This is set to run March 11 at 4:15 am EST ( thats really the wee hours of March 12 ). A recent trip to theTCM website reveals an updated lineup staiting that this will be shwon widescreen!
The pan and scan version of this Hammer thriller can now be mercifully, finally be laid to rest.

Well, you never know...seeing will be believing. Here's hoping.

I was surprised to see that TCM was showing POLTERGEIST pan/scan, unless my eyes deceived me. But grateful that EQUUS was shown uncut, including Peter Firth. :)

After "31 Days Of Oscar", TCM topped things off on Oscar Night with Mr Holland's Opus and Men In Black. <_<

Here's hoping that better programming sensibilities prevail for any Hammer films. I've never seen their Maniac. How does it rate with their other psycho chillers?

I remember seeing this in a theater and I'm certain the print was tinted, possibly sepia. I recall being confused because while it didn't look black and white, it also didn't look like color. Did anyone else see this during it's original run?

I have the Columbia VHS and it is standard B & W, and no idea about the initial release prints.
I enjoyed MANIAC quite a bit when I first caught it, more substantial than MIGHTMARE, HYSTERIA. CRESCENDO and maybe even PARANOIAC. I find Sangster's scripts got less and less interesting after a few go arounds, ( as he himself got bored with these films ) and prefer the earlier ones ( SNORKEL, TASTE OF FEAR ) over the later ones. The less you know going into it the better ( good advice for all of these films).

Bob, you meant "all" of Peter Firth?

Yeah, I was kinda dismayed at the p/s POLTERGEIST - it seemed even less p/s than the standard home version. For example, after the force field from the house hits Teague, there's a shot of it hitting and knocking over a bunch of neighbors on the sidewalk. Usually the operators pans over to the right to show the neighbors. Not this time. You could catch one or two people being blown out of frame, but that's it.

I admit, as much as I disapprove of p/s, that's one of my favorite examples!

Being a big fan of the British series SPOOKS (aka MI-5) which stars Firth it was amusing to see this youthful - and quite naked - pairing of he and the delectable Jenny Agutter some 25 years before they were sort of squaring off against one another as members of the British Security Services.

Watching EQUUS also sets you see Richard Burton bring his A-game to the table, especially at a time when his work was not terribly distinguished. This was one of his best performances.

I thought Maniac was quite good although i guessed the plot twists. Unfortunately, TCM in the UK where I live doesn't seem to have this on their schedules at all and I would love to see a decent w/s print.

Indeed, I meant "all" of Peter Firth...who by the time he made LIFEFORCE, just eight years later when he was in his early 30s, was positively wizened. I'd have guessed 40. Will premature aging afflict Daniel Radcliffe, who has assumed the role onstage?

Anyway, EQUUS. What a kooky show. Psychiatry as middle-age voyeurism, intimations of zoophilia and explicit horse-blinding, and the "Dionysian mysteries." Basically a warmup to AMADEUS, which is the same thing: The aging mediocrity kills/cures the gifted, undisciplined youngster. You find a niche and you work it. :) And a product of its times: Today the kid would be put on Prozac, given a sentence of some sort after a brief turn as a media sensation, and to hell with the Dionysian mysteries.

And, if Sidney Lumet shot most of THE WIZ from too far away, he certainly makes up for in in EQUUS with those "alright, already!" close-ups of Burton's eyes.

Burton had to jump through hoops to get the part, too, and his celebrated Broadway turn in the role was not just a warm-up... it was an audition.

Yes! I saw it later, with Anthony Perkins and Keith McDermott. I sat on stage and got cruised by one of the "horses" all through the play, I kid you not (I was in high school, but I also looked older). One of the nicest examples of a star being acknowledged at a play he wasn't in was at one of the times I saw the Gorey DRACULA, and Burton and his last wife came in, looking tanned and terrific. The audience gave him a warm salvo of applause, and he seemed happy to chat and sign autographs before the show and during intermission. I thought a lot more of him after that evening.

Did Perkins throw lit cigarettes at you? In the bio of him it said he quickly tired of the part and, to show his boredom, amused himself by tossing cigs at the audience, who booed. Uta Hagen would not have approved. :)

No. He kinda gave me the once over early in the play, and then went about his business, with no flinging. Then came the horse. I wonder if he was hung like a man....

MANIAC, people, MANIAC..! :rolleyes:

They currently have Freddie Francis's Hysteria scheduled for 2:15am on June 1st.

TCM delivered on its promise, showing a handsomely LTXed print of one of Hammer's more schematic offerings last night. Not a keeper (though not bad) but I'm glad to have seen it, and look forward to HYSTERIA.

I don't think anyone who throws MANIAC back will consider HYSTERIA a keeper.