MovieChat Forums > The Damned (1965) Discussion > Why the Names of Kings and Queens?

Why the Names of Kings and Queens?

posted 19 years ago by stubbsn
9 replies | jump to latest

I was intrigued by this strange movie when I saw it awhile ago. Did anyone notice that the children who are being "conditioned" for life in a post-nuclear world all have the names of British monarchs? (Elizabeth, Victoria, George, etc.) Does this have any connection to the (unusual) name of the Oliver Reed character, "King"?

One possible thought: the film may present an allegory, based on the fear of British neo-conservatives that the identity of "Old England" will not survive into the post-war era. At the same time that the "conditioned" children are pawns in the government's game to ensure the survival of the British heritage, the present-day youth (King and his gang members) are also "the Damned" of their society. They are misunderstood by the adult world, unloved, and totally unprepared for survival in the harsh future that awaits them. (Hence the transposition of the children's cries--"Please help us!"--over the final image of the seaside town, which is the environment of the youth gang).

Any thoughts?

[–] escalera-2 19 years ago

I haven't seen the picture, only read about it. However, I must commend you on your thoughtful analysis of what would probably have been an overlooked point.
Interesting.

[–] flan99 18 years ago

stubbsn

A very interesting observation.

A fascinating film.

Well worth watching.

[–] jack_stiles 18 years ago

Yep, they're supposed to repopulate the world... and they had to be named something.. so why not the names of the monarchs?

And I didn't "get" it either until I saw names in the credits. ;)

[–] stubbsn 18 years ago

Thanks for the comments on my original posting! I had begun to wonder if "These Are The Damned" was ever going to see the light of day again, but it appears that a recent TCM broadcast has sparked renewed interest in the film.

Has anyone read the novel on which the movie is based? Does the novel also make reference to the names of monarchs, and if so, does it explain why these names were chosen for the children?

Looking forward to further discussion!

[–] crisotto 16 years ago

Named by committee, by a gang of half-crazy English patriots, what else would they be called?

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 15 years ago

The Fabulous Farouk 50 Minus 45 comes to mind; a band of no reknown.

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

[–] arthurlundquist 11 years ago

According to my paperback copy of THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT (the source material for THESE ARE THE DAMNED), the children are introduced as "John Ellis, William Brown, George Orwell, James Robinson, Albert Jones, Henry King. And this is Mary, Elizabeth, Margaret, Anne, Vera, Diana, Dora and myself, Sylvia."

Perhaps someone made a specific decision to drop any name that wasn't from a monarch. Or the names in the movie may have simply been common upper class British names.

Oh, and for whatever its worth, King is called Caesar in the book. Neither the government official Bernard nor the sculptor Freya are in the book. Losey had the idea for Freya after seeing the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink. Bernard's name may have been chosen to evoke the memory of the scientist Bernard Quatermass from Hammer's Quatermass films.

I think the people who posted here hating the film would probably like the book. It is more like a Hammer film.

[–] marktayloruk (2590) 2 years ago

George Orwell - appropriate.

[–] ciprianl 10 years ago

The idea is, I believe, that when the time comes, and they are the hopefully only human beings alive, who will repopulate the world, will do so with the good old English values, thus ensuring that England will have won the war. It's a situation of last man, or in this case, the last man's values that remain standing. I wrote "hopefully", of course, because the paranoia of the bureaucrats in charge of the project mainly stems from the fear that the enemy might find out about their project and try to duplicate it, and thus instead of the outcome of the war being a guaranteed win for England, it will only lead to the start of a re-population race (it's a similar argument to that at the end of Dr. Strangelove).