It has to be emphasized that when it comes to 1978's "Touch of the Sun," one of Peter Cushing's 'lost films,' that it wasn't actually lost, it was hiding! A definite contender for the cherished 'worst film of all time,' filmed on location in the African nation of Zambia, once Northern Rhodesia, a vanity project from editor-writer-director Peter Curran, produced by wife Elizabeth, with son David serving as assistant director. Peter Curran's only Hammer association was as editor of 1970's "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," his other obscure efforts as inept auteur including 1971's "Male Bait," 1974's "The Cherry Picker," 1975's "Penelope Pulls It Off," and 1981's "Tell It Like It Is Boys," all sex comedies. That has to be the reason such juvenile antics are supported by a couple of gratuitous full frontal shots of a bathing Sylvaine Charlet, a French starlet of little apparent ability. Top billing goes to an incredulous Oliver Reed, intentionally blundering his way through the entire picture as a bumbling military captain whose long suffering general (Keenan Wynn) sends him to recover a space capsule captured in Deepest Africa by despotic Emperor Sumumba (Edwin Manda). Wilfrid Hyde-White, who had appeared alongside Spike Milligan and Terry-Thomas in Curran's "The Cherry Picker," cameos as 'M-1,' Hilary Pritchard gets fondled by Reed as 'Miss Funnypenny,' while emerging unscathed is Peter Cushing's Commissioner Potts (replacing the absent Terry-Thomas), guiding Reed's native bearers on a trek to the Emperor's palace. Entering at the 31 minute mark, Potts is unaware that WW2 has ended (no deliveries since 1942), continues to treasure a portrait of Queen Victoria, and marvels at the natives relaxing in pajamas and robes while watching television. Basically a reprise of his nutty professor fresh from "At the Earth's Core," Cushing's professionalism is a far cry from the relentlessly unfunny lowjinks, certified proof of his amazing ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. As dreadful as it is, third billed Cushing's white bearded explorer is genuinely amusing, quite an incredible feat considering the homemade atmosphere engendered by the filmmakers. Cushing's three other 'lost films,' "Battleflag," "Son of Hitler," and "Black Jack," must look like "Hamlet" next to this meager effort. Oliver Reed followed his worst performance with his best, in David Cronenberg's "The Brood." Playing an effeminate Tarzan (billed as 'Ginger Rogers'), is Melvyn Hayes, the young Baron from "The Curse of Frankenstein," who had also appeared opposite Cushing in "Violent Playground" and "The Flesh and the Fiends," as well as doing later Hammer comedies "Love Thy Neighbor" and "Man About the House." The huge cast list of 65 features nine actors getting double billing (for 74 roles), and specialized lettering difficult to read, another sure sign that nobody gave a damn. A hapless combination of full frontal female nudity and thuddingly heavy handed infantile slapstick, this is the movie that would have forced IMDb to devise a lower rating than one star!
Review of A Touch of the Sun
