Movie Review: Compulsion (1959)

Genre: Crime and Courtroom Drama

Director: Richard Fleischer

Starring: Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Orson Welles

Running Time: 103 minutes

Synopsis: In Chicago of 1924, wealthy college law students Judd (Dean Stockwell) and Artie (Bradford Dillman) bludgeon fellow classmate Paulie Kessler to death and dump his body in a ditch. Judd believes his superior intellect will help him get away with murder, and yet he is emotionally dependent on the more playful Artie. Judd starts to develop emotions towards Ruth (Diane Varsi), while her boyfriend Sid (Martin Milner), a budding journalist, uncovers evidence linking Judd to the crime scene. District Attorney Horn (E.G. Marshall) investigates, while Judd's family hires celebrated veteran lawyer Jonathan Wilk (Orson Welles) to mount a defence.

What Works: Director Fleischer and writer Richard Murphy adapt Meyer Levin's book, a fictionalized account of the Leopold and Loeb murder case, as a chilling exploration of evil lurking within privilege. Guilt is never in question, just the bewildering, conniving, and wrecked emotional state of two murderers brought to life by Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell in complex performances. A frumpled Orson Welles arrives in the final third and proceeds to dominate a gripping courtroom drama where mental state and justice-as-bloodlust are the central questions. Fleischer and cinematographer William C. Mellor are alway seeking interesting perspectives, including excellent use of mirrors and eyeglasses, and emphasis on the grandiosity of elite internal spaces.

What Does Not Work As Well: Welles' prolonged final monologue to the packed courtroom goes on well after he makes his key points.

Conclusion: A stinging journey into the maze of damaged psyches and societal consequences.



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Movie Review: The Third Man (1949)

A missing man murder mystery set in post-war Vienna, The Third Man is a masterpiece of ambiance. Director Carol Reed creates a world of intrigue populated by men and women hiding secrets, and captures it all with stunning visuals filled with uneasy shadows and glistening surfaces.

Vienna after the war is divided into five sectors. Each of the French, British, Americans and Russians control one, while the centre of the city is the international sector, where the four countries run hopelessly inept joint police patrols. It is here that all the criminals have congregated to run the assorted dangerous rackets that flourish in a devastated city. American Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a little-known writer of bad pulp westerns, arrives in the city at the invitation of his old friend Harry Lime only to find out that Lime has just died in an accident after being run over by a truck.

Martins meets British police Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and his assistant Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee), and they are keenly interested in any friends of Lime. Martins also gets involved with the cryptic Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), Lime's former lover. But more intriguing is the collection of Lime's former associates, including  "Baron" Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch), Dr. Winkel (Erich Ponto) and the Romanian Popescu (Siegfried Breuer). In addition to the coincidence of all having being present when Lime died, they appear friendly and keen to meet Martins, and just as eager to see him leave town.

In talking with Lime's porter (Paul Hörbiger), Martins discovers inconsistencies in the narrative about Lime's death, including the possibility that a "third man", in addition to Kurtz and Popescu, helped carry Lime after he was struck by the lorry. Martins is drawn to the troubled Anna but out of his depth investigating the death of his friend. Another man dies and Martins himself is now a suspect, before the truth gets further entangled in a growing web of deceit.

Written by Graham Greene and directed with panache by Reed, almost every frame of The Third Man is a piece of art. Making outstanding use of film noir techniques including oblique angles, enormous shadows, acute light, reflective surfaces and stark blacks and whites, Reed and his cinematographer Robert Krasker create a world unhinged by the aftereffects of war, occupied by desperate men profiting from a vacuum of civil order and the slow creep of anarchy. Almost everything important appears to happen in the dark hours, Vienna at night the playground of the twisted and evil.

For a story set in the land of Mozart, Strauss, Haydn and Schubert, Reed goes looking for a unique music score and veers sharply away from anything resembling convention. Composed by the unknown-at-the-time Anton Karas, the music consists of simple, rural tunes played by Karas himself on the zither. The music adds enormously to the sense of a world gone halfway insane, and is a timeless, playful and instantly recognizable accompaniment to the dazzling visuals.

As for the plot, it is sturdy enough to compete with all the dramatic style on display. A classic investigation into a dense mystery by an unwelcome outsider, it is evident early on that nothing about Harry Lime's death is routine. It is equally clear that not much good will come from Holly Martins' well-intentioned but ultimately misguided search for a better truth.

Before long a bad situation is just getting worse thanks to his meddling, Anna landing in trouble with the Russians, another dead body landing on the Vienna streets, and Martins fingered as a suspect and on the run from both an unruly mob and more clinical goons. It's a cat and mouse game in the half abandoned back alleys of a wounded city, and Martins is never sure until it's too late whether he is the hunter or the hunted.

And then there is Orson Welles. Appearing for less than 20 minutes of screen time, Welles turns a glorified cameo into an unforgettable experience. His lines of dialogue have entered movie folklore, and his searing, beady-eyed and ruthless intensity leaves an indelible impact. Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee and Alida Valli are steady, but once Welles appears he dominates with effortless composure, and the film becomes about a man controlling the strings while hiding in the literal and figurative shadows.

The Third Man ends brilliantly, with an exquisitely framed encounter that doesn't happen, full of words that aren't spoken, and the tantalizing promise of a better life that is not fulfilled. The war may have ended, but for many the misery will continue.

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Movie Review: Jane Eyre (1943)

An adaptation of the classic Charlotte Brontë novel about an orphan's awakening into adulthood, Jane Eyre is an exquisitely constructed dramatic romance. After creating a bleak shroud of physical and emotional foreboding, the film punctures through the despair with a story of love against all the odds.

England, 1830. Ten year old Jane Eyre (Peggy Ann Garner) is an orphan child, living with her cold aunt Mrs. Reed (Agnes Moorehead). Jane brightens up when she thinks that she is being sent to school, but in fact Mrs. Reed dispatches her to live at the nightmarish Lowood Institution, run by religious zealot and strict disciplinarian Reverend Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell). Her only friends are another young girl called Helen (an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor) and the kindly Dr. Rivers (John Sutton).

At 20 years old, Jane (Joan Fontaine) rejects a teaching position at Lowood and strikes out on her own. She secures a job as the governess for a young girl called Adele (Margaret O'Brien), living at the isolated, massive Thornfield estate, owned by the frequently absent Edward Rochester (Orson Welles).

Jane finally meets Edward on the foggy moors, accidentally knocking him off his horse. He is gruff, rich and mysterious, but Jane cannot help fall in love with him. Gradually, she starts to discover the layers of secrets in Edward's life, including his relationship with beautiful socialite Blanche Ingram (Hillary Brooke). Most worryingly, Jane starts to suspect that there are others who live in the closed-off mansion towers, as horrifying screams and hysterical laughter echo through the night. Then an intentional fire suggests that Edward Rochester's Thornfield is not just mysterious, but potentially deadly.

Directed by Robert Stevenson, Jane Eyre is a presented as a gothic romance between deeply damaged lovers. Set against a stunning backdrop of a dreary England enveloped by seemingly perpetual darkness, fog and rain (and all filmed on a Hollywood soundstage), the film brilliantly succeeds in creating a visual aesthetic that matches the psyches of Jane and Edward.

In different ways and through different circumstances, both are tortured by their pasts and carry deep scars. Jane's story is known before they meet; Edward's story becomes the focus of the second part of the film, and Jane will learn it is indeed possible for the rich and privileged to suffer just as much as she did as a poor orphan.

At just 97 minutes, Jane Eyre proceeds at a crisp pace without sacrificing character depth. Once Stevenson makes his dramatic points he does not linger, quickly moving on to the next chapter. This being fundamentally the story of two characters discovering an unlikely pathway to happiness through each other, there are plenty of dialogue passages between Jane and Edward, but they are handled with a welcome briskness and lack of melodrama.

Helped by the cinematography of George Barnes and a magnificent Bernard Herrman music score, Stevenson creates several memorable moments to highlight Jane's journey. At Lowood a young Jane is made to stand on a stool, alone, punished by Brocklehurst and labelled a liar. Then Helen quietly approaches with an extended hand of friendship and some food: there is kindness in the world.

The first meeting between Jane and Edward is bravado filmmaking at its best. Jane is out for a walk in the nighttime fog. A barking dog, galloping hooves, a startled, falling horse, and Edward emerges from the ground behind her like a dark monster out of the deep. He is in his own hell, and maybe she is his salvation. Later Jane finds herself caring for an unexpected patient in the isolated tower of Thornfield. A locked wooden door behind her starts to rattle and vibrate. Someone violent is trying to invade her room. She is not to let them in, and will need to endure the violently shaking door all night.

After Rebecca and Suspicion, Joan Fontaine was on a winning streak portraying women involved in dark, mysterious and potentially dangerous relationships, and she does not disappoint. She allows Jane to maintain an inner steeliness borne from life as an orphan, combined with an openness to embrace whatever good life will send her way. Orson Welles is domineering as Edward Rochester, carrying unspoken agonies behind his eyes and shielding his vulnerabilities with a coarse, uncompromising exterior attitude, with just the occasional hint of the potentially tender man underneath. Among the supporting cast, Henry Daniell is worth a mention as Reverend Brocklehurst. It's difficult to imagine a more uncaring, abhorrent man, hiding within the cloak of authority and religious righteousness.

Visually rich and emotionally satisfying, Jane Eyre is a sumptuous achievement.

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Movie Review: The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

A frothy southern drama, The Long, Hot Summer is a traditional tale of the disruptive outsider creating mayhem in the prevailing dynamics of a sleepy small town. With a hot summer exposing raw zeal, the film serves up rampaging personal agendas.

Ben Quick (Paul Newman) is young, handsome, and carrying a reputation as a troublemaker. Barns seem to go up in flames whenever he is involved in a dispute. After being kicked out of his previous town under a cloud of suspicion but no evidence of wrong doing, Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi, a hamlet dominated by the Varner family. Will Varner (Orson Welles) is the gruff patriarch, a domineering man who owns all the businesses in town.

But Will's health is not what it used to be, and he is eager to impose his will on his family while he still can. His son Jody (Anthony Franciosa) is supposed to be taking over the family empire, but Will doesn't believe that Jody is up to the task. Jody's favourite pastime is sex with his lusciously flirty wife Eula (Lee Remick), but she is still not pregnant, a fact that does not please Will, who is desperate for descendants. Jody's sister Clara (Joanne Woodward) is not yet married, and time is ticking. She has a tentative suitor in the shape of neighbour Alan Stewart (Richard Anderson), but Alan is a weak man living under the thumb of his widowed mother.

Ben's arrival acts as a stir stick within the Varner family. Will sizes up Ben and quickly designates him as more worthy than Jody of inheriting the Varner businesses. He also considers Ben as a potentially good and virile husband for Clara. Naturally, Jody is not at all pleased at being usurped, while Clara is caught between lusting after Ben and being repulsed by his naked aggressiveness.

Directed by Martin Ritt, The Long, Hot Summer is an adaptation and merging of three works by William Faulkner. The final product is very much in the mold of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, with a large man ruling the roost and having to deal with under-performing offspring.

The Long, Hot Summer is almost impossible not to like. The characters are very much the focus of the film, and there are enough issues in the lives of Will, Jody, Clara and Eula to keep the tension crackling and the emotions boiling. The introduction of Ben Quick into the mix just raises the temperature of an already hot summer by a few degrees, and he is the tipping point as suddenly all plans are disrupted. Jody's future viability is in doubt, Clara's endless wait for Alan is placed under the constraints of a hunky alternative, and Will drives hard towards outcomes that first and foremost serve his legacy.

Ritt keeps it all under control, and the film unfolds with surprising efficiency. The collisions between long-held expectations and new realities are handled with a deft touch. The scenes are relatively compact, the drama moves along at a brisk pace despite the high heat and buckets of sweat. Ritt creates a well-defined small town milieu where the rules are pretty clear until outside forces shake the fine balance, and the future suddenly veers into unknown directions riding on scandal and humiliation.

The cast deserves plenty of credit, as Ritt puts to good use former students of the Actors' Studio and they deliver with verve. Newman is unrestrained and allows Quick to unleash his blunt ambitions to earn a piece of Will's business and chip away at Clara's restraint. Welles matches Newman, and Will's conniving mix of worldly experience and coercive manipulation finds the perfect partner in Ben's youthful combativeness.

Woodward and Franciosa bring plenty of energy into their roles, and both convince as Will's offspring, sharing characteristics with their father but not the whole package. Clara is as determined as Will, but much more circumspect, while Jody tries to be a cut-throat wheeler and dealer but lacks his father's ruthless steeliness. Lee Remick's role as Eula is underwritten, and she can't do much with the young sexpot wife who is starting to awaken to her husband's lack of substance. Angela Lansbury has a relatively small turn as an inn keeper still hoping to melt Will's heart into a late second marriage.

While it builds up plenty of sweltering heat, The Long, Hot Summer does settle for an ending that tilts towards too tidy. The fires do rage, but the resolutions and reconciliations are less than consistent with the previously expressed burning desires. Regardless, the Varner family is forever changed by Ben Quick. Not necessarily better or worse, just less burdened by pretense.

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The Movies Of Orson Welles

All movies starring Orson Welles and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Citizen Kane (1941, also Director)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, narrator, also Director)

Jane Eyre (1943)

The Stranger (1946, also Director)

Duel In The Sun (1946, narrator only)

The Lady From Shanghai (1947, also Director)

The Third Man (1949)

The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

Touch Of Evil (1958, also Director)

Compulsion (1959)

The V.I.P.s (1963)

A Man For All Seasons (1966)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Touch Of Evil (1958)

A stylish film noir, Touch Of Evil is an unpredictable mystery propelled by cultural tensions, compelling characters and a central murder that serves as a catalyst for all manner of sordid events.

A bomb is planted in the trunk of a car on the Mexican side of a border town. Soon after the car crosses into the US, the bomb explodes, killing an influential businessman and his floozy. Mexican detective Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) and his American wife Susie (Janet Leigh) are among the first on the scene. But police captain Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) and his partner Menzies (Joseph Calleia) soon arrive and take over the investigation. Vargas wants to help solve the case since the bomb was planted in Mexico, but Quinlan isn't too welcoming.

Vargas is embroiled in a battle with the corrupt Grandi family. Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) starts a campaign of intimidation targeted at Susie, distracting Vargas from the bombing case. An increasingly morose, overweight and out of shape Quinlan visits his old flame Tanya (Marlene Dietrich), but she's shocked by how badly he's aged. Quinlan's investigation then leads to the arrest of a Mexican man called Sanchez (Victor Milan), the secret lover of the dead man's daughter. But Vargas questions the methods used by Quinlan and Menzies, and starts to delve into Quinlan's history, uncovering plenty of dubious behaviour. Quinlan and Grandi form an uneasy alliance as they now both have a reason to get rid of Vargas, as Susie finds herself isolated at a remote motel and threatened by drug-fuelled thugs.

Directed and written by Welles, Touch Of Evil is celebrated for its brilliant single-take opening sequence. In a remarkably fluid and uninterrupted three minutes and twenty seconds, Welles' camera tracks the bomb as it is placed in the target car and crosses the border, while Vargas and Susie, out for a walk, unknowingly and on several occasions stroll in and out of the ticking bomb's path. The scene ends with a powerful explosion, an artistic exclamation mark that sets in motion the events that will define the film.

The bomb and the double murder turn out to be a relative sideshow in an intensifying battle of wills featuring Captain Quinlan, detective Vargas and the extended Grandi clan. Quinlan instantly learns to dislike Vargas, maybe because he is a Mexican poking his nose in Quinlan's affairs, but more likely because Vargas appears to be incorruptible. Joe Grandi does not need any more reasons to dislike Vargas, the Grandi family's drug business having been the target of Vargas' enforcement efforts. It does not take long for Quinlan and Grandi to recognize their common interests, except that Quinlan is usually a few steps ahead of everyone else when it comes to games of deceit.

Captain Hank Quinlan is one of Welles' greatest creations. Fat, sweaty, grumpy and just plain tired, Quinlan crosses the ethics line as a matter of routine, his mind plotting the downfall of his enemies in multiple dimensions concurrently. Quinlan speaks with a deep rumble at the start and end of every sentence, reluctantly sharing his thoughts and acerbic opinions only in fragments. Less impressive but still interesting is Charlton Heston as a Mexican. The most American of epic heroes does his best, but his stature, accent and overall attitude remain entrenched in the Heston persona, the actor unable to impart sufficient cultural nuance to break away from his established base.

Welles fills the film with sharp shadows, asymmetrical lighting, plenty of nighttime activity, edgy, tilted camera angles, and no shortage of creepy characters even in the secondary roles. Dennis Weaver is unforgettable as the shifty, terrified night manager at the motel where Susie ends up, while Marlene Dietrich is the ghost from Quinlan's past; except that he is so long past his prime that she doesn't bother with trying to recognize him. Zsa Zsa Gabor gets a small role at the Mexican strip club.

Touch Of Evil benefits from a sense of genuine uncertainty, the cast encouraged during rehearsals to improvise and enhance their events and characters. With Quinlan, Vargas and Grandi all working at cross-purposes and with an international border limiting their reach and authority, anything can and does happen. Susie is unknowingly trapped by Grandi in a creepy motel (just a few years before Janet Leigh checked into even more dangerous accommodations), Vargas ends up investigating Quinlan in the Captain's own back yard, an illicit cross-cultural love affair may or may not be the reason for the bombing, Sanchez may be innocent or may be framed by Quinlan and Menzies, and Quinlan is busy plotting against all to save his reputation.

What is certain is that evil is at play, trust is in short supply, long-standing alliances will be tested, reputations are at stake, and more lives are likely to be lost before a measure of peace is restored to a small community on either side of a once-quiet border crossing.

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Movie Review: The Stranger (1946)

A sparkling film noir about the hunt for an elusive Nazi hiding in plain sight, The Stranger is a dazzling Orson Welles achievement, combining small town innocence with international intrigue.

At the United Nations War Crimes Commission, Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) authorizes the release of tweedy small-time Nazi prisoner Meinike (Konstantin Shayne). Wilson is hoping that Meinike will lead him to the wanted war criminal Franz Kindler (Welles), who has erased all evidence of his previous life and created a new identity. The plan works: with Wilson in pursuit, Meinike makes his way to the idyllic small town of Harper, Connecticut, where Kindler has assumed the persona of school teacher Charles Rankin, and is just about to marry the sweet Mary (Loretta Young), daughter of a Supreme Court Justice.

Meinike has a brief meeting with Mary, but Kindler is most unhappy that the little man has potentially revealed his whereabouts, and so Meinike pays the price. With Wilson closing in on his prey, Kindler is on guard to keep his real identity a secret, and the dangerous business of uncovering a Nazi in hiding will require Mary to question her judgement about the man who is now her husband.

A powerful study of opposing forces, The Stranger creates tight tension between the hunter, the hunted and the victims caught in the middle. Wilson and Kindler are similar men, determined, smart and resourceful, and their games of accusation and denial, hide and seek grow ever more serious. Robinson and Welles are worthy on-screen adversaries, two heavyweight actors facing off in a mighty battle of wills.

Meinike, Mary and her little town are the collateral damage, Meinike selfishly used by Wilson, Mary recruited by Kindler to complete his assimilation, and Harper unknowingly serving as a post-war battleground. Wilson's interaction with the townsfolk brings out the character of Harper, with the local grocer and jack of all trades Mr. Potter (Billy House) at the hub of everything including gossipy innocence. The church gradually emerges as the central node where good and evil will have a final confrontation, Kindler's obsession with fixing clocks the one part of his past that he is unable to delete.

Welles packs The Stranger with shadows, close-ups, dangerous camera angles and stark contrasts, creating the perfect film noir aesthetic. And he infects Harper with a spreading evil in the form of Kindler, a man quickly establishing himself as a teacher of children and son-in-law of a Supreme Court judge. It does not take long for villainy to take hold, and Kindler represents the threat posed to an open society by a tenacious enemy with a dark but now erased past.

Compact and compelling, The Stranger is a devious fugitive and an impeccable movie.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Reviews: The V.I.P.s (1963)

An ensemble cast multi-story drama set in and around a London airport, The V.I.P.s maintains a steady level of interest thanks to the numerous stars on display, but never manages to properly take off.

A group of rich travellers gather at a London airport in preparation for a flight to New York. Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) is dropped off at the airport by her preoccupied businessman husband Paul (Richard Burton) to travel to a presumed vacation, but she is secretly planning to abandon her marriage and elope with international gigolo Marc Champselle (Louis Jourdan). Australian businessman Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor) is financially stretched to the limit, and must make it to a meeting in New York to salvage his business. He is accompanied by his loyal assistant Miss Mead (Maggie Smith). Pompous actor Max Buda (Orson Welles) must make it out of Britain by midnight, or otherwise face a hefty tax bill. He is accompanied by aspiring starlet Gloria Gritti (Elsa Martinelli). And the Duchess of Brighton (Margaret Rutherford) carries a big title but has no financial means to keep up her estate. She is hoping to land a job in Florida to help pay the bills.

When thick fog descends on the airport and delays the flight, the travellers have to face their crises. Things get worse when they are forced to stay overnight at an airport hotel. Frances is torn between Paul, who pays her little attention but is passionate in his love, and Marc, who seems to love her but may be an opportunist. Les risks everything by authorizing a bad cheque while remaining oblivious to Miss Mead's feelings towards him, and Max's accountant has to come up with an innovative, but awkward, solution to his client's tax problems.

Directed by Anthony Asquith and written by Terence Rattigan, The V.I.P.s has an intriguing premise, tapping into the growing fascination with the emerging jet set of rich people worried about money and relationships within their world of privilege. Adding real-life couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor into the mix helps the glamour quotient despite rather pedestrian execution.

Asquith brings to life an airport buzzing with activity, the V.I.P. lounge a crossroads of the rich and powerful acting all rich and powerful, and fawned upon by dedicated airport staff. When the drama moves to the hotel the film loses steam and becomes more stagebound, as what is essentially a talkfest is deprived of the surrounding energy generated by a major transportation hub.

Understandably focussing on Paul and Frances Andros, The V.I.P.s spends a long time on Frances' dilemma, exposing in the process the couple's frivolity. She can't decide whether to give her husband another chance to demonstrate genuine affection, or abandon him and tie her fate to a recognized playboy. Her hesitation becomes tedious, and is not helped by Paul running around with a handgun and a short temper, while Marc oozes smarm from every pore.

A bit more interesting is Maggie Smith as Miss Mead, the phenomenally efficient and equally devoted assistant to the jovial Les Mangrum. In just her fourth screen role, Smith combines secretarial capability with secretly held love and delivers the film's most sensitive performance. At the other end of the scale are Welles, Martinelli and Rutherford, who grab onto the broadest definitions of their characters and delve no further. Rutherford somehow won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for a monotonal and ill-defined turn as the dotty Duchess of Brighton.

The V.I.P.s are reasonably engaging characters, but their stories include some bothersome turbulence.

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Movie Review: The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

A ponderous film noir, The Lady From Shanghai enjoys some brilliant directorial touches from Orson Welles, but is otherwise saddled with dingy characters and blurry motivations.

In New York City, Michael O'Hara (Welles), a tough but down on his luck and unemployed Irish sailor, rescues the beautiful Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth) from some Central Park hoodlums. Elsa and her lawyer husband Arthur (Everett Sloane), who walks on crutches, hire Michael as a seaman on board their yacht for a journey to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Joining the trip is George Grisby, Arthur's business partner and also a lawyer.

As the journey progresses, the earthy Michael finds the Bannisters and Grisby distasteful and conceited. Nevertheless, Michael and Elsa are soon attracted to each other. But the trip takes a turn towards the bizarre when Grisby asks Michael to help fake his death for an insurance windfall, in return for $5,000. With his lust for Elsa heating up, Michael is unsure who to trust and what his next move should be, especially with private investigator Sidney Broome (Ted de Corsia) nosing around the affairs of the Bannisters.

A rushed production delivered by Welles to Columbia Pictures as part of a financial commitment, The Lady From Shanghai stutters its way through the fog of a poorly defined plot. Despite containing plenty to admire, the film is fundamentally lacking a gravitational focus. Elsa, Arthur and Grisby all seem to be plotting something, but their plans remain opaque for far too long, leaving a group of sordid people behaving badly towards each other and dragging the dim Michael into their wreckage.

Ultimately too much of the over-convoluted plot is explained in a rush through off-screen narration rather than on-screen events, resulting in style asserting too much dominance over substance. Most of the film is occupied with hushed and repetitive conspiratorial conversations overlayed with philosophizing about life, love and death, but coming from the mouth of unlikable characters oozing with unexplained evil intent, the resonance is thin. At the film's centre the character of Michael is just too gullible and unsympathetic, and does not offer anything other than a reckless rush into a criminal swamp and an ill-conceived infatuation with an unavailable woman.

The Lady From Shanghai does boast one of Rita Hayworth's most attractive performances. Welles transforms his wife into a short-haired blonde ready to deal in plenty of lust and even more lies, and Hayworth responds with a buzz of understated voltage, allowing Elsa to smoulder with frustration and intent, often in fetching swimwear onboard the Bannister's yacht. Everett Sloane as Bannister and Glenn Anders as Grisby benefit from Welles' close-ups and shadows, filling the screen with a nasty partners' feud heading towards a showdown.

And it's ultimately Welles' trademark camerawork and mastery of shadows that gives the movie its appeal. Most of the scenes that matter in The Lady From Shanghai happen at night, as darkness envelops Michael's world, and Welles plays with light, fire and crisp contrasts. The film ends with a famous gunfight staged in a disorienting funhall of mirrors, Welles adding infinite repetitive reflectivity to his repertoire. Michael O'Hara was not bright enough to steer clear of his shady new acquaintances, and his penance is to see them in a nightmare of multiples, guns blazing.

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Movie Review: Citizen Kane (1941)

One of the most outstanding achievements in the history of cinema, Citizen Kane ushered in the era of maverick directors stamping their films with grand personality and vision. Orson Welles assembles a masterpiece of virtuoso storytelling in recounting the amazing tale of a rich industrialist who has everything that can be bought and nothing that matters.

Mega tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Welles) dies a lonely death in his enormous, lavishly furnished but mostly empty Xanadu mansion. His last uttered word is "Rosebud". Journalist Jerry Thompson (William Alland) is tasked with finding out what the word meant, and tracks down Kane's closest associates, including best friend Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten) and lifelong employee Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane). Through their anecdotes Kane's life story is revealed.

Born to a poor rural family in Colorado, when he was a young boy Kane's mother Mary (Agnes Moorehead) inherited a piece of property where a massive gold deposit was unearthed. Kane's parents place him in the care of banker Walter Thatcher (George Coulouris) and send him away to get an education and see the world until his 25th birthday, when he inherits his massive fortune. Kane never gets over the shock of abrupt separation from his parents and happy childhood.

As a rich young man, Kane has his pick of businesses to run, but decides to personally take control of the New York Inquirer, a struggling newspaper. He uses it as a pulpit to expose corruption, bolstering his popularity and influence, and he goes on to build a massive national media conglomerate. He marries Emily Monroe Norton (Ruth Warrick), the niece of the President, and sets himself up for a career in politics, initially running for the Governor's office.

With Kane riding a wave of popularity and holding a seemingly unassailable lead in the opinion polls, his rival Jim Gettys (Ray Collins) exposes Kane's extramarital affair with lounge singer Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), ending Kane's political career before it starts, and also destroying his marriage. Emily leaves him and he immediately marries Susan. Kane pours enormous resources to try and establish Susan as a serious opera star. As Kane grows ever more obsessed with seeking the world's approval, his remaining personal relationships start to suffer. And still, Thompson doggedly pursues what "Rosebud" could have possibly referred to.

Coming from the world of theatre and radio, Welles was recruited to Hollywood by RKO studios and given complete artistic control. At 24 years old, he set about reinventing the movies, creating his own rules because he did not know that there were any that needed to be followed. The original artistry injected into Citizen Kane is one of the gateways to modern film, a suite of inventiveness that redefined the possible, and recast the role of director as an inspired visionary rather than a studio hack.

Welles sets a challenge for himself by removing all tension about how the movie will end, and establishing his protagonist as not very likable. The film starts at the end, jumps back to the beginning and then moves forward again, as Kane's colleagues recount their memories. That Kane dies a lonely death is not in doubt, and many of the people interviewed by Thompson don't seem all that enamoured by the old man. And so the introduction of the Rosebud puzzle becomes an ingenious plot device, a small word that may help to define a big man, a trivial mystery that propels a grand biography. And among Citizen Kane's ultimate triumphs is the transformation of one of the world's most powerful tycoons into a desperate man deserving of pity.

Welles uses deep focus to fill the screen with layers of activity, all demanding attention. Citizen Kane is filled with shots where the closest item to the screen is driving events in the deep background, and the eye can choose to focus on the catalyst, the reaction, or both.  There are also many scenes of countless people or items filling the screen as far as the eye can see, all in crisp focus, to convey the enormous scale of Kane's empire and influence.

The camera placement is often as important as the unfolding events, Welles providing imposing perspectives, often filming powerful men from below to heighten their high levels of intimidation. When filming large rooms, the cameras capture impressive scope and the majesty of the space, either by demonstrating how full a large hall can be, or by emphasizing size through the cold stillness of under-utilized emptiness. Characters who serve to nudge the story forward but who are not essential to Kane's life are often filmed from the back, or with shadows obscuring their face.

As for the essence of Citizen Kane, Welles and screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz were at least partially inspired by the real life story of William Randolph Hearst. The theme of the movie settles on the eternal quest for love and acceptance by a man who has everything except what he needs to close the hole in his heart. Money can buy everything except inner peace, and Kane obsessively attempts to gain the adulation of his newspaper readers, his political supporters and the two women in his life. Often substituting material things for meaningful caring, Kane may have infinite financial resources but limited emotional competence, and money without soul cannot warm the heart. But maybe Rosebud could.

Thompson: Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything... I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece.

Citizen Kane captivates and enthralls, a film as powerful and commanding as Charles Foster Kane himself.

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Movie Review: A Man For All Seasons (1966)

The biography of Sir Thomas More based on Robert Bolt's play, A Man For All Seasons is a distinguished talkfest and engrossingly well-acted. The story of a principled member of the intelligentsia refusing to bend to the will of his king brings to life the high stakes political games of sixteenth century England which shaped the future of both religion and the monarchy.

It's the early 1500s, and Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Welles) summons the independent-minded member of the Privy Council Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) to discuss a looming crisis. King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) is trying to circumvent the church and invent the necessary laws allowing him to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon and marry mistress Anne Boleyn. A principled lawyer, Sir Thomas sees no legal reason for the Pope to grant an annulment, and resists the pressure to support the King's machinations.

Sir Thomas is later appointed by the King to the powerful position of Lord Chancellor. His wife Alice (Wendy Hiller), daughter Margaret (Susannah York), son-in-law William Roper (Corin Redgrave) and friend the Duke of Norfolk (Nigel Davenport) are all outspoken and provide him with varying opinions about the unfolding battle between the King and the Church. Henry desperately wants the necessary legal cover for the annulment, but Sir Thomas stands by his principles and resigns his office, maintaining silence as the King breaks away from the Catholic Church and declares himself head of the Church of England. Thomas Cromwell (Leo McKern), a senior advisor to the King, and Richard Rich (John Hurt), an ambitious but morally weak man, start to plot against More.

Effectively a series of long, thoughtful conversations among a diverse group of powerful politicians, A Man For All Seasons builds authoritative momentum from complex characters. The personality contrasts allow the film to sparkle. Sir Thomas, King Henry, Cromwell and Rich all bring markedly different skills to their positions of influence. More is steeped in principle, King Henry wields his power with flamboyant madness, Cromwell is the conniving back-room operator, and Rich is the weaselly weakling, seeking undeserved position simply to satisfy naked ambition.

With nothing going on except the talking, A Man For All Seasons is all about the acting, the sets, and the costumes. The cast deliver with perfection, immersing themselves in their characters and making full use of the excellent prose in Robert Bolt's screenplay. In an Academy Award winning performance, Paul Scofield reprises his stage role and gives Sir Thomas a dignified air and a calmness that comes from possessing the deepest convictions. With More easily able to reconcile the laws of the land with the rules of the Church, Scofield portrays a man patient with others of lesser intellect and at peace with the destiny that comes from standing on principle and opposing the will of the King.

In one his earliest film roles, John Hurt portrays Rich with searching eyes and a brain racing in all the wrong directions. Hurt captures the tentativeness of man out of his depth but riding a blind drive for power, and as More sacrifices all to stay true to his values, Rich slowly but surely sacrifices all his morals in an ugly grab for higher office. Leo McKern succeeds in portraying Cromwell as the worst example of a dark political operator, alternating between promises and threats, all delivered in couched language, to serve the master of the day and extend his own reach. In a relatively small role, Robert Shaw has fun as King Henry VIII, all bombast, loud laughter, and pomposity fuelled by exaggerated arrogance and blind entitlement. Vanessa Redgrave appears in an end-credited cameo as a radiant Anne Boleyn.

Director Fred Zinnemann, who also produced, directs at a stately pace and does his best to find some exteriors, but has to be satisfied with some repetitive river-boat taxi shots, predictable gardens and static gargoyles. He does better bringing lush interiors to life, the set designs of A Man For All Seasons recreating the grandeur of life in the top echelons of English society, as well as the dark offices and holding cells where the real decisions are made and implemented.

Resisting the will of the King is ultimately not about right or wrong. Rather, Sir Thomas More demonstrated a pure example of supreme personal courage to be true to his own bedrock beliefs, no matter what the sacrifice.

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