Let's try to set aside the high emotional content for a few moments. A rational review might reveal the following perspectives:
The lead actor and actress are perfectly cast and very watchable. Harrowing rowboat scene, then an engrossing trolley car ride that is one of the best old movie sequences ever filmed. The photography is good throughout.
A bad girl persuades the man to try to kill his nice wife, but he doesn't. The trolley deposits them in town, then much crying. There is a weird sequence of walking in a busy street with a countryside scene double-exposed into it, followed by shouting and car honking and also horses and bicycles. He gets a haircut, then appears ready to kill someone else with a knife, but again doesn't. Gigantic spinning disk appears on screen, then a place with elephants. By this time I was beginning to get lost.
Some of the above strange scenario is apparently intended to help us experience the strangeness found by country people who come into a big city.
There is also an apparent sub-theme (which can be interpreted from some enigmatic words near film's opening) that the common man lives on the verge of anything, including presumably murder. That is odd, because most folks have never encountered this "everyman" murderer idea in the real world. I could be all wrong about my themes, but you are free to read anything you want into this movie due to its rather vague overall concepts. I said vague concepts- not vague techniques, at which the director was skilled.
The pseudo-Tchaikovsky violin score on the version I saw was not very good, although there was fine orchestrated organ music added to the church scenes.
Its probably just lack of comprehension on my part, but I was not impressed by this film, except for its heavy efforts to drag emotion from the actors and from the viewing audience.
The lead actor and actress are perfectly cast and very watchable. Harrowing rowboat scene, then an engrossing trolley car ride that is one of the best old movie sequences ever filmed. The photography is good throughout.
A bad girl persuades the man to try to kill his nice wife, but he doesn't. The trolley deposits them in town, then much crying. There is a weird sequence of walking in a busy street with a countryside scene double-exposed into it, followed by shouting and car honking and also horses and bicycles. He gets a haircut, then appears ready to kill someone else with a knife, but again doesn't. Gigantic spinning disk appears on screen, then a place with elephants. By this time I was beginning to get lost.
Some of the above strange scenario is apparently intended to help us experience the strangeness found by country people who come into a big city.
There is also an apparent sub-theme (which can be interpreted from some enigmatic words near film's opening) that the common man lives on the verge of anything, including presumably murder. That is odd, because most folks have never encountered this "everyman" murderer idea in the real world. I could be all wrong about my themes, but you are free to read anything you want into this movie due to its rather vague overall concepts. I said vague concepts- not vague techniques, at which the director was skilled.
The pseudo-Tchaikovsky violin score on the version I saw was not very good, although there was fine orchestrated organ music added to the church scenes.
Its probably just lack of comprehension on my part, but I was not impressed by this film, except for its heavy efforts to drag emotion from the actors and from the viewing audience.