The Elephant Man (film) use of the title. "The Elephant Man" was met with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 90% rating, based on 42 reviews, with an average score of 8.4/10. The site's consensus reads, "David Lynch's relatively straight second feature finds an admirable synthesis of compassion and restraint in treating its subject, and features outstanding performances by John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins." Vincent Canby wrote: "Mr. Hurt is truly remarkable. It can't be easy to act under such a heavy mask ... the physical production is beautiful, especially Freddie Francis's black-and-white photography." A small number of critics were less
The Elephant Man (film) is going to be used over and over and over again in the future...And every time it’s used in a movie it’s going to diminish the effect of the scene." When Lynch and Sanger screened "The Elephant Man" for Brooks after they returned from England with a cut, Brooks suggested some minor cuts but told them that the film would be released as they made it. There had been a play about Merrick on Broadway called "The Elephant Man", which was enjoying a successful run on Broadway at the time of the film's production. The producers sued Brooksfilms over the