I know that a movie should be critiqued on its own merits, but it is hard to comment favorably on this movie after having read the book upon which it is based. It's like the screenwriter passed the story through a filter that took out all meaning, leaving only a skeletal plot. Greene himself has been quoted as saying about this film:
"The scenes in the mental clinic are to my mind the best in the novel, and it was surprising to me that Fritz Lang, the old director of "M" and "The Spy", omitted them altogether from his film version of the book, thus making the whole story meaningless."
The book has psychological and moral dimensions that are not even hinted at in the film. One might think that such topics are really not suitable for a thriller, but consider "The Third Man," having the great scene with Orson Wells and Joseph Cotton on the Ferris wheel, or "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," and the scene with Richard Burton and Claire Bloom in the car. When the source is so rich it is a shame not to mine it.
O.K., given that this movie is entirely plot driven, I think it even fails on that basis. The story follows the book with some significant alterations that seem pointless and corrupting. Consider the "blind" man on the train who, upon taking the piece of cake, starts crumbling it instead of eating it - perhaps attention getting, but nonsensical, particularly given what subsequently happens. And the guy jumps off the train and is chased through the countryside carrying the cake - is that believable?
Ray Milland plays the protagonist as a cheerful good-natured fellow, even though he has just gotten out of a mental clinic after a two year stay; he plays the part striking only one note - there is no depth to the man. Even the opening scene is a bit ridiculous. Milland has to wait until exactly the precise minute before he gets out - given that he is presented as such a well-balanced and pleasant man who is chummy with the management, don't you think he could have been let out maybe an hour early? Marjorie Reynolds plays the love interest with about the same micro-range as Milland. The only engaging characters are Percy Waram as the inspector and Dan Duryea as one of the bad guys.
Lang does not entirely disappoint when it comes to the filming. The black and white photography is artful and sometimes inventive, but it is mostly wasted on an inferior screenplay.
Instead of the intense psychological drama that plays out in the climax of the book, what we get here is a 1930s style gangster shootout.
Greene took the title from a poem of Wordsworth.
Altogether disappointing.
"The scenes in the mental clinic are to my mind the best in the novel, and it was surprising to me that Fritz Lang, the old director of "M" and "The Spy", omitted them altogether from his film version of the book, thus making the whole story meaningless."
The book has psychological and moral dimensions that are not even hinted at in the film. One might think that such topics are really not suitable for a thriller, but consider "The Third Man," having the great scene with Orson Wells and Joseph Cotton on the Ferris wheel, or "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," and the scene with Richard Burton and Claire Bloom in the car. When the source is so rich it is a shame not to mine it.
O.K., given that this movie is entirely plot driven, I think it even fails on that basis. The story follows the book with some significant alterations that seem pointless and corrupting. Consider the "blind" man on the train who, upon taking the piece of cake, starts crumbling it instead of eating it - perhaps attention getting, but nonsensical, particularly given what subsequently happens. And the guy jumps off the train and is chased through the countryside carrying the cake - is that believable?
Ray Milland plays the protagonist as a cheerful good-natured fellow, even though he has just gotten out of a mental clinic after a two year stay; he plays the part striking only one note - there is no depth to the man. Even the opening scene is a bit ridiculous. Milland has to wait until exactly the precise minute before he gets out - given that he is presented as such a well-balanced and pleasant man who is chummy with the management, don't you think he could have been let out maybe an hour early? Marjorie Reynolds plays the love interest with about the same micro-range as Milland. The only engaging characters are Percy Waram as the inspector and Dan Duryea as one of the bad guys.
Lang does not entirely disappoint when it comes to the filming. The black and white photography is artful and sometimes inventive, but it is mostly wasted on an inferior screenplay.
Instead of the intense psychological drama that plays out in the climax of the book, what we get here is a 1930s style gangster shootout.
Greene took the title from a poem of Wordsworth.
Altogether disappointing.