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Reviews
Le salaire de la peur (1953)
Splendid film
In general I steer clear of foreign films, not just because I dislike reading subtitles, but also because I never feel as comfortable viewing them as I do films from my own culture. Perhaps I don't like to stretch myself as much as I should. I approached this film with trepidation. From the first second of this film I was absolutely absorbed into the world it created - a world dominated by desperate men from disparate cultures trapped in a sordid backwater. Without money, passports and marketable skills, they spend their time indulging in drunkenness, indifferent sex and mindless violence until they are offered an escape through a trial by fire, survivor takes all and the chances of survival are slim indeed. Wages of Fear provides the ultimate in suspense, character development, physical and psychological action. It is a visual masterpiece, not because of the beauty it displays but because of the complexity, depth and darkness of the world it portrays. It reminds me so much of Treasure of the Sierra Madres, an examination of courage and character under the most dire circumstances. A wonderful feature of this film -- there is absolutely no background music which increases the reality and suspense because the viewer cannot anticipate the action. You get to sweat and tremble along with the characters as they drive over washboard roads and crumbling mountain paths. The acting is superb, and this from a person who has in the past dismissed Yves Montand as a frivolous song and dance man. Highly recommended.
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
The Last Best Noir
Completely surreal and over the top -- the hardest of hard boiled containing every significant marker of this quintessential American genre. Outrageously odd characters and unrelenting cruelty. Meeker is calm, controlled and absolutely deadly, Velma oozes sexuality underscored by a wary cynicism, and Lily is fey, crazy and scary. Every character entertains, crazy quirkiness is rampant and nobody escapes final judgment. The film was astoundingly violent for the mid-fifties and it's psychological cruelty still stuns today. In the end, the cool cynicism and world weariness which marks this genre explodes quite literally and pulls noir out of the darkness into the atomic age.
Odd Man Out (1947)
Reed's masterpiece
The settings and photography of this film are absolutely outstanding, Johnny's hiding place, Shell's odd room full of canaries, the elaborate Victorian tavern,the snow covering Johnny as he lies unconscious. I love the Third Man but this is by far my favorite Carol Reed production. It is slow and contemplative and transforms essential theological and philosophical concepts into visual media. It is strange and almost at times hallucinatory, but after all Johnny is often hallucinating in his pain and fever and this dreamlike quality is quite appropriate -- the slow thoughts of a man before he dies, as he tries to figure out what it was about and where he may be going. Reed does so much with film without dialog -- his close-ups of faces, his soft, dark streets and odd angles turn very difficult concepts and feelings into a visual masterpiece. I am always surprised to see how little commentary, what short shrift this excellent film is given