lhhung_himself Reviews

Colonia (2015)

Can we all just tell the story...

[1/10 · 8 July 2016]

There is a compelling, horrifying true story that should be told. However, Colonia was so badly done, with so many obviously fake dramatic turns that impact of the real facts is completely lost. How much stock can one put in the brutality of the torture and the complicity with the Pinochet regime if we have a fake couple, a unbelievable "rescue", and an escape even more outrageously silly than the film that it copied from??

I've bought into 70's scream flicks with ketchup blood more than I did into the Colonia plot. At least in those films - incredibly stupid decisions have consequences.

Wrapping a moronic and poorly told story in true events and adding some real pictures at the end does nothing to improve a bad film - it just dishonors the true heroes and victims.

Run (2013)

Weakest link ruins it

[6/10 · 5 July 2016]

The quality of the first three stories was about as good as I have seen for a miniseries.

I found them realistic and dark but in those three stories there was always the unifying theme that some sliver of human decency was struggling to prevail, even in the most inhospitable of environments. It didn't always win, but that struggle was what made the first three stories relatable and linked them together.

The fourth story is completely different. There is no moral struggle. The protagonist acts completely entitled and is even more unlikable than the two yobs at the beginning of the story. Worse, she is just reading the script - there is nothing real for us to see and no soul for us to care about.

Too bad - the first three story lines were very compelling but the ending was so weak and jolting that it ruins the entire effect.

Blue Jasmine (2013)

Modernized and humanized retelling of Streetcar

[9/10 · 23 January 2014]

Woody Allen introduced me to A Streetcar named Desire with his gloriously goofy imitation of Blanche Dubois ("means white woods") in Sleeper. Streetcar later became one of my favorite films but despite transcendent performances by Vivian Leigh and Marlon Brando, it was more surreal than real and the characters never felt quite right.

In Blue Jasmine, Allen has fleshed out these symbols and transformed them into real people. Blanchett's Jasmine/Blanche is absolutely brilliant. Whereas Vivian Leigh threw in just enough of a hard edge to transform her character from being cheap melodrama to true tragedy, Blanchett takes it even further and makes us fully believe the faded belle, exposing her frailties and discarding any remnants of romanticism. We have no illusions that Jasmine is a good person - yet we do understand what she could have been and how her weaknesses inevitably led to her demise which is sad if not tragic.

The Brando character is split into two. We can not so easily disregard the unpleasant honesty because of the naked testosterone that bordered on brutality in the original. Andrew Dice Clay is amazingly good as the Cassandra who tells it exactly like it is. Bobby Carnavale displays the raw emotion, but with more humanity and vulnerability than brutishness.

Also the "Stella" character finally makes sense. In Blue Jasmine, she is a thinking, feeling sexual woman, and not just an afterthought.

I really enjoyed this film. It complements Streetcar and it takes someone with Allen's deep understanding of human frailties to breathe life into the William's archetypes and bring them into the 21st century.

The East (2013)

Are you kidding me...?

[1/10 · 21 September 2013]

After the first 10 minutes we just couldn't stomach it. If by some miracle, it got better - I apologize. In those 10 minutes, the portrayal of the culture of today's youth was just so far off and comical. Like those 60's movies where they have teenagers doing the mash potato or beatniks hepcats in the 50's movies. This film is so four corners square daddio..

Whoever wrote this mess got their dialog from some Fox News special.

Speak to the Greenpeacers/Naderites for a second - go to a rave and enjoy a light-show - look at what is posted on social media - and maybe, just maybe, really listen to your kids. But don't waste your precious on time on this thing.

Perfect Understanding (1933)

Norma Desmond's film

[4/10 · 21 April 2013]

Gloria Swanson had formed a film company just to make this film. Unfortunately, this is precisely the type of film that her most famous character, Norma Desmond, likely wanted to make in Sunset Boulevard.

It is really a silent film with dialog replacing the text screens. The actors make grand extravagant gestures, turn their faces to and fro while fluttering their eyelids. The incessant music swells at appropriate moments to indicate high drama. The dialog seems like a nuisance to be summarily added and neglected - after all Swanson had done pretty well for all those years without dialog - why worry about that now.

The quite modern premise of the film, a semi-open marriage, and the conflict brought on by the juxtaposition of the end of the flapper era avant-garde attitudes with the conservative Victorian mores ensconced in the judicial attitude towards divorce should have made the film more interesting that it was.

However, the only real interest and tension is generated by incredible boat race where cocktails are drunk at every station to make the race more difficult! Prohibition was about to be repealed and the celebration of alcohol consumption in such stark contrast to today's attitudes is fascinating.

Tighter editing, better pacing and dialog might have made this worthwhile. As is, it is a curio from the early years of sound, and of interest to the historian and perhaps to the film buff as a primer on the world of Norma Desmond.

Amour (2012)

L'amour vrai

[10/10 · 24 February 2013]

This is such a beautiful and thoughtful film about true love.

So sad and unrelenting in the portrayal of inevitable indignities and unpleasant realities yet strangely not at all tragic..

Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant are perfectly cast in their roles, and play off of their earlier films from the Nouveau Vague of the 60's. Riva was the protagonist in Hiroshima mon amour, portraying an entirely different aspect of love, which though deeply felt and moving, now seems so inconsequential. Similarly Trintignant's intellectual musings and vigorous debate about morality and infidelity in My night at Maude's seems so quaint and indulgent in light of his all too real task of taking care of his ailing wife.

The ever-beautiful Isabelle Huppert, another of my all-time favorite actresses, gives her usual strong performance as a caring and loving daughter, yet who does not grasp the depth of the situation, even though it is commonplace, a simple three-penny opera, about that stage of life all of us will eventually have to deal with, no matter how hard we look away from it.

Yet despite all the cold realism, and sadness, the ending is one of the most unapologetically romantic scenes ever - a perfect coda and uplifting summation of the daily joy of two shared lives, in synchronicity until the end.

A refreshingly mature look at the true meaning of love...

Switchback (1997)

Keepin' it real

[3/10 · 21 February 2013]

It's not something that Quaid or Glover would want to buy back and destroy every copy but it's not very good either.

Quaid has one constipated expression all through the film as does Leto. They obviously needed the paycheck. Glover, to be fair, hammed it up, had fun and it kept me from changing to something else.

But the entire plot was bad - and even the chases were dull lacking any excitement, the contrived "surprise" was revealed too early - and nothing makes much sense. Just a bunch of scenes strung together to fill the time. No humor or decent FX/explosions ala Lethal Weapon to distract from a boring story either.

Very meh - Predator 2 was better...

World Without End (2012)

Videogames have better plots...

[2/10 · 10 February 2013]

This was a real waste of time even for popcorn and beer fare. Seriously, I've seen better plots watching those endless first person POV video games.

Pretty similar, when you think of it. The townspeople are fodder except for a few key characters that improbably survive no matter what. The interactions are limited and the plot is telegraphed as it leads to the inevitable battle with the big baddies to go to the next chapter. Of course, you know you can't kill them until the end...

The only saving grace was the cinematography which was nice. This is Downton Abbey's fault - it seems that audiences will forgive anything as long as it is sunny, has costumes, castles and bad accents. The history is wrong - the science is wrong - the characters are very very wrong - and it makes no sense. People don't act like that except in a video game.

And at least with a video game you do get the pleasure of personally dispatching the villains at the end.

House of Cards (2013–2018)

Enjoyable beltway fantasy

[7/10 · 5 February 2013]

I am one of those people who like to watch good TV series a season in one go with beer and munchies. I mean who doesn't rent DVD's or stream series from Netflix now rather than waiting every week.

House of Cards is pretty good - not as good as Breaking Bad or the Sopranos but about the level of Dexter - solid but not brilliant.

Strengths are Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. Spacey reprises his characterization from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil which is one of my favorites of his. He does the Southern backstabber so well. As for Wright, her characterization of his wife is a treat to watch every show. It is nice to finally have an older, attractive, intelligent and complex female character.

Downsides are the predictability of the plot and the other characters who are 2 dimensional. Spacey has to deal with some ridiculous plot ideas and people are too stupid by far as his schemes implausibly succeed...

However, no worse than Dexter and a lot of fun to watch Spacey and Wright connive - Spacey flamboyantly and outwardly Machiavellian while Wright does so quietly, subtly but equally effectively.

Good way to pass a weekend...

The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

Frustrating film saved by Weisz

[6/10 · 30 January 2013]

This is a very frustrating film to watch. The premise is good and it is thought-provoking, but only because of Weisz's deep understanding and subtle portrayal of the character that should have been developed but never was...

The flashbacks were not well done. They actively obscured an incomplete and hard to follow plot. We never see the relationships develop or deteriorate or are we given any understanding of the protagonist. There are some effective scenes, such as tea at Mother's but not enough to pull it all together. It was as if we were missing an entire chunk of plot to explain why this all happened - actually, what all happened?

Yet despite all of this, with what little she was given to work with, Rachel Weisz did make me understand her character, the importance of appearances and the stiff upper lip, the unexpectedness of the mid-life blooming of her teenage passions and the coming to terms with all of this stuff that is not in the sonnets or old masters that she was brought up with...

It is not just a case of subtle undercurrents in a restrained British film being missed by an American audience - those moments really are not there. We rely on the characters to tell us about their feelings and the motivations of others rather than witnessing them for the most part.

Still worth seeing for those few moments when you can peer into the protagonist's soul and understand why she is being as annoyingly childish as she is...

Life of Pi (2012)

A beautiful and deep philosophical journey

[9/10 · 20 January 2013]

The trailers for this film make it seem like a Disney talking animal film or at best one of those arty magic-realism snorefests. But this is not about plant-boy or button-gump.

Instead this is an original and enjoyable exploration of the different ways to view the journey of life. Rationalism and spirituality, deduction and inspiration, science and art, Krishna and Christ are not all that different but are compatible manifestations of and portals to the same underlying truth.

Life of Pi does this not with a dry lecture, but through a gripping journey and tale of survival that stands on its own without the metaphysical underpinnings.

I did find the beginning out of place though very beautifully shot. The ending was a bit heavy handed (as was Pi reading "L'etranger") but maybe Ang Lee knows his audience and that he has to tell them what it is about. And even the book makes absolutely sure we "get it" by naming the tiger Richard Parker.

In the end an excellent film that both entertains and provokes thought. Much much better than the silly trailers would lead you to believe.

Argo (2012)

Stop with the "Reality" Cinema already...

[1/10 · 19 January 2013]

Six American embassy staff are sheltered and smuggled out of the Iran, quietly, safely and without any fuss. It just gets done as it should, with the help of the western diplomatic community including Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Britain and New Zealand.

You could make a film out of it - but it would be a documentary and probably boring as simple competency and decency make for poor cinema these days.

You can also make a Die-hard/RAMBO type film with one man against the system, lots of car chases, explosions, improbable plot twists and cliffhanger type of escapes. These can be a lot of fun to watch when done right.

Or you can make a film that is something in between, where you intersperse actual events and people to trick viewers into taking the pulp fiction seriously. It is important to make sure that most of the audience was not alive when the events occurred - just stress the few cultural references that they know and give a slide show at the end to convince them how real it all was. And add a one sentence disclaimer so that all those friends that did help aren't too offended.

I personally prefer the first two types of film that either give credit to the very real people who actually did risk their very real lives or be honest with the audience that this is make-believe.

Or at the very least - make something that can stand on its own without having to pretend that most of it actually happened.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Homeland meets Call of Duty

[5/10 · 14 January 2013]

I like watching a good video game being played at times. The graphics, camera angles and action are quite riveting even when you're not actually playing.

The plot -- not so much.

I like Homeland too. The frantic, more than slightly over-the-top Carrie and here Yoda like mentor are very appealing, as is the ever-mysterious ex-marine/terrorist.

The plot -- not so much.

Zero Dark Thirty is a mixture of both of these fantasy universes. It's good at what it does with the over-precision and false but gripping tension in the video game sequences. The highly improbable and emotional CIA scenes are good melodrama. Chastain is not nearly as good as Danes in the crazy obsessed character but she's fun to watch as are the other character types. This is honestly very enjoyable guilty pleasure pulp- fiction soap-opera stuff.

The plot -- not so much.

We know what happens in the end and we know it didn't happen like that, though to be fair, it probably didn't happen as in official accounts either. However, this is the weakness in the film - it tries to pretend to be real and, I feel, cheapens the contributions made by the actual participants.

This is not great cinema. It is not Gone with the Wind and does not bring "closure" for 9-11. But it is enjoyable if you pretend it is a Homeland episode and that you are watching a good Call of Duty black-ops game (good - not great - perfect score would have been not to shoot the two wives...) - and bring lots of popcorn...

Les Misérables (2012)

A fantastic Fantine...

[10/10 · 26 December 2012]

Great musicals are all about magical moments.

Anne Hathaway has THE moment with her performance as Fantine. Her rendition of "I dreamed a dream" is how songs are meant to be sung. It's not about pitch perfect notes but about communicating passion and emotion. I don't hear the music - I feel the pain, the sadness, the anger, and yet some remaining remnant of hope. I am still moved to tears just thinking about it. It is an experience - not a performance - Hathaway doesn't just become Fantine but makes me become her.

The rest was middling (Cohen, Syfried, Crowe ) to very good (Jackman). I enjoyed the musical immensely and so did the audience at the theater we were at which burst into applause at the credits.

However, it was Hathaway, who was on screen may 10-15 minutes total, who stole the show - and was one of those rare magical moments that people remember decades later...

Georgy Girl (1966)

Surprisingly good even after all these years

[8/10 · 18 August 2012]

It is hard to find words to describe to this generation the extent of the condemnation that girls "in trouble" faced 50 years ago.

Films like Pagnol's "Fanny" or Demy's "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" poignantly illustrated the difficult choice between romantic love and contracting oneself out to ensure that one's child would not face society's all too real retribution.

In that context, Georgy Girl is an extremely bold film that turned the Fanny tale on its head, playfully mocking the absurdity of the situation and cleverly empowering the victim. However, it manages to rise above "message" pieces such as "Guess who's coming to dinner" by carefully treading the line between reality and satire and always respecting the basic humanity of the characters.

The spot-on performances of the cast, especially Redgrave make this fun to watch and easy for modern audiences to relate, even after the softening of the attitudes that the film gently mocks.

Much like the Seeker's opening theme - very 60's but still catchy and fun...

Ping Pong Playa (2007)

Uneven comedy that illustrates immigrant attitudes

[6/10 · 15 April 2012]

Ping-pong Playa is very funny at times and very uncomfortable at other times. The lead Chinese-American character Christopher Wang (pronounced Wong) or C-dub is hilarious when he does his gangsta routine. He is also very "Ghetto", quite racist and all too authentic.

The plot itself is very Karate kid lite, done on a low after-school movie budget but is pleasant enough.

But most Asian, or other minorities for that matter can relate to C-dub and both laugh and cringe. The way Caucasians are depicted is over the top but does reflect some of the frustration at the old-school-tie attitudes that are still running things - even when they are trying to be benevolent. Sadly, we have all experienced those unintentional incredibly ignorant remarks from people like the tournament director. If you are from Hong Kong or one of the former British colonies then you'd know what C-dub was sayin'...

This might have been less cringe-worthy if it had gotten out of the American immigrant self-imposed apartheid ghetto mentality. But then again maybe that works better as (un)intentional irony.

Overall, not great but it did precede things like Outsourced which deal with similar themes. C-dub's rapping is very funny (as is the Cantonese hip-hop - so bad that I'm glad they didn't translate it...) and it does give insight into Asian-American attitudes and prejudices.

The Grey (2011)

Existential allegory

[10/10 · 11 March 2012]

This is a really depressing and disturbing film - almost certainly a bust at the box office but "The Grey" is really really good - an existentialist parable - in wolves clothing.

Life is nasty - it is a struggle without meaning except for the struggle itself and the nobility in having done that well regardless of the end result. That's what the film was about - not an action picture - not a scientifically accurate portrayal of wolves but an allegory - a metaphor about the existential view of life.

The circling and relentless wolves - the beautiful yet cold and uncaring Siberian landscape - the different attitudes of the participants to the pointless struggle yet heroic effort which no one will ever know about - succinct, powerful and poignant.

One of the few films that will be remembered in future decades in what has been a especially weak year. "The Grey" is not for the faint of heart or those looking for cheap thrills - but it is an unusually brave and beautiful exposition of an unpopular and depressing philosophical view of life...

Lilyhammer (2012–2014)

Quite funny

[8/10 · 13 February 2012]

How can you do yet another Mafia series? How can you top the Sopranos? - which couldn't even compete with itself after a few years.

Some of the best moments in the Sopranos were the ironies. Lillyhammer turns the Mafia theme completely into a dark comedy. Some of the lines are ROTFL hilarious.

There is of course the fish out of water - wise-guy meets the Von Trapp Singers - culture conflict element. This is not done to advance a political view, though some Americans not used to European viewpoints might not see it that way. In any case the juxtaposition of values is used to good comic effect.

I just wonder how long they can keep this up - most of the easy laughs are gone and the plotting last couple of episodes were pretty weak, even for a parody.

Still this streamed series is a lot of fun and better than much of the scripted TV nowadays.

I'm still waiting for Johnny to try lutefisk...

Downton Abbey (2010–2015)

Truly bad and lazy scripting - not even soap opera standards

[3/10 · 21 January 2012]

Despite some annoying camera sequences, this is beautifully shot with lovely costumes and big-name and competent actors. I don't even mind that no matter the season, it is always sunny, warm and green in this mythical part of Yorkshire or that the Edwardian class structures are softened a bit for modern audiences, or the numerous historical and scientific and medical lapses.

It is after all a fantasy Jerusalem and a good warm fuzzy place and time to escape the real world. I understand why this appeals to so many people and it is relaxing and enjoyable in that sense.

However, Downton is so very disappointing as well, and I would have been satisfied with soap-level plots and characterizations ala Young and Restless or Lovejoy. With someone like Julian Fellowes, I had hoped for Gosford Park and but would have settled for Monarch of the Glen with eye-candy.

The many annoying inconsistencies of the characters, the silliness of the plots, are all contrived for Pee Wee Herman manipulations of the audience to cheer and jeer and the appropriate times. I am waiting for aliens to appear - we already had some Battlestar Galactica mysticism...

The incredibly poor scripting and outlandish plot elements not only make watching this tiresome as you try to filter out everything that doesn't make sense but sadly ruins the illusion. I don't need complete historical accuracy, but the characters need to be true, and the stories need to make enough sense for me to escape into that time and place that never was...

I guess I can always dust off old copies of Howard's End or Remains of the Day.

Too bad - Downton is such a beautiful place... why couldn't the Bellamy's live there...

Upstairs, Downstairs: A Cry for Help (1971) Season 1, Episode 6

Great episode - legal psychology correct - details wrong

[1 January 2012]

Just being a stickler for the details of libel law.

I assume that the letter was written and published in some public forum - otherwise the defence of qualified privilege was available if it was just written to the family. In other words, Bellamy had a clear duty to report the allegation of rape to the family (and to the police) which would have shielded him from libel, absent malice or recklessness (which would amount to malice in the eyes of the law). However, it would have been up to the other side to prove malice, not for him to prove absence of malice.

In fact, being a member of Parliament, Bellamy had the option of raising this issue in Parliament where his words would have been subject to absolute privilege which would have shielded him 100% from a lawsuit. Of course, it would not have protected him from the whispers regarding his motivation, nor censure from his peers for misusing his position...

Regardless, proving the truth of the allegations would have been a sufficient defence in the circumstances in this case. Truth is almost always an adequate defence and certainly is with regards to reporting a serious crime.

The family would have been equally reluctant about a lawsuit as it could have turned either way and would have been equally expensive and ruinous to pursue on their part. However, the episode captures the psychology and ugliness of the affair. Being cornered, it would have been a very dirty fight as the family tried to prove malice and Mr. Bellamy trying to both prove the correctness of his allegations and destroy the reputation of his foe.

Just pointing out that Bellamy's legal position was far stronger than depicted by his solicitor and he would have known it. The risks to him politically and in society were however accurate and the advice to retract was sound and is likely what a solicitor would have given to protect the Bellamys' interests.

The legal inaccuracies do not take away from this great episode. The psychology and cynicism about the legal system is absolutely spot on and deserved. I was greatly impressed by the plot, especially given that it came out in 1971.

Melancholia (2011)

A beautiful allegory

[8/10 · 3 October 2011]

If you are looking for an SF or chick flick - look elsewhere. This will just be a waste of time and money.

This is Donnie Darko taken to the extreme. In that film, you could get SF view on things or a realistic psychological view of it to get your mind around the weird elements.

Not so for this film. It's an allegory. Planets colliding, end of the world, nowhere to hide, hope and hopelessness, no one to protect, no one to protect you, nothing that can be done but wait for the end...

That's melancholia - that mind-numbing depth of despair that Lars von Trier is describing though the viewpoint of two sisters.

The two parts are distorted slices of the same multi-dimensional reality. There are many subtle details that tie together both. And more than a little heavy-handedness - as if von Trier doesn't trust his audience.

But it's not just the cleverness that makes it worth watching - otherwise it would be a bad Lynch film. There is genuine human emotion in the interactions. Each brings out a different element of melancholia. We can not help but watch fascinated and helpless as the disaster slowly evolves to its inevitable conclusions.

So sad yet so beautiful...

The Eagle (2011)

Dumbed down adaptation of a novel meant for 14 year olds

[1/10 · 18 June 2011]

"The Eagle of the Ninth" used to be part of the high school curriculum in Ontario as the introductory novel for 13 and 14 year olds.

Somehow the film-makers decided that this was too difficult and dumbed it down. Not only is the history completely mangled in the process, but the entire point of the story, the development of the understanding between the two main characters, Marcus and Esca, is completely lost.

The filmmakers were unable to tell a simple story and resorted to mini-Braveheart/Spartacus battles and gratuitous gore instead.

Not even worth a download. Take a couple of hours and read the novella on your Kindle instead, or better yet, find a dead tree copy somewhere.

The film did make me realize that the book wasn't that bad a read...

Love & Other Drugs (2010)

Guess who's coming to Parkinson's

[6/10 · 1 February 2011]

This is not a very good film overall. The characters are comic-book caricatures and the plot is unfocused. However, at least it didn't get all of the facts wrong when it came to the Parkinson's.

Ann Hathaway's portrayal of a young person with Parkinson's was spot on, at least of the psychology, if not the symptoms (though she made a fine effort there too). Gyllenhaal also got the core of the caregiver/boyfriend relationship which was no easy task given the script he had to work with.

Unfortunately, the film missed it's mark on everything else. There was the irony of the Viagra sales there, next to the reality of the Parkinson's. There was a great opportunity to make the point that some drugs like domperidone are only available in Canada because of FDA politics. Instead the film wimped out by having it prescribed by her neurologist rather than explaining that the bus load of people for Canada were going there, not just because drugs were cheaper, but because some are not marketed in the US. These drugs have to be brought in personally to avoid seizure by US Customs protecting drug patents.

The convention of Parkinson's patients was not good. I would have preferred it if they had portrayed Parkinson's patients more like Maggie, trying to live life in a world that is designed for Jamie. I would have liked it if they had shown more of the stereotypes and unsympathetic reactions that Maggie would have to endure.

But it's a start.

"Guess who's coming to dinner" (the original) was not a very good or accurate film, but it was a necessary first step towards understanding and acceptance. Kudos to Hathaway and Gyllenhaal for having accomplished this and helping people understand a bit about Parkinson's.

The Company Men (2010)

Sorry you had to sell your Porsche...

[2/10 · 9 January 2011]

You know this is going to be bad about 5 minutes into the film, when 5000 people and 2 divisions have been laid off, a manager whines at an executive meeting about the fact that she hasn't seen her kids in 2 weeks because of the extra work...

And it gets worse from there.

Affleck has to decide between paying the mortgage, detailing his Porsche and maintaining his country club membership so that he can hit balls in his suit. No joke. These are some of the tough decisions that he has to make.

But somehow, he doesn't have WIFI or his own phone so he has to use the company printer and tiny cubicle to search for a job because although he was making $160K plus, he is now rubbing shoulders with Joe Blue Collar.

This just doesn't work for me...

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Morality play within a morality play description of McCarthy's America

[9/10 · 27 November 2010]

I was astonished when I saw this film which was made in 1955. It reminded me of Dogsville made 50 years later. Very stylized, biblical telling with a Greek chorus beginning and end.

The anti-woman theme is not so much a homosexual one but a biblical one. It was the weakness of Eve that caused Man to be cast into the wilderness. Laughton mocks the bible-thumpers by using their own sources and devices.

It is a morality play within a morality play. Within the tale of the weakness of woman, is also a modern one about the weak-mindedness of the stout well-meaning American who is so easily subverted by the clarion call of the false prophet. Remember this was filmed in the age of McCarthy, showing the worst side of American democracy right after WW2 demonstrated its best side.The performances are magnificent. Mitchum is brilliant as the psychotic preacher. Winters is under-appreciated as the Pandora wife. Gish is perfect as the guardian angel, with American common-sense righteousness. She restores the order at the end - sort of...

The ending is a bit weak I think, but the rest of the journey, especially the surreal cinematography, the thinly veiled satire and Mitchum's performance is perfectly done.

A great commentary on the good and bad of middle America. Unlike fellow British ex-pat, Hitchcock, who was so dismissive of the average American in "Shadow of a Doubt", Laughton is much more sanguine. Eventually the good people do get it right and hang the false prophet, but until then, the children must wait and patiently abide...