Quo Vadis? (1912)
“Quo vadis, Domine? Where goest thou, Lord?”
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Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Categories
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“Quo vadis, Domine? Where goest thou, Lord?”
Synopsis: |
Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Categories
Links: |
“We’re a team that’s going places — and in no time, we’ll be the greatest in the world!”
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Review: It’s great fun to see the Trotters performing some of their classic routines — and even for non-sports fans, the final climactic game (against the Chicago Majors) is genuinely thrilling! Sidney Poitier (just 27 years old) is fine if a tad underused in one of his earliest roles, while “everyman” actor Dane Clark projects just the right level of enthusiasm and energy required of iconoclast Saperstein. It’s interesting to note that, with the exception of a few unusual camera angles, there isn’t really much evidence here of Howe’s masterful camerawork (though to be fair, it’s hard to accurately assess this, given the damaged quality of the bootleg I secured). Film fanatics will be curious to learn that the movie’s producer and screenwriter, Alfred Palca, was blacklisted and had his name taken off the film (the pseudonym Arnold Becker was used instead); click here to read more. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
Must See? Categories
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“I’m not adding up to anything, am I, Aaron? I’m not making any sense.”
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Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Links: |
“The Corbetts are at it again!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Redeeming Qualities and Moments: Must See? Links: |
“How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”
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Response to Peary’s Review: Typical of most noir, Double Indemnity is, Peary writes, “characterized by the interacting traits of greed, lust, murder, betrayal, and a pervading, oppressive darkness”. We’re not meant to relate to the central characters (who lack any heart or soul), but rather to watch in fascination as their foolhardy, arrogant actions doom them; inevitably, “the hero realizes that he deserves his sorry fate [and] the woman acknowledges she’s no good.” As Peary notes, the “film has no [intentional] humor, but it’s tremendous fun to watch a man so secure in himself… fall into a spider woman’s web”; indeed, part of the genius of the script is watching Stanwyck “subtly stroking [Neff’s] masculine ego” as she “sits back and lets [him] take over and devise the murder plot” himself — he truly digs his own grave. So much has already been written on this “bona-fide cinema masterpiece” — which Peary votes as the Best Picture of the year in his Alternate Oscars book — that I’ll keep my own contribution here to a minimum; instead, I refer interested readers to any of the many fine review links below (as well as Peary’s books, naturally). See Tim Dirks’ Greatest Films website for a blow-by-blow run-through of the film, complete with transcripts of much of its famed dialogue. P.S. It’s impossible to ignore Stanwyck’s undeniably “laughable blond hairstyle” (those bangs!), which immediately evoke images of Carol Burnett’s classic spoof. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
Must See? Categories
(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |