{"id":5055,"date":"2008-01-03T12:13:11","date_gmt":"2008-01-03T19:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5055"},"modified":"2021-01-20T13:06:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T20:06:35","slug":"damned-the-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5055","title":{"rendered":"Damned, The (1969)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You must realize that today in Germany, anything can happen, even the improbable &#8212; and it&#8217;s just the beginning.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/Damned-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/Damned-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-28618\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/Damned-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/Damned-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/Damned-Poster.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn early 1930s Germany, the wealthy von Essenbeck steelworks family members &#8212; including its soon-to-be-murdered magnate (Albrecht Schoenhals), a ferociously ambitious mother (Ingrid Thulin), her pedophilic son (Helmut Berger), her power-hungry lover (Dirk Bogarde), and a Nazi-loving Brownshirt (Reinhard Kolldehoff) &#8212; find themselves trapped in a web of corruption, intrigue, and murder.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dirk Bogarde Films<\/li>\n<li>Family Problems<\/li>\n<li>Luchino Visconti Films<\/li>\n<li>Nazis<\/li>\n<li>Pedophiles<\/li>\n<li>World War II<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nLuchino Visconti&#8217;s epic saga of familial corruption and depravity &#8212; notorious for its original &#8220;X&#8221; rating &#8212; is a tough pill to swallow. While many critics (at the time and now) view it as brave, intelligent, and artistic, all I see is plenty of bombastic emperor&#8217;s clothing. It&#8217;s hampered by several serious flaws: horrendous dubbing (what was Visconti thinking?!), lame performances (very few actors, despite their credentials, emerge unscathed), overly self-conscious camera techniques (Visconti relies on zoom shots <em>far<\/em> more than he should), and a poorly written, convoluted script. In truth, <em>The Damned<\/em> is a tedious, never-ending affair, only redeemed (partially) by its sumptuous cinematography and costumes. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Helmut Griem as Commander Aschenbach<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/damned-griem.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/damned-griem.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5053\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>An effective (albeit historically suspect) recreation of the Night of the Long Knives gathering and massacre<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/damned-notlk.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/damned-notlk.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5054\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. While it holds some historical importance for its Oscar-nominated (!) screenplay and its erstwhile status as an X-rated import, I can&#8217;t in good conscience recommend it as must-see viewing. Listed as a film with Historical Importance in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0064118\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1969\/12\/19\/archives\/screen-viscontis-ultimate-spectacle-the-damned-focuses-on-krupplike.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1121damn.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/damned\/review\/127846\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You must realize that today in Germany, anything can happen, even the improbable &#8212; and it&#8217;s just the beginning.&#8221; Synopsis: In early 1930s Germany, the wealthy von Essenbeck steelworks family members &#8212; including its soon-to-be-murdered magnate (Albrecht Schoenhals), a ferociously ambitious mother (Ingrid Thulin), her pedophilic son (Helmut Berger), her power-hungry lover (Dirk Bogarde), and a Nazi-loving Brownshirt (Reinhard Kolldehoff) &#8212; find themselves trapped in a web of corruption, intrigue, and murder. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Dirk Bogarde Films&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5055\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5055"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64696,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5055\/revisions\/64696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}