'The Furies' from 1950 stands and falls by its characters as the situation of the story is trite and deliberately over turbulent: when the characters are well written, acted and directed scenes are vivid but at other times 'The Furies' fades very badly into ham and hock.
Inconsistencies in tone and temperature are unresolvable and suggest to me a troubled experience during the production.
The photography is nice and the sets befitting the tale but the cast are inconsistent in their efforts to animate their characters and the themes of the film.
If you enjoy a different branch of western from the hay day of the American genre: as the late forties rolled into the early fifties; try 'The Furies' and partake of it's heavy handed assault on it's themes of family, rivalry, sex, greed, ambition, hubris and revenge made in an very offkilter manner due to its axis of attack being centered on a daughter-father-mistress power struggle and utilising usually indirect methods of character intrigue including sexual skirmishes and financial dealings and ploys.
I rate a cautious 6/10 and I recommend to people interested in a somewhat different take on the western, to fans of Walter Houston and Anthony Mann and to film fans who enjoy sexual politics. Certainly it is worth seeing for its unusual narrative crux.
For myself I don't elevate 'The Furies' any higher than this because it simply defies my suspension of disbelief at several junctures and overplays it's themes, undercuts it's characters, has too inconsistent a level of acting, a narrative that is overlong and uneven and ultimately leaves all of its characters insufficiently humanised for my own inclinations. Possibly a harsh and determined re-edit would greatly enhance the effect for me personally.
Inconsistencies in tone and temperature are unresolvable and suggest to me a troubled experience during the production.
The photography is nice and the sets befitting the tale but the cast are inconsistent in their efforts to animate their characters and the themes of the film.
If you enjoy a different branch of western from the hay day of the American genre: as the late forties rolled into the early fifties; try 'The Furies' and partake of it's heavy handed assault on it's themes of family, rivalry, sex, greed, ambition, hubris and revenge made in an very offkilter manner due to its axis of attack being centered on a daughter-father-mistress power struggle and utilising usually indirect methods of character intrigue including sexual skirmishes and financial dealings and ploys.
I rate a cautious 6/10 and I recommend to people interested in a somewhat different take on the western, to fans of Walter Houston and Anthony Mann and to film fans who enjoy sexual politics. Certainly it is worth seeing for its unusual narrative crux.
For myself I don't elevate 'The Furies' any higher than this because it simply defies my suspension of disbelief at several junctures and overplays it's themes, undercuts it's characters, has too inconsistent a level of acting, a narrative that is overlong and uneven and ultimately leaves all of its characters insufficiently humanised for my own inclinations. Possibly a harsh and determined re-edit would greatly enhance the effect for me personally.