Posted by Notcot on Apr 29, 2012 in
Cult Film
For 15-year-old Michael Berg a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna and before long they embark on a passionate clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems. Years later as a law student observing a trial in Germany Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly and terribly it does – Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret. ‘A tender horrifying novel that shows blazingly well how the Holocaust should be dealt with in fiction. A thriller a love story and a deeply moving examination of a German conscience’ INDEPENDENT SATURDAY MAGAZINE
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Tags: 163, affair, behaviour, Chance, chance meeting, conscience, dock, examination, Germany, Holocaust, horrible crime, Independent, love, love affair, love story, michael berg, novel, older woman, person, Reader, Saturday, story, student, thriller, woman
Posted by Notcot on Feb 5, 2011 in
Noir
A movie that proved a fine swansong for Humphrey Bogart, The Harder They Fall is a gripping drama set against a background of fixed boxing matches. Not so much about the fights as the exploitation of the sport, the film is based on a novel by Budd Schulberg, whose Oscar-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront (1954) helped turn Rod Steiger into a star. Here Steiger delivers an equally bravura performance as the chillingly corrupt manager, Nick Benko, a man who will do anything to turn a buck. Bogart meanwhile is outstanding as unemployed sports writer Eddie Willis, hired against his better judgement to promote a no-hope Argentinean boxer, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane).
Powerfully written, if built around the unlikely premise of building a 10th-rate fighter into a world-class contender, the drama is essentially a battle for Willis’s soul as he is torn between money and conscience. Though the scenes with Bogart and Steiger facing off are the strongest and a veritable masterclass of hardboiled characterisation, Mark Robson, who also helmed the Kirk Douglas boxing classic Champion (1949), directs with a convincingly dirty realism, the final punishing and bloody match a clear influence on Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980).
On the DVD: The Harder They Fall‘s anamorphic 1.77:1 transfer is excellent with only one brief scene showing any significant print damage. Burnett Guffey’s noir-ish black-and-white cinematography looks sharp and fresh as the day it was shot, with only minimal grain. The mono sound is strong and clear, without a hint of distortion or compression. The only extra is a scored gallery of posters and lobby cards from other Bogart films available on Columbia. There are dubbed versions in French, German, Spanish and Italian, and a plethora of subtitle options. –Gary S Dalkin
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Tags: Argentinean, bogart films, bravura performance, buck, budd schulberg, Champion, classic champion, conscience, dirty realism, Drama, Exploitation, Fall, guffey, humphrey bogart, influence, kirk douglas, lobby cards, manager, mark robson, mono sound, Moreno, on the waterfront, performance, Powerfully, Raging, raging bull, rod steiger, screenplay, swansong