Movies
Slightly above-average noir. It's not a complete game changer, but the premise is a tad more creative than most of its peers, and Zinnemann competently draws some tension from that. Genre cinema is always about the little details, and Act of Violence is another good example. After the war, veteran Enley returns home to live a quiet life in a small town. Things are finally going his way, until private Parkson turns up in Enley's town. He wants to confront Enley, who has been carrying a secret with him. Enley isn't just going to let Parkson overthrow his comfortable life though. The black and white cinematography is decent, performances are sufficient, and the runtime is relatively short, which makes that the pacing is on point. It's certainly not a tense of thrilling film, but Enley's secret is properly exploited and the cat-and-mouse game between the two is nice enough to follow.Read all
A wartime drama that throws several famous actors together and hopes that's enough to keep people entertained. The characters aren't very nuanced and some bits (like the ending) felt really tacked on, but there were a couple of scenes where there seemed to be actual chemistry between the actors. When soldier Prewitt arrives at his base in Hawaii, his superiors are clear about the reason for his transfer. They want to see him taking part in their boxing team. Prewitt isn't interested and no matter how much his superiors try to push and blackmail him, he holds true to his principles. The performances are decent enough, but the characters aren't very interesting, neither are their problems. The romance and explicit drama are forgettable, the personal conversations and interactions are a bit more compelling to follow. The ending's pretty bad though, I wish they'd stopped the film 20 minutes earlier. Not a great film.Read all
A narrative film with amateur actors, set up as a passion project of the 5 directors involved. The story behind it is probably a bit more interesting than the final result, but it's not all bad and the more natural feel (some call it a semi-documentary, but that's stretching it a bit) is indeed quite novel for its time. The title of the film is spot on. After a week of hard work, people like to relax on their weekends. Two couples end up at a lake near Berlin, to escape the city's bustle. They get acquainted and have a blast together before they have to return to the city to face another 5 days of hellish pressure. Talk about a film that is still relevant in this day and age. The thing is that not all that much happens, and while the acting is quite natural for its time, it's hardly realistic. It's a short film though and the pacing is pretty decent, the light tone certainly helps too. Not a great film, but like most German films of their time, better than many of the alternatives.Read all
A clear play adaptation, for which they only switched out the stage with some real settings and left it at that. If you care for the characters, the dialogue or the central moral conundrum that's probably not too big of an issue, if not then this is a dire, dull and lifeless production that lacks any kind of cinematic appeal.
