Reviews

I love this movie. It is absolutely mind boggling to see Burt Lancaster with such natural strength and sexuality. I just don't see any current movie celebrity who can even come close to his stature. His role shows a weakness to Ava Gardner (can you blame him?),while standing up to the boss of the gang to protect the cool Kitty Collins (fantastic beauty Ava). It is well written, flashbacks are great, and his jail partner is a joy to watch as he drinks giving away the information about the Swede to O'Brien. The character actors also bring us memorable performances. Now, as for Ava Gardner: she played her part with such sexuality and at such ease. She could walk into a crowded room and command complete attention without effort. She was very nervous about portraying this role but didn't indicate any weakness in being Kitty Collins - dismissing any thought of the Swede with a shrug of her shoulders while talking with O'Brien. Absolutely heartless, no regrets about the Swede's demise. Brrrr. Talk about cold heat. Get the popcorn out, relax and see what a real film noir is all about. They just don't make them like the used to. They can't because these stars' cannot be replaced.

This movie really has it all: complex characters, beauty and greed, with sympathy for the Swede while hoping he would realize Kitty was being truthful(in her way) that she was "poison" to others, and the mystery to be solved. This is great in black and white - don't ever have it colorized. This was well acted and directed out of a short story written by Ernest Hemingway. I've read some of his works and appreciate the writing being faithfully expanded for the movies.

To summarize: the remake of this 1946 film noir was no way near the original. The latter's attempt had a cast of no reaching out to the audience to be believable.

This was similar to other documentaries of Ms Ava Gardner. But she is such an intriguing person/celebrity that it does not matter how many times we see her biography on the small screen. It is very sad that she could not be with us for many more years because her talent, wit and beauty were and remain rare. Thank goodness, we have DVDs and tapes of her on and off screen to be played at our whim of wanting to see the Golden Age magic. Even her early movies were promising us a star to be seen on the screen. There are still some of her movies which should be on DVD or tape. Hopefully we shall see that day when more will be available to us for our collection. Her family remained with her through all trials and tribulations. She showed herself to be a person who never forgot where she came from (a lovely town of Smithfield/Grabtown, NC) and where she would want to be laid to rest - with her family - and no statues near her site. I was there, leaving flowers on her site and later again leaving flowers with her as well as placing two on her parents' site. This was my humble way of saying: "Thank you, Ms Gardner, for giving us your movies and life story to be seen over and over again. Thank you."