If you managed to endure the quizzical flop 'The Good German' with Kate Blanchett and George Clooney, you should really just get your hands on this little-known movie which covers the same post-war, war-torn locale. It's much better, and it's quite interesting because it was filmed on location in front of some remarkable, bizarre ruins.
Monty Clift manipulates a military situation to get into Berlin, to pursue a meaningless opportunity with a German gal. Clift calculatedly wears nicer clothes and tries to play off the image of the "American nice guy" to score with her. But instead the situation is being manipulated by many others. The biggest problem is that the slight plot does not bear 2 hours of interest, and at that length, it would be nice of them to provide an ending. 'Lift' offers only an inadequate denouement.
The camera set-ups are interesting. The war-lore and landing strip factoids are all interesting. The momentary diversions are interesting. as when a (racially-integrated) drill corp welcomes Clift and Douglas to the Berlin landing strip. ...the collapse of a building behind a sad-faced woman. It lacks a great script, but Seaton is a good director; always with an eye for striking opportunities to include. There's a very strong geography to the film; the lovers rendez-vous in an apartment at the end of the airlift runway. The hair-raising airstrip landings, a couple hundred feet past a half-ruined residential neighborhood, are awesome.
Lars von Trier's remarkable, hypnotic Zentropa covers similar ground. I'm no fan of The Third Man which occurs in destroyed Berlin, but it should be mentioned. The Big Lift has a simpler plot, and is refreshingly free of 'The Third Man's big, dumb reveal. Two other movies (Witness for the Prosecution, Mr. Arkadin) feature moments or plot points that occur in destroyed Berlin. All these movies are tales of desperate individuals lying and/or killing to get their basic needs met; the treachery of war refugees; and the ambiguity of what had been unshakable 'values' once the fabric of life becomes decimated. The views in this movie, are much more than American viewers were asked to consider in the '50s.
Monty Clift manipulates a military situation to get into Berlin, to pursue a meaningless opportunity with a German gal. Clift calculatedly wears nicer clothes and tries to play off the image of the "American nice guy" to score with her. But instead the situation is being manipulated by many others. The biggest problem is that the slight plot does not bear 2 hours of interest, and at that length, it would be nice of them to provide an ending. 'Lift' offers only an inadequate denouement.
The camera set-ups are interesting. The war-lore and landing strip factoids are all interesting. The momentary diversions are interesting. as when a (racially-integrated) drill corp welcomes Clift and Douglas to the Berlin landing strip. ...the collapse of a building behind a sad-faced woman. It lacks a great script, but Seaton is a good director; always with an eye for striking opportunities to include. There's a very strong geography to the film; the lovers rendez-vous in an apartment at the end of the airlift runway. The hair-raising airstrip landings, a couple hundred feet past a half-ruined residential neighborhood, are awesome.
Lars von Trier's remarkable, hypnotic Zentropa covers similar ground. I'm no fan of The Third Man which occurs in destroyed Berlin, but it should be mentioned. The Big Lift has a simpler plot, and is refreshingly free of 'The Third Man's big, dumb reveal. Two other movies (Witness for the Prosecution, Mr. Arkadin) feature moments or plot points that occur in destroyed Berlin. All these movies are tales of desperate individuals lying and/or killing to get their basic needs met; the treachery of war refugees; and the ambiguity of what had been unshakable 'values' once the fabric of life becomes decimated. The views in this movie, are much more than American viewers were asked to consider in the '50s.