This movie has plot holes you could fly a jumbo jet through. And it has absurdities that will drive you crazy. To say that this movie is totally incoherent would be an understatement. I was just lucky that I'd read the book before so I kind of knew what was supposed to be going on. I also didn't understand the reason for most of the changes from the book: Why would an American in Istanbul travel to the Georgian port of Batumi in Eastern Black Sea, part of the USSR, to get back to the US?! Why is his wife with him in Istanbul? She disappears in the beginning and reappears in the end. Why he's not delivered his coat and suitcase from the hotel before the boat leaves? Etc. etc. These changes don't make any sense, either plot-wise (tighter) or production-wise (cheaper). Silly.
Cotten plays like a robot. Except for him, there is some promising casting but the actors have neither the time nor the lines to do anything with their characters.
Maybe somebody shot a proper full-length version of this movie and then a mad joker cut out the crucial 1/3. Then somebody edited it while trying to land a plane in a hurricane. I don't know. It certainly has not aged well at all. If you're looking for another "The Mask of Dimitrios," this isn't it. This accident of a movie reminds me of some shorts from the 1920s. Pity.
PS: I saw the version with the horrible voice-over and the terrible ending..
Cotten plays like a robot. Except for him, there is some promising casting but the actors have neither the time nor the lines to do anything with their characters.
Maybe somebody shot a proper full-length version of this movie and then a mad joker cut out the crucial 1/3. Then somebody edited it while trying to land a plane in a hurricane. I don't know. It certainly has not aged well at all. If you're looking for another "The Mask of Dimitrios," this isn't it. This accident of a movie reminds me of some shorts from the 1920s. Pity.
PS: I saw the version with the horrible voice-over and the terrible ending..