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Reviews
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Thrilling and disturbing
Ever since "Double indemnity" I've been a big fan of Billy Wilder and so I was curious to see this classic movie. "Sunset Blvd." turned out to be even more impressive.
There is something deeply haunting about this picture. Right at the beginning it leaves little doubt as to its tragic ending. And although the development of the action looks predictable there is not a single moment of dragging.
The movie is about Norma Desmond, a heroine from the silent movie area who hasn't realized that she has been long forgotten by the audience. Now she wants to make a comeback with her own movie for which she has written the script. Joe Gillis incidentally runs into her and, since he is a script writer (and young and handsome), she chooses him to polish up her script.
**MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD**
There are some remarkably chilly moments: Joe Gillis witnessing the scene of Norma Desmond's monkey's funeral or - towards the end of the movie - Max' confession to Joe that he was Norma's first wife.
Some of the movie's intensity may come from the fact that Norma Desmond is played by Gloria Swanson who was in fact a star from the old days of silent movies. Her butler Max is played by Erich von Stroheim who was director of many picture with Swanson before sound conquered the movies. Their performances give this film a lot of credibility.
All the four lead characters received well deserved academy award nominations for their performances. Holden plays Gillis effectively in a cool and reserved manner which contrasts very well with Gloria Swanson. Von Stroheim is playing her butler Max and his devotedness to Norma is touching and makes the audience sympathetic both with him and his master.
The movie ends with a memorable scene where Norma descends the stairs with all her grandezza after she has shot Gillis with a revolver. She doesn't realize that this would be her last appearance in front of a camera. Often when movies have a sad ending, they become corny. Not this one. Wilder treats Desmond with the utmost respect throughout this movie.
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
A real noir
This movie is one of the examples that show how a proper noir is made. It features a decently complex story that will keep you in your chair throughout the whole film along with the appropriate cast. Dick Powell plays a very good Philip Marlow and has just the right amount of filth and toughness for this role. Add to that some Hitchcockoesque shots and scenes and also the apt amount of dry humour. A nice one!
Al di là della legge (1968)
Unbalanced
This is a somewhat curious movie, an odd mixture between Italo western, comedy and drama (even melodrama at times!).
The main problem is that it isn't quite sure about what it is supposed to be on the whole. The shooting and fighting scences are pretty trashy. Lee van Cleef and Lionel Stander save some of the scenes although it becomes obvious that van Cleef is the wrong chap for the role of Cudlip: He's too talkative and witty in a conventional way. In the end he's torn apart between his new duty as a sheriff and his former life as a thief. You cannot even remotely compare his role to that of Sentenza or Col. Mortimer in the Dollar-trilogy.
When nothing better is on, you can probably watch this movie and get a little bit of entertainment out of it. Also see whether you can reckognize Bud Spencer. He's playing a quite untypical role which does not involve his fists.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Good prerequisites, but nonetheless a failure
Everything about this movie would point to a masterpiece: the infamous Leone/Morricone combination, an impressive cast a very colorful setting and even a grant story. However, this movie is a failure in quite a few ways. I am explicitly referring to the extend version here.
When you have a movie of around four hours you have to give the viewer a character he can clinch to with some amount of sympathy. Noodles was supposed to be this character but he is incapable of doing so because of some of his actions he committed in the movie. Yet there is a bit of a heroic air about him which makes it even more confusing for the viewer.
Another major shortcoming is that the story presented is obviously stretched to fill four hours. There are passages which bring the flow of the story to a halt. This in itself can be an interesting stylistic means and it certainly is rather typical for Leone. It worked splendidly in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Once upon a time in the west" but failed here. I therefore assume that the 140min version might suffer less from these problems.
* SPOILERS AHEAD *
The funny thing is that - despite its runtime - the movie doesn't make other important aspects of the film clear enough. The fact that Maximilian slipped into Noodles' life after his faked death isn't sufficiently explained. Moreover, and this is a cardinal sin, the film utilizes the dead-man-revival trick that is often used in mediocre films to fill some holes in the plot. This wouldn't be necessary since in essence the plot is fine and wouldn't need such mending.
There are minor other things why this movie is not as good as it should be. The amount of violence presented in this movie can put off the viewer. It wouldn't have been difficult to present the violence (which is, afterall, part of the story so that's not the point) in a more subtle and less explicit way. With respect to this, some of the violence seems utterly misplaced: Noodles' raping of Deborah which comes as a nasty surprise to the viewer. This scene would be ok if some reflection on this followed later in the film. But it doesn't. Even when Deborah and Noodle meet again 35 years later, the silence between them seems to be targeted at a different issue.
And then there is the ending between Noodles and Maximilian. It isn't badly done, but it could have been done better. Max doesn't give any explanation for his faked death. Noodles reaction however makes sense and is convincing.
* SPOILERS DONE *
Eventually, the soundtrack is a little tame by Morricone-standards (although this is probably a tribute to the fact that this movie really tells the story as though it was a melodrama).
I'd give this one 7 out of 10. It is a grant movie, no doubt, but it is also a disappointment in many respects.