Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment 1966

Morgan Delt, David Warner, is a failed working-class London artist who was raised in a communist household. His upper-class wife, Leonie Delt, Vanessa Redgrave, has moved toward divorce to marry Charles Napier, Robert Stephens, an art gallery owner who embodies her refined social circle. Immersed in a personal fantasy world, Morgan stages a series of odd, sometimes shocking stunts in an attempt to win back his wife. He even props a skeleton in her bed and later blows up the bed while her mother, Mrs. Delt, Irene Handl, sits nearby, hoping the spectacle will rekindle their relationship.

When these gambits fail, Morgan enlists Wally “The Gorilla,” a pro wrestler friend of his mother, to help him kidnap Leonie. The hulking figure behind the plan is played by Arthur Mullard. Leonie ends up in the countryside with Morgan and Wally, a setting that the film uses to blur lines between reality and Morgan’s feverish imagination, including inserted clips from Tarzan (1943) to accentuate his wild fantasies. Despite the abduction, Leonie still harbors complex feelings—tender affection tinged with pity for the man she once loved.

Leonie is eventually rescued, and Morgan is arrested and imprisoned for his actions. After a dramatic escape, he reverts to his gorilla guise and crashes the wedding reception of Leonie and Charles Napier, a moment where the film again leans on classic cinema clips—this time from King Kong (1933)—to illustrate the depths of his fantasy. He bolts from the scene on a motorcycle, his gorilla suit blazing, and is ultimately committed to an insane asylum.

In a later, intimate encounter, a visibly pregnant Leonie visits him. With a sly, knowing wink, she reveals that he is the father of her child, a twist that underscores the film’s blend of heartbreak, obsession, and unresolved longing. The story closes with Morgan back in his garden, tending a flowerbed as the camera slowly pulls away to reveal the circular plot of flowers, arranged into a hammer and sickle—a stark, symbolic image that lingers after the tumult.