Hollow Triumph (1948)
Maybe Hungarian/French/American actor Paul Henreid (of "Casablanca" fame) knew by 1948 that he was not going to be an American movie idol. So here he went all out and produced this film and starred in two (two) of the leading roles. No one could stop him. And it almost works. There is no making up for his styrofoam abilities, but he is serviceable, at least, and the photography (by John Alton, a noir great, see "The Big Combo") makes it worthwhile alone. Joan Bennet is not cast well, I suppose, but she has her own kind of cheerful innocence that works fine.
Not to trip over myself with superlatives. This is a decent movie with maybe an overly clever (and highly implausible) plot getting mostly in the way. And yet, with all these issues it still is involving. It partly succeeds because it uses the best of the era--great Hollywood studio machinery top to bottom--so it looks and feels very professional. And there are some terrific location scenes that are worth the ticket alone. Hungarian director Steve Sekely was and is little known and yet he clearly makes the most of what little he had to work with here...enough to wish we could get his pre-war Hungarian films on DVD for a look. Probably lost to American audiences forever.
This is officially a B-movie, produced at a smaller studio, but it feels very professional and really A-movie in technique (thanks largely to Alton, I think). If you like noirs, and you like brooding dark and eventually depressing material, I wouldn't hesitate to watch this, but keep in mind the caveats.
Maybe Hungarian/French/American actor Paul Henreid (of "Casablanca" fame) knew by 1948 that he was not going to be an American movie idol. So here he went all out and produced this film and starred in two (two) of the leading roles. No one could stop him. And it almost works. There is no making up for his styrofoam abilities, but he is serviceable, at least, and the photography (by John Alton, a noir great, see "The Big Combo") makes it worthwhile alone. Joan Bennet is not cast well, I suppose, but she has her own kind of cheerful innocence that works fine.
Not to trip over myself with superlatives. This is a decent movie with maybe an overly clever (and highly implausible) plot getting mostly in the way. And yet, with all these issues it still is involving. It partly succeeds because it uses the best of the era--great Hollywood studio machinery top to bottom--so it looks and feels very professional. And there are some terrific location scenes that are worth the ticket alone. Hungarian director Steve Sekely was and is little known and yet he clearly makes the most of what little he had to work with here...enough to wish we could get his pre-war Hungarian films on DVD for a look. Probably lost to American audiences forever.
This is officially a B-movie, produced at a smaller studio, but it feels very professional and really A-movie in technique (thanks largely to Alton, I think). If you like noirs, and you like brooding dark and eventually depressing material, I wouldn't hesitate to watch this, but keep in mind the caveats.