Really wanted to like 'The Big Shakedown' so much more. The idea sounded interesting, have always been a big fan of "classic film" and Bette Davis is considered a screen legend for reasons that are more than justifiable. It is always intriguing seeing her in her very early roles before she hit her prime period (the 40s and 50s), back where her career was a lot more hit and miss (some of her early work worked surprisingly well, others don't hold up).
'The Big Shakedown' for me was a big disappointment, not a fair representation of such a great actress and badly bungles any potential it had with its story. It is one of the worst examples of the work from this early period of her career that hasn't held up, and only worth seeing really if you're a fan of Davis and want to see all her work (so basically for curiosity and completest sake). Am taking no pleasure in saying this, am actually quite gutted.
Davis comes off quite well here, especially when compared to pretty much everything else, despite a sketchy character and also that she has definitely given much better performances in films with far meatier characters and much better writing. She really does give it a good bash and hardly looks uncomfortable or disinterested.
Only two other performances comes off halfway-decently and they come from Glenda Farrell on sparkling form and especially from Ricardo Cortez, in a role perfect for him but somewhat of a typecast one which he fills with colour and menace. The cat fight is entertaining, the most entertaining the film gets, and despite the pat-ness of the very end the climax is exciting enough.
Charles Farrell is pretty much a non-entity as a character that is worse than underwritten or under-characterised and instead one that has no real presence at all. Can't remember anybody else.
Some nice photography here and there aside, the production values are pretty sloppy and indicative that 'The Big Shakedown' was made in a rush. The direction is dull and unimaginative, the pace doesn't ever properly ignite and the characters are all sketchy and the opposite of implausible. It's the script and story that doom 'The Big Shakedown' though. The script is a massivee shambles, the dialogue makes one wince and it further suffers from being muddled and contrived and a longer length of perhaps 15-20 minutes more may have helped it. The story takes implausibility to the limit that it is impossible to take the film at face value, and the far-fetched quality just gets too over the top to try to not take it too seriously. It also felt very confused and like it was not sure what to do with itself.
Altogether, semi-watchable curio but messy and no big shakes at all. 4/10
'The Big Shakedown' for me was a big disappointment, not a fair representation of such a great actress and badly bungles any potential it had with its story. It is one of the worst examples of the work from this early period of her career that hasn't held up, and only worth seeing really if you're a fan of Davis and want to see all her work (so basically for curiosity and completest sake). Am taking no pleasure in saying this, am actually quite gutted.
Davis comes off quite well here, especially when compared to pretty much everything else, despite a sketchy character and also that she has definitely given much better performances in films with far meatier characters and much better writing. She really does give it a good bash and hardly looks uncomfortable or disinterested.
Only two other performances comes off halfway-decently and they come from Glenda Farrell on sparkling form and especially from Ricardo Cortez, in a role perfect for him but somewhat of a typecast one which he fills with colour and menace. The cat fight is entertaining, the most entertaining the film gets, and despite the pat-ness of the very end the climax is exciting enough.
Charles Farrell is pretty much a non-entity as a character that is worse than underwritten or under-characterised and instead one that has no real presence at all. Can't remember anybody else.
Some nice photography here and there aside, the production values are pretty sloppy and indicative that 'The Big Shakedown' was made in a rush. The direction is dull and unimaginative, the pace doesn't ever properly ignite and the characters are all sketchy and the opposite of implausible. It's the script and story that doom 'The Big Shakedown' though. The script is a massivee shambles, the dialogue makes one wince and it further suffers from being muddled and contrived and a longer length of perhaps 15-20 minutes more may have helped it. The story takes implausibility to the limit that it is impossible to take the film at face value, and the far-fetched quality just gets too over the top to try to not take it too seriously. It also felt very confused and like it was not sure what to do with itself.
Altogether, semi-watchable curio but messy and no big shakes at all. 4/10