Top 250 Challenge: 192

The Elephant Man (1980)
Number 104 on IMDb's Top 250

Dr Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) discovers John Merrick (John Hurt) in a Victorian freak show where he is managed by the brutish Bytes. Merrick is so hideously deformed that he must wear a hood when in public. Also, Bytes claims his exhibit is an imbecile. Treves is moved by Merrick's condition and pays Bytes to bring him to his hospital so that he can inspect him and present a lecture on his peculiar physique, at which Treves coldly displays him as a mere curiosity. On Merrick's return, Bytes beats him so severely that Treves is called, who attempts to take him back to the hospital. Bytes confronts Treves and accuses him of also exploiting Merrick for his own ends, which leads the surgeon to resolve to do what he can to help the unfortunate man. Only to expose him up to London Society. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: This film was executive produced by Mel Brooks, who was responsible for hiring director David Lynch and obtaining permission to film in black and white. He deliberately left his name off the credits, as he knew that people would get the wrong idea about the movie if they saw his name on the film, given his fame as a satirist. Following the death of the real John Merrick, parts of his body were preserved for medical science to study. Some internal organs were kept in jars, and plaster casts were taken of his head, an arm, and a foot. Although the organs were destroyed by German air raids during the Second World War, the casts survived and were kept at the London Hospital. The makeup for John Hurt, who played Merrick in the film, was designed directly from those casts. The Elephant Man makeup took 12 hours to apply each time. Merrick's condition was undiagnosed at the time of his death. Later studies of his skeleton and the casts made of his body led researchers to believe he suffered from Neuro Fibromatosis (NF), a genetic condition that 1 in 4,000 persons suffer from. The NF Foundation used the movie as a fund raising tool and credited it with making the disease more widely known. Later examination, including CT Scans of the skeleton, now lead researchers to believe he suffered from Proteus Syndrome, a much rarer condition than NF. Attempts to confirm either diagnosis with a DNA sample from a tooth have been unsuccessful.

This was a pretty good movie. The make-up really and John Hurt's performance really made the movie. You really could not tell that Hurt was under all the make-up and it helped you believe he was Merrick and not an actor playing Merrick. At the time there was not an Academy Award for make-up, but because of this movie, there is one now.