User Reviews

Directed by the great Anthony Mann, starring the even greater Erich von Stroheim, and including a strong supporting role for a memorable Dan Duryea, The Great Flamarion is a cult film waiting to happen. The fact that it hasn't yet can be put down to the rarity of its appearances on TV (not least in the UK - where there is no DVD available, either) or the poor versions in which it only exists on region one, stateside. Only in France apparently can there be found a decent edition, as over there they presumably know a good thing when they see it.

Anthony Mann's career started in B-movies, where he quickly made a mark for himself with some superlative film noirs such as T-Men (1947), and Border Incident (1949), projects frequently characterised by striking monochrome cinematography as well as taut and assured direction. Appearing a couple of years before this first great period in his output, The Great Flamarion anticipates some of the highlights of the films to follow, as it includes some especially noteworthy scenes with chiaroscuro and expressionistic lighting effects, as well as exhibiting what once critic has identified as a consistent theme of this director: that of a hero haunted by past trauma. In the case of The Great Flamarion it's the turn of the eponymous, dying, theatrical sharpshooter, played initially as a martinet by Erich von Stroheim: a man driven by his most recent betrayal as well as haunted by a doomed romance of some years before.

Von Stroheim's career as a great silent director arguably reached a pinnacle with Greed (1924) before crash-diving through allegations of budgetary extravagance, orgies on set, as well as his own professional disdain for the front office. After Queen Kelly (1929) he never really directed again, instead existing as a character actor or technical adviser in the films of lesser men, his charisma and abilities on screen occasionally granting real star status in such classics as La Grande Illusion (1937). His presence as Flamarion is a masterstroke, as the weight the actor brings to the role, and the sad decline of the proud, arrogant shooting master he portrays is inevitably complemented by the real life pathos of a giant of cinema, reduced Welles-like, to B-movie parts in order to keep the wolf from the door. (A similar feeling attends another, ultimately pathetic, variety turn also essayed by Stroheim: the ventriloquist The Great Gabbo, 1929.) Not that Mann's film is at the poverty row level of inspiration of such other vehicles for the actor as The Lady And The Monster, made two years before. Quite the contrary; but one is still aware of a great man working beneath himself, one whose fall from grace must have been as painful as Flamarion's from the catwalk above. Stroheim was one of a kind. And, as Mann admitted during the production of The Great Flamarion, where he and Stroheim apparently clashed: "He drove me mad. He was a genius. I'm not a genius, I'm a worker."

Von Stroheim apparently took a particular dislike to the flashback structure of Mann's work, perhaps not surprisingly for a silent director famed in his heyday for his realism, thinking that it was crafted to make the film seem 'more important' than it was. Whether or not this is true, the device is typical of film noir a genre to which The Great Flamarion is closely related, through its portrayal of doomed and cheated character types, a splendid femme fatale in the form of Connie Wallace (Beth Hughes) as well as the presence of the archetypal noir fall-guy-come-villain, Dan Duryea. The underrated actor, who plays Wallace's unfortunate first husband, had a fine line in portraying whiners and shifty losers, which his role here allows him to make the most of. As Von Stroheim's alcoholic stage stooge Al Wallace, Duryea is perfectly cast, jealous of his own wife, alternating between self-loathing and marital depression as he cadges his next drink from friends and boss. As in his later noir work, Mann shows his skill in drawing out the perilous moments before violence, a process heightened in one scene here by having the unknowing Wallace act out the part of target on stage in a parody both of real peril and an unfaithful wife caught with her lover.

Of course The Great Flamarion is not so great in all respects; the cuckold-revenge plot is hardly original, and the dialogue in some scenes has been criticised. But if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, then it's not for want of trying, nor for the talents it includes, before and behind the camera. Arguably, Mann would not make a really psychologically acute drama until the start of his great series of westerns with James Stewart in Winchester '73, five years later - also co-starring Duryea - taking advantage of the bigger budget and an altogether better script. Interestingly, as in that film, marksmanship is associated with honour here too, as Flamarion finds himself unable to shoot professionally on stage once his betrayal becomes clear. The crucial difference between the two films is that in Winchester '73 the prized gun is won then stolen, leading to a vengeful Stewart's further wrath, whereas Flamarion's treasured shooters are dispiritedly sold by one whose self esteem is already broken. As the unfaithful wife Beth Hughes is very effective as the cause of that collapse: a woman whose scenes with the initially gun-proud Flamarion have been noted for an undercurrent of the erotic, due to the obvious symbolism of a gun barrel. However, Gun Crazy (1950) showed more persuasively how exciting the incendiary mixture of arousal and arsenal can really be, a B-movie that is even more successful in its own terms. The infatuation between Flamarion and Connie ultimately remains one-sided, a lure that is largely unconsummated, either on the firing range or in the bedroom, and we never see the two in either. Recommended.

This is a decent little movie with a really nasty woman. She is really quite beautiful, and in the Blue Angel tradition, makes a man twice her age and not all that attractive, fall for her. There's no fool like an old fool and you don't mess with Von Stroheim. I wasn't aware that the great actor/director made some pretty weak films over the years. This one survives pretty well. Von Stroheim plays Flamarion, a trick shot artist, who is in great demand. He gets into the business of an alcoholic and his cheating wife. She uses him, changes him, and then he wants revenge. The story is told by Flamarion as another vaudeville performer holds him in his arms as he dies. It is told in flashback. I have to admit knowing that things had no possibility of working out, yet because of the interesting nature of the characters, particularly the young woman (who is beautiful, even by modern standards). Those of us who have had those yearnings to be young again and have a second chance can easily sympathize as this man makes mistake after mistake; loving too much; trusting too much. I was fairly impressed by the movie.

The Great Flamarion is directed by Anthony Mann and collectively written by Anne Wigton, Heinz Herald, Richard Weil and Vicki Baum. It stars Erich von Stroheim, Mary Beth Hughes, Dan Duryea, Stephen Barclay, Lester Allen and Esther Howard. Music is by Alexander Laszlo and cinematography by James S. Brown Jr.

Back stage of a vaudeville show and a woman is killed, the perpetrator of the crime escapes up into the rafters. Soon he falls to the ground, and cradled by one of the stage employees, he tells a story of lust, deceit, murder and broken hearts...

Though it falls into a familiar subset of film noir that encompasses the obsessive dupe, reference Criss Cross, The Killers, Scarlet Street et al, Anthony Mann's film has a most interesting structure. Story is essentially told from the mouth of a dying man, his guilt set in stone, we spin to flashbacks and narration as The Great Flamarion (Stroheim) himself clues us in to the dangers of not following your brain, but what's in your underwear.

Flamarion, wonderfully essayed by the acid faced Stroheim, is a sharp-shooter on the vaudeville circuit. Once burned in love years previously, he now lives only for his work and he's friendless, miserable and intolerable to work for. His two assistants are husband and wife team Connie (Hughes) and Al (Duryea) Wallace, he's a drunk and she's out for what she can get, and what she wants at this moment in time spells trouble for Flamarion and Al. So begins a treacherous tale as a once wise and closed off man falls hook, line and sinker for a pair of shapely legs young enough to be propping up his daughter.

Connie Wallace (Hughes excellent) is one of the classic femme fatales, she's not just duping one man, not even two, her capacities for feathering her own nest are enormous. Watching her break down Flamarion's walls is pitch black stuff, as is Flamarion's pitiful descent into becoming a broken man, while Duryea's (another in his long line of great film noir losers) Al roams the edges of the frame as a pitiful drunk stumbling towards doom. The dialogue may not always catch the mood right, but as a story, performed and written, it's clinical noir.

Out of Republic Studios, there's obviously budget restrictions, but Mann was a shrewd director in noir circles and crafts a tight and crafty picture. It's never overtly expressionistic but the all round effect garnered by the lighting techniques pumps the haunting like tale with atmosphere. There's also a gentle pulse of sexual politics in the narrative, and saucy suggestion as well, with the director asking us to peek under the curtain to spy a world of horny sad-sacks and dangerous females.

It's not front line Mann or as good as Scarlet Street (released after The Great Flamarion), but it is a little noir gem. With top performances, pitch black plotting and a message that tells us to never take our eye off the ball, it's very much recommended to the film noir faithful. 8/10

Von Stroheim is superbly cast as a stage sharpshooter who succumbs to the charms of his scheming assistant. Though some may not appreciate the actor's ramrod-spined, Teutonic demeanor, such bearing is useful in the portrayal of stoicism and all the pitfalls that it engenders. Von Stroheim's dearth of emotionality makes all the more credible his character's inability to discern the falseness of personalities, and there is a unique poignancy in watching him go through the paces of a festering realization of perfidy. The plot, however, is pedestrian and, related in flashback, all the more predictable. Von Stroheim mavens should appreciate the movie, though, as should devotees of Dan Duryea, who plays a hard-drinking, done-wrong hoofer.

Early in his career, Erich Von Stroheim was well known for his temperament and excesses--so much so that his once celebrated career was practically in ruins by the 1940s. Because his star power had faded so, he was forced to act in a few relatively low budget films that were surprisingly good--much better than you'd expect. Part of this was due to Von Stroheim's acting, but it also was fortunate that he was paired with a young but very talented director (Anthony Mann). Because of his success with films like THE GREAT FLAMARION, Mann went on to direct many wonderful films and Von Stroheim had a mild resurgence in his prospects.

The film begins with a murder at a theater in Mexico. A short time later, a badly wounded Von Stroheim is discovered by the lone person still in the theater and Von Stroheim tells his story about why he committed the murder. Since you know that the murder occurred, there isn't a lot of suspense about the whole thing, but the film did a wonderful job of making the viewer actually care about him and understand why he felt compelled to kill this particular woman. The sweet and lovely Connie, you learn, is one horrible lady and her character is exceptionally interesting and gritty--sort of like an evil Noir femme fatale. She is so compelling to watch that this helps to elevate the film well above the ordinary.

Overall, a very entertaining film that nearly earns an 8. Fascinating character studies and a great script help make this one a keeper.

A mild-mannered, melancholic and essentially decent man(Erich Von Stroheim) working as vaudeville star becomes romantically involved in a destructive affair with a predatory woman( the femme fatal Mary Beth Hughes).He falls fatally in love with his scheming and heartless assistant who's unhappy married to a drunk(Dan Duryea). But she leaves him, engaging with another.

This good production put all the force of the screen into a challenging drama of furious passions. It's a psychological , dark melodrama about pessimism, fatalism, duplicity and human passions.Love, hatred, killing revenge indeed figure strongly in this brightly seedy portraits. Wonderful performances all casting. Erich Von Stroheim makes an absolutely hypnotic acting as upright man subtly destroyed by a bad woman.The smouldering predatory Mary Beth Hughes as manipulating assistant who destroys them all around and Dan Duryea as alcoholic husband winning get another awesome acting. The well-designed atmosphere elaborately recreated in studios by cameraman James Brown is entirely convincing throughout. Stunning directing and compelling developed in agility by the great filmmaker Anthony Mann. He's an excellent expert in noir cinema(Strangers in the night, Raw deal, Tal target, T men, Railroad) and creator of Western masterpieces (Man from Laramie,Bend the river, Far country, Naked spur, Winchester 73). Rating: Better than average, well worth checking out.

Although Erich Von Stroheim is top billed in The Great Flamarion this film really belongs to Mary Beth Hughes who was the model for playing two timing dames that others took as the standard. She's at her worst when she does it to Von Stroheim. She's playing with fire because the cinematic Von Stroheim is not one to be trifled with.

Von Stroheim plays the title role, he's a vaudeville headline with a trick sharp shooting act like Annie Oakley. Hughes and her alcoholic husband Dan Duryea, a former dance act work as Von Stroheim's stooges in the act with him throwing carefully timed shots.

Duryea and Hughes are breaking up and Duryea won't give her a divorce. So Hughes plays up to Von Stroheim as eagerly as Barbara Stanwyck did with Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity to get him involved in her deadly game. In fact there's a lot of resemblance between The Great Flamarion and the Billy Wilder classic.

Von Stroheim is a pitiable character in the end, his fall and degradation is like a Greek tragedy. But Hughes who two timed Henry Fonda and married for money in The Oxbow Incident and is best known for that part is the one to watch her. This is one evil woman.

This one is an undiscovered gem from Republic so discover it.

"The Great Flamarion" is an undiscovered little gem of a film from Rebublic that features von Stroheim as the title character, a cold and arrogant vaudeville performer who specializes in sharp shooting. He is assisted in his act by Connie and Al Wallace, a seemingly happy couple. When Connie professes her love for Flamarion and tells of her husband's abusive nature and hard-drinking, Flamarion eventually opens his heart to this femme-fatale, played to the hilt by Mary Beth Hughes, a most underrated actress, who toys with men in the tradition of film noir greats such as Joan Bennett in "Scarlet Street," Jane Greer in "Out of The Past," and Yvonne DeCarlo in "Criss Cross." When Connie suggests that Flamarion accidentally hit Al, portrayed by the always terrific Dan Duryea, during their gun skit, Flamarion's life changes forever. Anthony Mann's direction is taut and economic. The film, told through flashbacks, captures the desperation and loneliness of a man willing to do anything for love. Next to "Sunset Boulevard," this is one of von Stroheim's finest hours as an actor. He allows himself to show joy and vulnerability as he never has before on screen.

Despite the title suggesting a comedy Erich von Stroheim actually plays the sort of role Emil Jannings played in the twenties. In the third of a quartet of quickies to pay his medical bills after a serious illness we actually see the famous neck being shaved with a cutthroat razor before going onstage to perform the act with firearms that makes the film worth watching.

It's good to see him share the screen with a young Dan Duryea a few months before the latter clashed with Edward G. Robinson in 'Scarlet Street' in this early film directed by Anthony Mann, which shows flashes of the promise he later fulfilled.

Or so the von Stroheim character begins his flashback narration.

This movie has never quite worked for me. Anthony Mann was a superb director. Von Stroheim was too. And he was a fine actor in "Grand Illusion" and an interesting character actor in "Sunset Boulevard." Dan Duryea was good at playing heals. But he isn't one here, exactly. He drinks too much but we have an idea why.

Mary Beth Hughes is persuasive as a cold-hearted gold-digger. But it never rings true. Stroheim is not sufficiently sympathetic. If his role had been played by Peter Lorre, the movie might have worked. As it is, everything is set up before we even begin to watch it.

This is a well-paced and intense tragedy, and another of Anthony Mann's excellent noir films. I had to get the DVD from France (where it is 'La Cible Vivante'), and watch it with French subtitles. I noticed that 'en haut de l'affiche' was given as the translation for both 'in lights' and 'higher billing'. What can they be thinking of? All the slang was lost, and this script is mostly slang, so the French have had the raw end of the deal. The star performance is by Mary Beth Hughes. She plays the most calculating, amoral, cunning and dangerous little vixen imaginable, and she does it with total conviction. (If I had seen this in the cinema, I would have looked to see if she had picked my pocket during the screening.) Poor von Stroheim, fifteen years without touching a woman and suddenly Mary Beth vamps him. Dan Duryea, who plays her alcoholic husband, has less acting to do than usual, partly because he is meant to be a victim this time instead of a heavy, and victims can coast in the movies, whereas villains have to work at it more. The musical score is terrible, except for the Mexican singer. Von Stroheim plays a super-marksman whose stage act consists of shooting cigarettes out of people's mouths, etc. He kept missing Mary Beth on stage, and that later turned out to be a mistake. We all need to be protected from gals like that. This is a fine film to add to a noir collection, but it is a sad, sad tale.

A young and beautiful stage performer called Connie (Mary Beth Hughes) seduces Flamarion, her boss, in order to get rid of her heavy drinking husband. We have here a classic example of a young woman working her charms on a man old enough to be her father, the female of the species is more deadly than the male, as the old saying goes. Hughes is excellent as the scheming woman, a character that is easy to despise. Eric von Stroheim plays the title character, strong and stubborn at first but once he falls under Connie's spell he becomes weak and rather sad. I had not heard of this movie before, it looks great in black and white, a big Thank You to Talking Pictures TV (UK) for screening it, nice bit of film noir.

I watched this film based on the favorable reviews posted here. Do NOT repeat my mistake. The Great Flamarion is so slow -- it's 78 minutes felt like 2 hrs.

The script was poor, the dialog flat, the plot predictable and the ending telegraphed from the first scene.

I guess everybody else was wowed by the big name director (Anthony Mann) and the big name director turned actor (Erich Von Stroheim) and the sort of big name producer (William Wilder - brother of Billy Wilder). It just proves that you can't judge a book by its cover, nor a movie by its credits...

"The Great Flamarion" has an interesting setting and a good cast that give life to an otherwise routine story of love, deceit, and revenge. It is a pretty good movie, while quite obviously a low budget effort, and worth taking a look at.

The opening sequence is nicely done, and pulls the viewer in quickly. A stage variety show is interrupted by shots and screams, and soon a murder is discovered backstage. As the police question suspects, the actual murderer is seen crawling away, seriously wounded while committing the crime. The rest of the movie is then a long flashback, as told by the murderer. The rest of the film moves much more slowly, and does not match the first part, but it is pretty good.

The main performers are quite good - Erich von Stroheim as a magician fanatically devoted to his act, Mary Beth Hughes as his manipulative assistant, and Dan Duryea as Hughes's drunken husband. None of them are desirable characters, and so the audience cannot really form any sympathies, which does diminish the film's impact. But they are all convincing, and make the story seem interesting.

Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives, and this is certainly worth a look if you like older movies.

Director Anthony Mann, still early in his career at this point, shows marvelous directorial touches throughout, aided by a superb performance from Erich von Stroheim, credible shows by Mary Beth Hughes and Dan Duryea, a solid if predictable script because of the flashback narrative, and astonishing B&W cinematography by James S. Brown.

Hughes is not a particularly good actress, but she is convincing enough as the scheming "collector of men," as one of her stage colleagues describes her. Duryea, as ever, plays the shifty duplicitous, whining part he became known for, and this is a good part.

It is the dignity of the Great Flamarion that I remember most about this film, which I recommend to anyone interested in film noir. 7/10

Erich von Stroheim plays a crack marksman who's duped into killing the husband of his scheming lover in this decent little Noir that suffers from the fact that there are no likeable characters. We're supposed to feel for Stroheim's title character, but he's such a cold individual before succumbing to Mary Beth Hughes' charms that we never really sympathise with him.

Told in flashback story of a trick-shot artist who gets involved with his assistant who will do anything to get what she wants. Directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Billy Wilder this is a by the book melodrama of one woman destroying the lives of every man she comes in contact with. Far from a bad movie the movie suffers from the fact that we know the ending (Erich Von Stroheim is telling what happened as he lays dying). Even if we had seen this from the beginning we'd know it ends bad but we wouldn't be able to work out several of the twists that knowing the end imparts.If there is any real flaw beyond knowing how it ends, its the casting of Von Stroheim who seems too old and a bit too stiff for his man led astray. Still its the work of two cinema legends doing out what they do best and thats turning out a decent little film. Definitely worth a look if you're in the mood for a good film noir.

Erich von Stroheim is the Great Flamarion, a sharp-shooter stage act who uses real bullets in his set pieces that also involves husband and wife team Dan Duryea (Al) and Mary Beth Hughes (Connie). Duryea drinks too much and this enrages Stroheim for the act requires precision timing. Hughes sees a way to rid herself of her husband and uses Stroheim to this end. However, she betrays him and he seeks revenge.

The film is told in flashback, so we know the outcome, but the interest comes from the story. Unfortunately, it drags and Stroheim is a character for whom it is difficult to feel any sympathy. The film plods predictably along. See it once and it's OK but listen hard coz Stroheim mumbles.

WOW - this film is nothing like I imagined it to be. I've been watching some "dark crime" films lately and quite a number of them have 'cutesy' or somewhat comical moments in them - they are lightweight. This film is not like that - this one really is "dark crime" film -- and a damned good one! I'm pleasantly surprised.

The acting in this film is extraordinary - a long ways from being cheesy. The story is good - heartbreaking. My heart bleeds for Flamarion what happened to him was sad, and talk about a cool character! This is a very serious crime drama in-spite of it being centered around the vaudeville circuit and 4 of it's members: Flamarion, Connie, Al, and Eddie.

Definitely a recommended film.

9/10

If you love Erich von Stroheim and Dan Duryea, this early film by Anthony Mann is for you. Duryea and von Stroheim are both great at all the little things that come between the words and the dialogue is good, too, not surprising as one of the screenwriters, Heinz Herald, won an Oscar for "Dr. Erlich's magic bullet" and was nominated for "The Life of Emile Zola". The story is imaginative, the whole thing is pretty good. I have to write ten lines of review without any spoilers, which is hard for this movie, although the plot twists are not exactly unpredictable. It's really von Stroheim's movie, which you can't say very often.