13 West Street 1962  N/R, 80 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Philip Leacock
Cast: Alan Ladd, Rod Steiger, Michael Callan, Dolores Dorn, Jeanne Cooper, Margaret Hayes, Kenneth MacKenna, Stanley Adams, Chris Robinson, Henry Beckman
In this early version of "Death Wish," Walt Sherill (Alan Ladd) tracks down the gang who attacked him to find out why they resorted to violence.
|  | |
 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961   N/R, 190 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner, Ed Binns, Werner Klemperer, Torben Meyer, Kenneth MacKenna
This classic film about the Nazi war crimes as they were presented at the trial at Nuremberg is spellbinding from start to finish. Spencer Tracy plays the compassionate, yet intelligent, American judge, Maximilian Schell excels as the defense attorney, and Burt Lancaster plays the role of the German judge on trial who chose to give in to Nazi threats. Academy Awards were received for Best Actor (Maximilian Schell) and Best Writing; the film was nominated for nine others, including. Best Actor (Spencer Tracy), Director, Supporting Actress (Judy Garland), and Supporting Actor (Montgomery Clift). 1 User Review
| User Review |
| | Prettry much as "important" as it thinks it is | 1fatts 04/05/2007 | Be wary of "important" movies. The cast and crew, the critics and pundits can become so wrapped in the aura of the message that needs to be imparted to a waiting world that the human story is lost and we find ourselves being barraged by sanctimonious monologues or, worse, symbolism piled on symbolism to express the truth that words cannot express. (Honestly, did anyone really understand the last ten minutes of 2001?)
But this movie is better than that. It doesn't escape it all, I suppose, but the center of the thing is the consideration of what is evil and what is decency, played out on a stage of characters who give it humanity.
I have considered -- rather often, actually -- what has traveled best in this film in the last forty-five years and what has traveled less well. It is the underplaying that still holds us, the messages not spoken but shown on faces and in motions. Maximilian Schell's defense attorney is all words and logic, which, at its best moments, serve as a counterpoint to the quiet humanity which the destroyed reflect and the innocent portray. It was an Academy Award well deserved. I don't think Tracy ever did better work. Montgomery Clift's short scene is among the most moving ever filmed. Dietrich, Garland, so many others do such fine work.
Richard Widmark, on the other hand, is too theatrical, as is Burt Lancaster, Werner Klemperer and too many others. It is the writing and the direction, but most of all, it is the strain of taking on the issue.. It was 1961, and Hollywood was finally putting on film the question of the guilt of the Holocaust. It WAS important. The writing was honest enough to cast shadows of complicity over Western big business, Cold War Political Fears, the growing willingness of a war-weary world to turn a blind eye to last year's injustice and the suffering of those too unimportant to be represented. The responsibility, the scope of all that, and, no doubt, the pride of all that led to too much Hollywood is the writing and direction.
Yet, on the whole, "Judgment" remembers to focus on the people and not the speeches, and that rescues the film and redeems it. It is still, even after nearly half a century, shocking, complex and deeply thought provoking.
And, yes, it is important. How important? I don't think anyone should be allowed to graduate high school without having seen this film and discussed it with a knowledgeable, sensitive adult -- not only as a "Holocaust" discussion, but as the starting point for the question of why good people allow evil into the world and what, if anything, moral people can do to stand against it. |
|
| | |
Men Without Women 1930  N/R, 76 min.
Genre: Adventure
Director: John Ford
Cast: Kenneth MacKenna, Frank Albertson, Paul Page, Walter McGrail, Stuart Erwin, Warren Hymer, J. Farrell MacDonald, George LeGuere, Charles K. Gerrard, Ben Hendricks Jr.
Following a disabled submarine's descent to the ocean's floor, the desperate crew works out a rescue plan for their survival.
| | |
Sin Takes a Holiday 1930 N/R, 81 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Paul L. Stein
Cast: Constance Bennett, Kenneth MacKenna, Basil Rathbone, Zasu Pitts, Rita La Roy, Louis John Bartels, John Roche, Kendall Lee, Muriel Finley, Judith Wood
After agreeing to a marriage of convenience, a young woman (Constance Bennett) is taught some lessons about the value of being true to oneself and must make some real decisions.
| | |
The Three Sisters 1930  N/R, 68 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Paul Sloane
Cast: Louise Dresser, Tom Patricola, Kenneth MacKenna, Joyce Compton, June Collyer, Addie McPhail, Cliff Saum, Sidney De Gray, Paul Porcasi, John St. Polis, Herman Bing
This film is about three Italian sisters, Carlotta (Joyce Compton), Elena (June Collyer), and Antonia (Addie McPhail), who head in separate directions after World War I and leave their mother (Louise Dresser) behind.
| | |
| 1. 13 West Street (1962)
2. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
3. Men Without Women (1930)
4. Sin Takes a Holiday (1930)
5. The Three Sisters (1930)
In The News
|
