DEATHWATCH
Production: USA, 1966
Director: Vic Morrow
Category: Men-In-Prison/Homo-Erotic
Based on Jean Genet’s first play Haute Surveilllance (1943-46), which explores the murderous triangle of rivalry and desire between prison cellmates vying for the attention of the charismatic Greeneyes, who is condemned to death. The play dates from the same period as Genet’s novel Miracle Of The Rose, sharing many of its themes and characterisations, and also foreshadows Genet’s prison-film Un Chant D’Amour (1950). Deathwatch, Morrow’s bold independent film version, became one of the first films to be directly marketed to a homosexual audience; it was was quickly buried in the States and never released in the UK. The film was co-produced by Leonard Nimoy, who obtained the rights directly from Genet (although the author had no involvement with the final project). Deathwatch is notable for its striking imagery of hooded convicts, prison tattoos, and the ever-present shadow of the guillotine.
Posted by Graf Mitternacht
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