[colombiancannon]

HE ALSO MADE A GOOD VILLIAN IN A COLUMBO EPISODE IN WHICH HE TRAINED 2 DOBERMAN PINCHERS TO ATTACK AND KILL A MAN. GREAT EPISODE AND THE 2 DOGS WERE NAMED LAUREL AND HARDY. CHECK IT OUT, MY FELLOW HOWDIANS.

[colombiancannon]

ANYBODY EVER SEE THE PICTURE FROM LEGION WITH HARRY CAREY HOLDING HIS DISMEMBERED HEAD IN HIS LAP? IT WAS NEVER SHOWN IN THE MOVIE. THEY USED THE PICTURE FOR THE COVER OF FANGORIA.

[granville1]

Yes, the decapitation photo has been posted around. I don’t know if the film is better or not for not including this shot.

[Ryan]

http://legion.theninthconfiguration.com/rare/

[Benocles_Czar]

granville1,

Like this short article a great deal… could be used as a part of an essay one might want to write for my book…
😛

Cheers & God Bless
Benjamin Szumskyj
(editor of the forthcoming ‘American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty’)

[granville1]

Although the Morning character was a tack-on generated by Morgan Creek’s insistence that Legion contain an exorcism, there is some value in Morning.

First, Paul Morning is a new creation by Blatty, created purely for the film. The character has no existence in the Legion novel. Blatty afficianados are, in Morning, in a very real sense, treated to a totally new character sprung from WPB’s profound imagination.

Importantly, although WPB could have opted for a throw-away character, venting his resentment over MC’s interference by slapping together a junk priest – the shallow, empty type of clergyman we are all too familiar with from inferior horror films and bad movies and TV generally. Instead, in Morning, Blatty gives us a character of surprising depth, considering the few brush strokes that Blatty was allowed in depicting this new exorcist, who is now, being added to the venerable team of Merrin and Karras.

In Morning, Blatty is able to recreate the feeling and presence of Lankester Merrin, hero of novel and film, exorcist extraordinaire. Like Merrin, Morning has performed at least one prior exorcism which was traumatic enough, if not to “damn near kill” him, at least has turned his hair white overnight. The university president suggests Morning to Kinderman as a source of exorcistic information, similar to Merrin’s being suggested as exorcist in the original novel and film.

Yet Morning is not a mere empty vessel into which Blatty pours Merrin. While Max von Sydow’s-Merrin’s sanctity was mostly conveyed by body language and self-deprecating dialogue, Blatty’s camera allows us, more intimately, to view Morning’s own living quarters. They are extremely orderly, clean and simple – Morning’s possessions are meagre and reflect his holiness. A family picture shows a toddler held by a man and a woman – plausibly the toddler is Morning. There is a small sculpture of St. Michael vanquishing the Dragon. A crucifix on the wall. Morning is seen reading what may be his breviary.

His compassion is evident in the little box he has made to nest an injured bird. When the bird stops chirping and stirring, Morning goes to the window sill where the box is set.

On the way, the camera tracks his shadow moving across the wall – and brings in two references from the original film and novel: 1) Morning’s shadow is photographed in a very similar manner to the way Friedkin’s camera tracks von Sydow from behind as he comes up to the metalsmith’s shop. 2) Morning’s shadow crosses a wall plaque carrying the motto, “What we give to the poor is what we take with us when we die” – which is a saying printed on a card in Damien Karras’s wallet in the novel.

Morning, like Merrin, is quick to recognize Pazuzu’s presence in the sudden death of the bird, the darkening of the sunlight, the wind blowing through his room. When the crucifix falls off the wall and emits blood, this only confirms to Morning that he must soon face a familiar enemy.

Just before the exorcism, we see Morning praying alone the prayer that runs through the film, “… the Lord defend my life…” He pauses in reflection, murmuring, “My life…”, sensing that, this time, he may lose.

Any success in the gratuitous exorcism scene is due to Williamson’s/Morning’s utter authenticity. The audience is made to feel Morning’s struggle and deep opposition to the demon. Finally, Morning is instrumental in saving the day for Kinderman and the demonically-imprisoned Karras: his last act is to brandish the crucifix and urge Karras to “Fight! Fight him, Damien!”

Although Blatty’s original version is probably the better of the two, we have been presented with Morgan Creek’s version. Morning’s contribution to that version should not be dismissed merely because it was a studio-mandated tack-on. I think we are somewhat privliged to have been gifted with a completely new Blatty character who can, with some justification, be added to the Exorcist saga.

[Author]

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