The very first thing we see (after the MGM lion) is a title card which reads “Sometime in the 23rd century…the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here, in an ecologically balanced world, mankind lives only for pleasure, freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything. There’s just one catch: Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of carrousel.”
I mention this only because it will make it easier to explain the beginning of this film. Plot wise, it can be quite difficult to comprehend, because it is quite a different lifestyle under the dome than anything we are used to in our world.
Logan (Michael York) is a Sandman, whose job it is to pursue and ‘terminate’ (in other words, kill) Runners: those who choose not to go to the carrousel upon their thirtieth birthday, but rather try to flee and live life outside of the system in place.
Along with fellow Sandman and close friend Francis (Richard Jordan), we see Logan at the beginning of the film chasing a Runner (Glen Wilder). When they finally catch up with him and shoot him, they find (in his hand) an ankh, a symbol which at first means nothing to Logan.
He later discovers this symbol is common to all those who are seeking Sanctuary, those who run in pursuit of a better life free of the traditions of the dome.
When Logan discovers that all those people he thought were being renewed at carrousel have either run or died, he is sent on an undercover mission: pose as a runner himself and discover what and where this Sanctuary is and destroy it.
Someone else he meets who carries an ankh is Jessica (Jenny Agutter), who decides to allow him to join her in seeking Sanctuary, and the adventure begins.
The screenplay by David Zelag Goodman is actually quite convoluted and complicated. Perhaps a lot of this comes from the novel the screenplay is based on. Not having read the novel, I can’t be sure, but there is an awfully large amount of exposition throughout the dialogue, but also a lot of assumed knowledge on the part of the audience as to what is going on at all times.
The production design (by Dale Hennesy) is perhaps the most interesting visual aspect of the film, as we are treated to the fullness of what society in 1976 thought the future would look like. Everyone is dressed mostly the same, with only different colours to indicate their age (and consequently their proximity to their own carrousel); cars don’t go on roads anymore, but have no steering and travel through large tubes; ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ have been replaced with ‘Affirmative’ and ‘Negative’, etc. But I must say, the sets do definitely set the scene, and establish that we are indeed ‘in the future’.
With regards to the score, it sounds as though composer Jerry Goldsmith has just been given his first synthesizer, and is still trying out all the new samples and weird sounds he can get out of it. The score is actually not terribly musical in nature (which I believe is out of character for Goldsmith), but more just a collection of electronic sounds that don’t really go all that well together in my opinion.
Performances by the cast are not too bad, with the clear standout being Michael York in the title role. An honourable mention must also go to Peter Ustinov, whose character name is literally ‘Old Man’, but he brings his all to this role, as he does with any role he puts himself to.
Director Michael Anderson has certainly created a unique film here, but I feel it’s a little too convoluted and complicated for today’s audiences, with no clear direction and no clear establishment of exactly what is happening here.
Personally, I don’t think I will watch this one again for some time.
4 out of 10.
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