The early nineteen sixties were the great age of black comic satire in American cinema. Everyone remembers Doctor Strangelove and The Nutty Professor and Lolita and One Two Three and The Loved One.In a sense, this neglected masterpiece was the culmination. Even though Axelrod wasn't a genius like Kubrick or Wilder, this film hits its target just as unerringly. Think of it as a darker, much more savage Rushmore, in which almost all the false Gods of our civilization - phony preachers, psychoanalysis, public "education",consumerism, youth 'culture',- are weighed in the scales and found wanting. Roddy Mcdowall and Tuesday Weld give two of the great comic perfomances. Indeed, Mcdowall is inspirational to any would-be anarchist. Should be seen - and discussed - more often. Scorsese once listed this film among his "guilty pleasures": He has nothing to be guilty about-this is wonderful

George Axelrod's film of Al Hine's book isn't so much a satire of teen culture as it is a skewering of teenage-isms, such as bikinis, cashmere sweaters (in assorted 'flavors'),beach party/monster movies, high school cliques, morally corrupt parents, and the need for mass love. Tuesday Weld, starting her senior year at a new school, is befriended by psychotic pixie Roddy McDowall, who thinks of himself as a magical bird and uses hypnotism on Weld to help her achieve the things she craves. Axelrod, who also co-wrote the script, creates chaos on the screen, and then pushes his camera through it. He isn't spoofing American fads (and our eventual boredom with material pleasures),he's highlighting what he thinks we SHOULD be hostile about--but the trouble is, he's much more angry and corrupt than his central character (she's more like a wide-eyed Alice in Wonderland). Axelrod isn't indifferent--and he's not a innocence lost--but since we don't know what makes the director tick, much of the movie is just a big question mark. It gets off on the wrong foot (framing the story in flashback),featuring far too much of McDowall (acting like Norman Bates' little brother). If this movie didn't sink Roddy McDowall's movie career, it should have: he's smug and insufferable in place of self-confident. Some of the other performances are worthwhile, and Weld has many sharp, knowing moments, yet the film is a crazy-quilt put-down. It leaves you winded. ** from ****

RELEASED IN 1966 and directed by George Axelrod, "Lord Love a Duck" is a quirky satirical comedy/drama about a nonchalant student prodigy (Roddy McDowell) fascinated by a fellow senior girl (Tuesday Weld),using his preternatural gifting to grant her dubious wishes. Lola Albright plays the cocktail waitress mother of the girl while Harvey Korman is on hand as the principal. Martin West plays the girl's eventual beau and Ruth Gordon his mother.

This is a wide-ranging satire of teenage culture in the mid-60s with targets ranging from 60's beach flicks to marriage/divorce to progressive education. It's uniqueness and quirkiness is its strength. The closest comparison would be a melding of "Village of the Giants" (1965) and maybe "What's New Pussycat" (1965). The film jumps wildly about from comedy to satire to drama to tragedy to black humor. The only real negative is that it was inexplicably shot in black & white, which is absurd for a mainline pop flick shot in 1965.

McDowall was 36 during filming playing a high school senior, which he pulls off because of his youthful looks and the B&W photography tended to hide his age. His character, Alan "Mollymauk" Musgrave, is intriguing and comes across as a mixture of Svengali, Professor Higgins and Faust after his bargain with Mephistopheles. Some have described Mollymauk as a nerd genius. While he's obviously a brain, he's not a nerd because he's too cool, confident and aloof, almost condescending to those he considers lesser than him, which just happens to be everyone, teen or adult.

The tagline for the film is: "It's about a man living in our insane world who suddenly goes stark raving sane and commits mass murder." What brought about the downfall of this extraordinary individual? His obsession with the beautiful-but-shallow Barbara Ann (Weld),whom he had the power to grant every whim, but couldn't make her love him. Being a virtuoso Brainiac in high school, while a gift, is also a curse socially. Alan was helplessly attracted to Barbara Ann, but he knew she wasn't the type of girl that would go for him. Yet she wielded womanly power over him.

While I hate the B&W photography, this is one of the top flicks about 60's culture from that era. Axelrod had a good eye for shooting women with the stunning Lynn Carey standing out as Sally, not to mention several peripheral curvy beauties. No offense to the fair Ms. Weld, but she was the least of these. Lastly, I prefer the kinetic first half to the second, which switches gears into drama, tragedy and black humor. But at least you can't complain that the film's one-dimensional.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 45 minutes and was shot in the Los Angeles area (West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Newport Beach). WRITERS: Axelrod & Larry H. Johnson wrote the screenplay based on Al Hine's novel.

GRADE: A-/B+