Movies
A classic epic. It's quite long for a silent film, and there are some segments that could've used a bit of editing, but the lush sets and fun fantasy elements make sure it never becomes too big of a slog. It's not quite up there with its German counterparts, but it was better than I'd expected it to be. The start of the film is a little rough, and it takes a while before the story gets interesting, but the decent performances, moody cinematography and grand sets managed to hold my attention. There's still about 45 minutes of cruft that probably shouldn't be there, other than that it's a pretty worthy classic.Read all
One of the earliest gangster films. I will say that genres had smaller impacts back in the days of silent cinema. It's more about the narratives and characters than it is about typical cinematic elements, which makes it less interesting. But Walsh's film has something to offer for fans of crime cinema. There are some decent action scenes and the cinematography has its moments. The plot is very basic though and the characters are extremely one-dimensional. Luckily the film is pretty short and the pacing is solid, so it never gets too boring, but don't expect the world from this film.Read all
A western with noir elements, led by one of my least favorite actors of that time. It's not a combination that bodes well and at this point, I don't think anyone will be surprised that this film didn't do much for me. Apart from the somewhat moodier black-and-white cinematography, it was one big calvary. The drama is well overdone, the setting is unappealing, and the actors fail miserably at their job. The dark and moody cinematography is quite novel in combination with the western setting, I'll give the film that, but in the end, it didn't make that much of a difference. This wasn't for me.Read all
A classic crime flick with Humphrey Bogart in the lead. The entire film is practically built around Bogart, so it really comes down to how much you can stand him. I don't think he's a very enigmatic actor, put him in a bare genre film like High Sierra and there's not much to look forward to. There's a lot of dialogue here, most of it isn't interesting at all. The premise is very simple, the performances are rather one-note and the few action scenes aren't very convincing either. I guess films like these are way more fun if you're a hardened film noir fan, personally I find them pretty dull and forgettable.Read all
An early crime flick with some revue/entertainment elements thrown in. Even though the runtime runs well past 90 minutes, the film still feels rushed, trying to cover the entire prohibition (starting with some war scenes) and adding in a bunch of personal drama to make things even more bloated. Cagney is better than Bogart, but he often plays the same kind of role. There's quite a bit too much script to go through, so the production feels a bit rushed, and pulling the focus away from the crime elements at times felt like the wrong option. Not a memorable film in any way.Read all