Synopsis
The first American film from Merchant Ivory Productions is a fascinating meditation on the rise and fall of civilizations, with a witty screenplay by George Swift Trow and Michael O’Donoghue. Savages is filmed in an improvisatory, experimental style and merges a series of tragicomic tableaux with pseudo-scholarly documentary narration and title cards. A masked, naked, clay-covered band of jungle primitives are disturbed in the middle of a human sacrifice by the sudden intrusion of a croquet ball. Led by their high priestess, they trek through the forest in search of its origins and arrive at an immense, deserted manor house. They occupy the mansion, which begins to have a civilizing effect on them; individual personalities emerge, and with them, pasts, futures, family connections, ambitions, and other trappings of society. Savages is a dark, biting satire that will turn viewer expectations upside-down.
Cast
| Julian Branch, a songwriter | Lewis Stadlen |
| Carlotta, a hostess | Anne Francine |
| Otto Nürder, a capitalist | Thayer David |
| Cecily, a debutante | Susie Blakely |
| Andrew, an eligible young man | Russ Thacker |
| Emily Penning, a woman in disgrace | Salome Jens |
| Lady Cora | Margaret Brewster |
| Sir Harry | Neil Fitzgerald |
| Zia, the child | Eva Saleh |
| Iliona, a decadent | Ultra Violet |
| The forest girl | Asha Puthli |
| Archie, a bully | Martin Kove |
| Leslie | Kathleen Widdoes |
| Hector | Christopher Pennock |
| James, the limping man | Sam Waterston |
| Penelope, a high-strung girl | Paulita Sedgwick |
Credits
| Director | James Ivory |
| Producer | Ismail Merchant |
| Screenplay | George Swift Trow and Michael O’Donoghue |
| Based on an idea by | James Ivory |
| Music | Joe Raposo |
| Cinematography | Walter Lassally |
| Editing | Kent McKinney |
Disc Features
- High-definition digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization, an hour-long documentary film by director James Ivory about Indian scholar Nirad Chaudhuri
- Conversation with the filmmakers, part of a new series of interviews with Ismail Merchant and James Ivory
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
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