intruders in their tracks. The device provides a mere glimpse of their potential, which becomes too much for the government to ignore.

One refreshing addition in the sequel is a sense of humor, which was mostly absent from the first film. There’s some nice interplay between Dr. Tom Llewellyn (Ian Hendry),* a geneticist, and Dr. David Neville (Alan Badel), a psychologist. After meeting a parent of one of the exceptional children, Dr. Llewellyn wryly remarks, “I think we can safely say that he didn’t get his brains from mother.” 

* Fun Fact #9: Richard Burton was considered for Hendry’s role, but the filmmakers ultimately decided the children should be the real stars of the film.

(SPOILER ALERT) The sequel presents us with the same dilemma as the first film: are these extraordinary children too dangerous to be kept alive? We’re left with essentially the same conclusion, but instead of a willful effort to destroy them, human error is their undoing, with their fate sealed by the careless drop of a screwdriver. The final shot of the film is especially heartbreaking and poignant, with two of the children’s hands visible through the rubble, joined together in death. Along with the children, there’s the feeling that humanity’s best hope has died with them. Once again, the message is clear, much to the world’s detriment, humanity isn’t ready to accept a radical transformation.

On the surface, Children of the Damned appears to follow a similar structure to the first film, but upon closer scrutiny, the sequel displays its true colors. The children in the first film were a menace that needed to be isolated and/or eliminated. It’s not so clear the second time around, with the children seeming less the perpetrators and more the victims. According to John Briley, Wyndham was so impressed with his interpretation of the source material that he advocated for Briley’s sole credit on the screenplay. Much like the kids themselves, Children of the Damned is an evolution of the original film. While it could never match the first film for its novelty or suspense, it’s a solid sequel, worthy of Wyndham’s premise.

 

Sources: Blu-ray commentary by Steve Haberman (Village of the Damned); Blu-ray commentary by John Briley (Children of the Damned); The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham