Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Ballad of Tam Lin (1970)


Directed by Roddy McDowall
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Republic Pictures)

Ava Gardner invites swinging young Londoners to stay at her mansion for free. They play frisbee on the grounds, have their fortunes told and indulge other selfish pursuits. One of them wanders into the nearby town and gets a girl pregnant. Gardener is insane with jealousy since he is her current favorite and lover. Boy and girl plan to escape together and get married but Gardner drugs him and sets her coven after him on a high speed chase. He begins to hallucinate and turns into a bear and fights a giant snake in the swamp (as a man not a bear). The only film ever directed by Roddy McDowall is ambitious but overlong, mainly due to a middle section where nothing much of interest happens, and then there is that head-scratching ending.

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