I remember sitting alone in the dress circle of a huge city cinema when this film was released in its 165-minute version. It was dubbed, of course. Only Orson Welles, Leslie Caron, Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Charles Boyer, Anthony Perkins, Simone Signoret, Robert Stack, George Chakiris and Skip Ward were permitted to dub their own lines. Everyone else in the cast was at the mercy of some very inept dubbers indeed. So, with the DVD, I decided to watch the French version, which is certainly a vast improvement. Welles, Caron, Boyer and Signoret continue to voice their own lines, but now they are joined by the entire French cast. Main drawback is that Gert Fröbe, who has the movie's lead role, is still inadequately dubbed.
Director René Clement of La Bataille du Rail (1943) and Plein Soliel (1959) would seem an excellent choice, but the movie's longwinded script seems to have overwhelmed him. The sluggish pace is not helped by extraneous episodes (Montand, Perkins, Chakiris) and vignettes. I can appreciate an editor's reluctance to eliminate many of the guest spots, but the movie's pace would undoubtedly improve a great deal without them. Some of the action, well-staged though it is, also needs to be trimmed. On the other hand, Gert Fröbe's character is poorly developed and needs more exposition. What do we know about him at film's end? Virtually nothing! So little, in fact, that his acts and final summation all come as a complete surprise.
Director René Clement of La Bataille du Rail (1943) and Plein Soliel (1959) would seem an excellent choice, but the movie's longwinded script seems to have overwhelmed him. The sluggish pace is not helped by extraneous episodes (Montand, Perkins, Chakiris) and vignettes. I can appreciate an editor's reluctance to eliminate many of the guest spots, but the movie's pace would undoubtedly improve a great deal without them. Some of the action, well-staged though it is, also needs to be trimmed. On the other hand, Gert Fröbe's character is poorly developed and needs more exposition. What do we know about him at film's end? Virtually nothing! So little, in fact, that his acts and final summation all come as a complete surprise.