M (1951)
Joseph Losey's M is a better than average remake of the Fritz Lang classic. David Wayne is no match for Peter Lorre, but uses his ballet like movements to convey hysteria, entrapment, and madness. The cast is fairly stellar though Howard Da Silva is wasted as the police inspector tasked to find a child killer. The police procedural aspect drags the movie down a bit. Losey seems more interested in exploring the seamy and down at the heels side of Los Angeles. Losey wisely shoots most of his exteriors in daylight in contrast to Lang's stunning nocturnal compositions in the original. The effect is that of a slightly surreal Group Theatre production. Robert Aldrich and Don Weis were in the production team behind this gripping, if minor effort.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
Anne Baxter, Michael Wager, Kurt Johnson, and Sean Young James Ivory's Jane Austen in Manhattan , first released in Britain in 1980 , h...
-
First Reformed Paul Schrader's First Reformed is an overwrought update of Bergman's Winter Light with climate change replacing God...
-
Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent Sarah Polley's Away From Her , adapted by Polley from the Alice Munro short story The Bear Came Over t...
-
Tales and Songs Ermanno Olmi's The Tree of Wooden Clogs deservedly won the Palme d'Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival over such ...
-
Jonathan Feltre Michiel Blanchart's Night Call , the Belgian filmmaker's first feature, is a solid and promising thriller. The film ...
No comments:
Post a Comment