May 24, 2012

— Nobody understands anybody...
— Who taught you that?

(Knock on Any Door, 1949)

3 comments:

Sam said...

The POV shot on the receiving end of a water hose is one I'll never forget.

Andy Rector said...

Thank you for bringing that up Sam. Likewise...
It's a great film. Greater than I'd thought, after a second - projected - viewing. The background groupings, the dialogue in the first half (partaking of the same poetry as JOHNNY GUITAR, BITTER VICTORY or WE CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN), the relationship between the boy and the girl (as sublime as in THEY LIVE BY NIGHT), the funeral of the wife as viewed from a roof, the swiftness of the crimes, Bogart's performance (as he steals back the money), the cornered nature of the locations (almost Griffithian). It's condemned for being "didactic" and "preachy" but it holds up well, besides that, and precisely as such, in my view; its message is important, and is to do with a familiar criminal and societal torture, familiar to our times. I've come to prefer it over IN A LONELY PLACE now, which only deals with one man's violence. In terms of mise en scene, it's strange, this and PARTY GIRL seem to be directed on cramped sets but cut before it becomes a problem of verisimilitude, which makes the film tumble forth all the more complex...

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