Demon Seed
1977 Julie Christie
The actors in MGM's Demon Seed share the screen with some of the most fascinating gadgetry ever designed. Take, for instance, "Alfred." That is the family name for an electronic system called Enviromod that operates as a voice-activated security guard and all-around housekeeper. Want breakfast? Just say the words, and the order slides out from the wall on a tray. Drop something on the floor? Merely tell "Alfred" to tidy up, and the proper robot cleaning elements emerge from their compartments to do the job. Then there is Gustosort, the ingenious invention that automatically stores and inventories groceries. The picture, a United Artists release starring Julie Christie, opened in 1977. On the less appealing side is "Joshua." An electronically-controlled wheelchair outfitted with a video camera for eyes and mounted with a lethal-looking "humanoid" mechanical metal arm. It's a kind of ominous jeeves that is enlisted as an emissary by the independent thinking Proteus IV. The latter takes over all human thinking and behavior. "Joshua" came into being strictly for Demon Seed The arm was
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designed originally for quadriplegic and operated by tongue switches and remote control.
Even before her now-famous walk across the screen in "Billy Liar," somebody up there had been noticing Julie Christie. In 1963, John Schlesinger gave Julie 11 minutes of screen time in "Billy Liar" after observing her some years before in a drama-school production of "The Diary of Anne Frank." Later, Schlesinger and producer Joseph Janni commissioned the writing of "Darling" as a starring vehicle for Julie. Even before that performance, David Lean bad seen her in "Billy Liar" in 1966, and cast her as Lara in "Doctor Zhivago." Currently, Ms. Christie is starring in MGM's Demon Seed a tale of terror focusing on a woman in unprecedented jeopardy. Fritz Weaver is also starred. The film, produced by Herb Jaffe and directed by Donald Cammell for United Artists release and opening at the Theatre, marks the actress' third motion picture for MGM, following "Doctor Zhivago" and "Far From the Madding Crowd." The screenplay by Roberts, Jaffe and Roger 0. Hirson was adapted from Dean R. Koontz' novel. Her challenging and difficult role in Demon Seed in which she shares most of her major scenes with an unseen presence, is that of a modern young woman trying to salvage precomputer humanistic values only to find herself the human being supremely interesting to the master computer Proteus IV. Acknowledged to lie one of the most talented and attractive actresses on the screen, Ms. Christie won an Academy Award for her tour de force in John Schlesinger's "Darling" and was nominated again for Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller." An interpreter of both classical and contemporary roles, she was a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company in her homeland England, and, most recently, screen-starred in the modern social commentary "Shampoo."
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