Updated RankingsStrangers in the Night (1944)
★ ½ Well, it’s short. This Gothic chiller – with only as much atmosphere as they could afford – plays like a knock-off of Laura rushed to beat the Noir classic to the theater. The script borrows from a half-dozen Hitchcock films as well. There are a couple of odd supporting performances, but nothing is pushed hard enough and the ending is laughable.
Strange Impersonation (1946)
★ ★ ★ - OkayHad this been released today I probably would’ve known about the deception going on. There would’ve been some video of how Anthony Mann pulled it off and I would’ve been watching for the giveaways. Knowing nothing, I had little idea about where the film was going (except for the last scene, which is so blinding obvious I didn’t groan when it happened.) It’s not the kind work of that tips off Mann’s eventual greatness. Some of the acting is bad and the plot is goofy, but it’s my kind of goofy so I had enough fun with it.
Reign of Terror (1949)
★ ★ ½ It doesn’t matter how well you know the major players during the French Revolution, though the film constantly makes you feel hopelessly lost as it throws out a couple of dozen names and faces with just one sentence of description. The plot is uncomplicated thriller with the handicaps particular to this time and place. That and John Alton’s high contrast photography almost make this recommendable. Ultimately, I needed a stronger lead than Robert Cummings, someone to really make me feel the high stakes being fought over. Mann’s direction reminds me why I like his Westerns more than his Noir, but I understand that’s just me.
El Cid (1961)
★ ★ ½ I never figured the usually lean Mann could do a bloated epic much like Ridley Scott, where the film is very long but well-paced considering, and unlike Reign of Terror, the history is very easy to follow. Of course when making this type of film back then, Charlton Heston was the guy to get, and he gives exactly the performance you expect, which is safe but it also enhances the familiarity of some of the story.
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
★ ★ The Kingdom of Heaven to El Cid’s Gladiator. Disjointed, unfocused and poorly paced, with a cast of greats (Alec Guiness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer) unable to make up for Stephen Boyd’s bland lead performance. You can’t put a price tag on the value of Charlton Heston in a film like this. The high point is a destructive chariot duel to end the first hour.
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
★ ★ I included this because I enjoy Kirk Douglas, but his habit of seducing any women on screen has never been so rapey, and that’s about all there is to his character. Co-star Richard Harris is grumpy/shouty and the Nazi villains are cartoons. Very little of the “true story” seems to have survived, replaced by what appears to be the first draft of a Mission: Impossible plot, right down to the lengthy silent infiltration sequence and the lit fuse. Unfortunately, Mann can’t pull suspense from the tedium. I blame the uninteresting characters.