Otto Preminger brings to the screen this wonderful story of political intrigue in the USA.
Filmed in good ol' black & white, the work looks a decade older than its 1962 vintage. It's long, too; running time is well over 2 hours.
There are some fine turns from heavyweights like Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton and Walter Pidgeon. Henry Fonda always excels as the honourable but vulnerable man, which made his sadistic killer in 'Once Upon A Time In The West' such a shocking volte-face. Laughton is equally good as an ageing Machiavelli, as he further demonstrated in 'Spartacus'.
Once again, there are no special effects, blood-n-guts or pyrotechnics. The only fireworks derive from the drama and an excellent script to push it along. This movie reminds me very much of 'Seven Days In May'. The latter, I think, is superior, with more tension and a slightly better script, but this does well enough.
There are not enough of this kind of movie being made today, which must be a judgement of our times. How the honourable aspirations depicted here have been been laid waste by 'no whitewash in the White House' tricky Dicky, or 'I did not have sex with that woman' (just a bit of fellatio) Billy C. and 'weapons of mass distraction' Dubya. Integrity has been largely replaced by conniving cynicism, and respect by a growing contempt.
Filmed in good ol' black & white, the work looks a decade older than its 1962 vintage. It's long, too; running time is well over 2 hours.
There are some fine turns from heavyweights like Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton and Walter Pidgeon. Henry Fonda always excels as the honourable but vulnerable man, which made his sadistic killer in 'Once Upon A Time In The West' such a shocking volte-face. Laughton is equally good as an ageing Machiavelli, as he further demonstrated in 'Spartacus'.
Once again, there are no special effects, blood-n-guts or pyrotechnics. The only fireworks derive from the drama and an excellent script to push it along. This movie reminds me very much of 'Seven Days In May'. The latter, I think, is superior, with more tension and a slightly better script, but this does well enough.
There are not enough of this kind of movie being made today, which must be a judgement of our times. How the honourable aspirations depicted here have been been laid waste by 'no whitewash in the White House' tricky Dicky, or 'I did not have sex with that woman' (just a bit of fellatio) Billy C. and 'weapons of mass distraction' Dubya. Integrity has been largely replaced by conniving cynicism, and respect by a growing contempt.