The Final Programme (4½ Stars)

"Scientific mysticism was always a German hangup, sort of a dress rehearsal for the Götterdämmerung, the twilight of the Gods... or humanity... or both".

I have a love-hate relationship with this film. It's based on Michael Moorcock's novel, "The Final Programme", which is my favourite book. It's always difficult for a film to satisfy the fans of a book. Things are never quite the way the reader imagines them. In the case of "The Final Programme" so much of the original story has been stripped away that the end result is as thin as a skeleton. There's no Bishop Beesley, there's no astronaut's manual, and there's no nurse called Ulla. Or was her name Una?

On the other hand the film is a beautiful landscape of psychedelic chaos from beginning to end. It's directed by Robert Fuest, the director responsible for the two Dr. Phibes films, and it can be seen as his ultimate work. The intense colours emphasise the absurdity of the plot, an absurdity which is contained in the original novel. The difference is that the novel takes the time to explain the absurdity, whereas the film just throws it at us. The film is at least an hour too short to do the book justice.

The film begins with Jerry Cornelius visiting the funeral of his father Alexander in Lapland. He's approached by Dr. Smiles, a research colleague of his father, who wants to have a microfilm from his father's house. Jerry knows nothing about the microfilm, but he's intrigued, especially when he meets a mysterious woman, Miss Brunner, who also wants the microfilm. Jerry's brother Frank takes possession of the microfilm and attempts to sell it to the highest bidder, but Jerry and Miss Brunner team up to retrieve it from him.

This all takes place against the background of a Hindu prophecy that the world is about to end. Miss Brunner claims that she wants to save the world, or at least create a new one, but her motives seem selfish. Jerry doesn't know whether she's his friend or his enemy.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

It's a very tasty world.