“PEACHY KEEN”

By Raymond Benson

David Lynch is one America’s national treasures as an artist. He is mostly known as a filmmaker, of course, but he is also a painter and sculptor, a musician, and an author. At the time of writing, Lynch is 74 years old. His filmmaking output has slowed down considerably and these days he concentrates mostly on the fine arts. Nevertheless, he is arguably the heir apparent to Luis Buñuel as the foremost surrealist of our time.

And to think… Lynch owes it all to Mel Brooks.

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Lynch’s talent likely would have broken through the barriers of Hollywood for him to become David Lynch in perhaps other ways, but there is no question that Mel Brooks gave Lynch his first big break in cinema.

Lynch had made one feature film, Eraserhead (1977), a low-budget, bizarre, surreal horror-comedy about fatherhood that became a darling of the “Midnight Movie” phenomenon of the late 70s and early 80s. Then, as the story goes, producer Jonathan Sanger got the rights to a screenplay by Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren about the life of John (in real life his name was Joseph) Merrick, the so-called “elephant man.” Merrick suffered unimaginable physical deformity from birth, lived in poverty in Victorian London, worked in “freak” sideshows, and tolerated horrible abuse and exploitation. Ultimately, he was “rescued” by Dr. Frederick Treves, who was able to get him a permanent home inside the London Hospital until Merrick’s untimely death at the age of 27. That’s the story in a nutshell.

Sanger approached his friend and colleague Brooks about the script. Brooks was in the process of forming a production company, Brooksfilms, which would make other pictures besides his own comedies. Brooks liked the script and decided that The Elephant Man would be the first feature from Brooksfilms. But who would they get to direct it?

Another mutual friend, Stuart Cornfeld, suggested to Sanger that he see Lynch’s Eraserhead. This led to Sanger and Lynch meeting, and Lynch becoming enthusiastic about the project simply because he liked the title. Brooks screened Eraserhead, after which he told Lynch, “You’re a madman! You’re in!”

Thus, David Lynch found himself at the helm of a Hollywood picture budgeted at $5 million to be shot in England, and featuring such classic thespians as Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, and Anne Bancroft (Brook’s wife)! Not bad for a man in his early thirties whose favorite expression was “Peachy keen!”

The Elephant Man is a landmark, powerful movie that is easily one of the significant pictures of the 1980s. Despite its grim subject matter, it was a commercial and critical success, garnering eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hurt), and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s a monumental achievement, and it went a long way to show the entertainment industry that David Lynch knew what he was doing.

The movie is simultaneously harrowing, horrific, surreal, and beautiful. Shot in glorious black and white, the “Lynchian” touches are ever-present, especially in the dreamlike prelude and ending. At the time of release, fans of Eraserhead could immediately see that the same director was in charge; for everyone else, he was obviously a new talent to be reckoned with. While the film might not be one of Lynch’s personal pictures as writer/director (he did co-write the script with De Vore and Bergren), his stylistic signatures are all over it. Additionally, the acting is superb. John Hurt, in the title role, is brilliant and heartbreaking. Anthony Hopkins otherwise carries the film as protagonist Dr. Treves. Anne Bancroft, as the stage actress Madge Kendal, is also winning.

Mel Brooks did not put his name anywhere in the credits for fear that audiences would expect The Elephant Man to be a comedy. Nevertheless, Brooks deserves a great deal of credit for getting the picture made.

The Criterion Collection presents a magnificent new 4K digital restoration with an uncompressed soundtrack. The supplements are plentiful. Lynch and co-author Kristine McKenna read (on audio) an engrossing lengthy section from their Lynch biography, Room to Dream. (Room to Dream, by the way, is an excellent book… it is a potent treatise on art, creativity, and life.) There are archival interviews from various decades with Lynch, Brooks, Sanger, director of photography Freddie Francis, makeup artist Christopher Tucker, and stills photographer Frank Connor. Another audio recording from 1981 of a Lynch interview at the AFI is a treat, but even better is the video interview of Lynch from 2006 conducted by filmmaker Mike Figgis. There’s also a 2005 documentary on the life of the real Joseph Merrick, a 2001 documentary on the making of the film, and trailers and radio spots. The booklet contains an excerpt from the book Lynch on Lynch and a reprint of an 1886 letter to the London Times by Francis C. C. Gomm (played by John Gielgud in the film) about Merrick.

The Elephant Man sees its first official Blu-ray release in the USA with this must-have edition from Criterion. David Lynch fans will rejoice, to be sure, but The Elephant Man is also an accessible, moving piece of art that any lover of cinema should see.

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