Film Review
Arch Oboler is an American playwright who is most famous for his radio
work, notably the horror series
Lights
Out. He started directing films in the mid-1940s and
scored a notable success with
Five
(1951), a post-apocalyptic melodrama made on a shoestring budget.
Oboler followed this with another entry in the sci-fi genre,
The Twonky, a weird blunt satire on
the impact of television on domestic life. Subtle the film may
not be - the humour is heavy-handed both in its writing and its
execution, and every supposed gag is stressed by some irritating
'goofy' music - but it nonetheless has an impact. The low budget
special effects give it a zany 'bricolage' feel that makes it one of
the strangest films to get a theatrical release in the 1950s.
Hans Conried, a member of Oboler's radio company, shows next to no
aptitude for comedy, although the script, loosely based on a short
story written by sci-fi writer Henry Kuttner in 1942, would have made
it virtually impossible for any actor to shine in this film.
Billy Lynn plays a football coach who - annoyingly - has all the
answers as to what the mysterious television set is and where it came
from, but at least he gets the best line: "In a few moments, your
Twonky will twonk no more." The line uttered by everyone who gets
taken over by the television set, "I have no complaints", is not one
that was voiced by the critics or audiences - the film bombed at the
box office and was soon forgotten before it showed up - ironically
enough - on television. Whilst it struggles to be remotely funny,
The Twonky has an indefinable
charm, and is so strange that you end up liking it in spite of its
obvious flaws.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Small town college professor Kerry West finds an unwelcome addition to
his household after his wife has left him to spend some time with her
sister. Mrs West's newly acquired television set does far more
than what it is supposed to. First it lights Mr West's cigarette
for him, then it starts doing household chores and opening bottles, and
this it does without even being plugged into the mains! When a
man shows up to collect the 100 dollar fee for the set, the infernal
device magically produces twenty five dollar bills. According to
Kerry's friend Coach Trout the television is a Twonky, something from
the future that is intended by the state to control the behaviour of
its citizens. Sure enough, the television set soon begins taking
control of Kerry's life, deciding what music he should listen to, how
many cups of coffee he can drink, and even which books he can
read...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.