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Detour (1945)
a b-movie that becomes classic
I saw "Detour" in a period that i was searching deeply film-noir films and especially b-movies of that kind.In order to appreciate this film you have to consider some things about its production.Only 6 days of shooting and 68 minutes runtime for a budget that could obviously create a category of c-movies.But Edgar.G.Ulmer's directing, Tom Neal's lonely figure walking through the streets and especially Ann Savage's marvellous acting makes this film astonishing.Of course you can see some plot goofs (Ann Savage's suicide with telephone cable) but the hole result is that a b-movie becomes classic.The hungarian's technique (much different from usual american's directing)takes place with:Light changing during a scene when Tom Neal remembers the unfortunate things that happened to him,tre-gro plans of a radio or a cup of coffee and a symbolic final scene with a last monologue of Neal about fortune.This movie can't be sized up with "the big sleep" or even "the maltese falkon" (which also was a low budget production) but shows a pessimistic way of thinking with the most powerfull and exciting way in a real detour of hero's common life
Das Schloß (1968)
enigmatic atmosphere
I was really lucky to find and see this movie.It has proved to me that as the art of cinema is followed by stars,awards,promotional work and glamourous appearances there are also "hidden diamonds"."Das scloss" until this time is my greatest example of this meaning.Besides M.Schell and the famous Kafka's "Castle" all the other members of this production are unknown and without any career highlights.(R.Noelte seems to me like..a ghost with one brilliant film and no other appearance,at all,in movie making.From the beginning of this film you feel that the atmosphere is covered with mystery.A kind of mystery absolutely different than the types you can find in classic mystery movies.An enigmatic atmosphere that becomes out from the magnificent music score,the great photography,especially at the snow scenes,the short phrases from Schell,the bureaucracy that paralyzes every desire that "k" has and every action he does in order to be a member of the castle.But most of all this film shows the unexplained suspicion that is created in a group of people who have their own rules and beliefs and they cannot accept in our society any other person.Also shows the man,the lonely person who is frustrated by other people,by fate,shows Kafka. There isn't any end,this story couldn't end.It's just a screaming at the snows,in the place that this story began.Amazing...