http://efas.livedrive.com/item/036b512d65a94b8fb70995d9a54aea5d (part 1)http://efas.livedrive.com/item/9a5127bf6dd0425ba82ecc53a7842e6f (part 1 subs)
http://efas.livedrive.com/item/d92ed91231044c4d91807b6b563c9af9 (part 2)
http://efas.livedrive.com/item/66177d3d96bd4b0d966e622b041a7d02 (part 2 subs)
One of the very few films to win top prize at both Cannes and Berlin film festivals in the same year, Henri-Georges Clouzot's film is most probably the most suspenseful condemnation of greed ever shot on film. Despite the first section being audaciously slow and skillfully setting up the atmosphere, the tension soon becomes riveting and unbearable as the perilous mission of driving truckloads of explosive nitroglycerin, over 300 miles of inhospitable South American terrain, is accepted by four desperate men...
On the Waterfront (1954)
http://efas.livedrive.com/item/4a345585a5824bc9af59e033899938b1Elia Kazan's seminal American classic deservedly won 8 Oscars, including one for Marlon Brando's iconic performance as Terry Malloy, a brooding misfit among the corruption of the New York docks...
Wages of Fear:
ReplyDeleteOne of Clouzot's 3 (or maybe 4) masterpieces, this film is not only a suspenseful tough adventure film, but also has so much more to resonate with, the pessimism and nihilism of the post-war period is expressed, timeless themes of greed and friendship are very effectively represented, the exploitation of men in a (literal and metaphorical) multi-national jungle, it's all there and its atmosphere is pregnant with the existentialist ideas of the time about what a man's life should be worth, Clouzot really made a very complete film and both Montand and Vanel are epic.
On the waterfront:
Yes there is plenty to enjoy in this film which now has the reputation as a classic, but well there are some things we cannot overlook even if we try to interpret the film differently, and yes clearly it is Elia Kazan's attempt to justify his giving names at the House Committee 2 years before (so informing here is shown as the right thing), but even Brando himself later said that he hadn't realised this was what it was at the time, but that if he'd known he'd have turned down the picture... but to speak of flaws in the film itself, it never really makes sense why Johnny Friendly sacrifices Charlie Malloy, why kill his own mastermind and the brains that he needs most.. or why does the end with Malloy still working despite his bruises get portrayed as a dignified ending when it would make more sense for the workers to rise up or at least strike against their corrupt bosses... in all these things the film further shows its simplistic bias, but hey this is Hollywood after all, but fine ok Steiger and Brando are still very good.
I cant enjoy On the Waterfront because it's anti-union propaganda from the mccarthy era, and if Kazan envisages himself as the heroic Brando character it's kinda offensive premise.
ReplyDeleteFor me the one moment of magic is that famous scene when Brando's brother points a gun at him, and Brando could beg for mercy, he could fight, he could shout, but instead he just shakes his head out of almost fraternal embarrassment. It was the most subdued and most powerful reaction.