The Damned (1969)
(Götterdämmerung)
Country: GER/IT
Technical: Eastmancolor 164m
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger, Umberto Orsini
Synopsis:
Germany, the 1930s: a steelworks run by a powerful family is first seduced, then commandeered by the Nazi Party, having winnowed out its more reactionary elements.
Review:
Interminable and unforgiveably boring, given its subject matter ripe with sensationalism, this melodramatic foray into a much revisited period of history (The Conformist and The Night Porter being key works in this respect) never once acquires a sense of structure or narrative line, and not even Bogarde succeeds in delivering a natural performance. Much of the length seems to be spent on the errant sexual proclivities of the Helmut Berger character, as if we needed a metaphor for the rottenness of the regime about to hold sway: paedophilia and incest retain the power to shock us, whilst mass murder does not. Well, that may be true for some, but the one sequence that has anything like dramatic impact is the slaughter of the SA at their lakeside R and R. Throughout Visconti uses the irresolute pans and zooms that seem to be part and parcel of dire Italian filmmaking right up to Tinto Brass, no doubt in some misguided attempt to preserve some of that neo-realist truthfulness (the film has been described as operatic but that dignified adjective would better fit The Leopard or Death and Venice).
(Götterdämmerung)
Country: GER/IT
Technical: Eastmancolor 164m
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger, Umberto Orsini
Synopsis:
Germany, the 1930s: a steelworks run by a powerful family is first seduced, then commandeered by the Nazi Party, having winnowed out its more reactionary elements.
Review:
Interminable and unforgiveably boring, given its subject matter ripe with sensationalism, this melodramatic foray into a much revisited period of history (The Conformist and The Night Porter being key works in this respect) never once acquires a sense of structure or narrative line, and not even Bogarde succeeds in delivering a natural performance. Much of the length seems to be spent on the errant sexual proclivities of the Helmut Berger character, as if we needed a metaphor for the rottenness of the regime about to hold sway: paedophilia and incest retain the power to shock us, whilst mass murder does not. Well, that may be true for some, but the one sequence that has anything like dramatic impact is the slaughter of the SA at their lakeside R and R. Throughout Visconti uses the irresolute pans and zooms that seem to be part and parcel of dire Italian filmmaking right up to Tinto Brass, no doubt in some misguided attempt to preserve some of that neo-realist truthfulness (the film has been described as operatic but that dignified adjective would better fit The Leopard or Death and Venice).
(Götterdämmerung)
Country: GER/IT
Technical: Eastmancolor 164m
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger, Umberto Orsini
Synopsis:
Germany, the 1930s: a steelworks run by a powerful family is first seduced, then commandeered by the Nazi Party, having winnowed out its more reactionary elements.
Review:
Interminable and unforgiveably boring, given its subject matter ripe with sensationalism, this melodramatic foray into a much revisited period of history (The Conformist and The Night Porter being key works in this respect) never once acquires a sense of structure or narrative line, and not even Bogarde succeeds in delivering a natural performance. Much of the length seems to be spent on the errant sexual proclivities of the Helmut Berger character, as if we needed a metaphor for the rottenness of the regime about to hold sway: paedophilia and incest retain the power to shock us, whilst mass murder does not. Well, that may be true for some, but the one sequence that has anything like dramatic impact is the slaughter of the SA at their lakeside R and R. Throughout Visconti uses the irresolute pans and zooms that seem to be part and parcel of dire Italian filmmaking right up to Tinto Brass, no doubt in some misguided attempt to preserve some of that neo-realist truthfulness (the film has been described as operatic but that dignified adjective would better fit The Leopard or Death and Venice).