William Lee Wilder was the older brother of Billy Wilder and "The Great Flamarion" was his first motion picture production. He didn't have a lot of flair but he did put Anthony Mann on the ladder to directorial fame and he also used a couple of great actors in Erich Von Stroheim and Dan Duryea. The film had a European flavour (it was adapted from a Vicki Baum story "The Big Shot") and Stroheim was perfect as an obsessed vaudevillian - a role he had perfected in "The Great Gabbo" (1929). He drew viewer's attention in every scene he appeared.
A shot is heard throughout a Mexico City music hall - when a man falls from the rafters, Tony an old trouper, recognises Flamarion (Erich Von Stroheim), once the world's greatest sharp shooter. Dying, Flamarion tells his story:- Flamarion lived only for his work until he fell in love with Connie (Mary Beth Hughes), who with her husband Al (Dan Duryea) form Flamarion's shooting act. Connie and Al seem happily married, but behind closed doors her ruthless ambition has turned him into an alcoholic and rumour has it she is having an affair with Eddie (Stephen Barclay), a cyclist with the troop. Connie leads Flamarion to think she cares about him but her motive is to convince him to kill Al during a performance and make it look like an accident. He does and the coroner believes Al died due to his own drunken miscalculations. Connie and Flamarion agree to meet in Chicago, but she has her own plans that include Eddie, not Flamarion and he waits at the hotel in vain. To me, the best scene in the film is where Von Stroheim does a little dance in his eager anticipation to soon be with Connie.
He sets out to find her and eventually traces both Connie and Eddie performing at a cheap theatre in Mexico City. He upbraids her for her duplicity but Connie pretends she still loves him - all the time reaching for his gun to shoot him. With his ebbing strength he strangles her before crawling away to die.
Is there another actor more under-rated than Dan Duryea. He was a stage actor who was bought to movies to repeat his success in the stage play "The Little Foxes" but soon found himself in demand playing everything from pimps and spongers ("Scarlet Street" (1945), "Too Late For Tears" (1949)) to saddle tramps ("Black Bart" (1948)). "The Great Flamarion" presented him with a rare sympathetic role and as usual he perfected it. Mary Beth Hughes, originally a blonde bit player ("These Glamour Girls" (1939)) went back to her natural hair color (red) and became a noir cult favourite. Martha Vickers can be glimpsed as a chorus girl in the first scenes.
Recommended.
A shot is heard throughout a Mexico City music hall - when a man falls from the rafters, Tony an old trouper, recognises Flamarion (Erich Von Stroheim), once the world's greatest sharp shooter. Dying, Flamarion tells his story:- Flamarion lived only for his work until he fell in love with Connie (Mary Beth Hughes), who with her husband Al (Dan Duryea) form Flamarion's shooting act. Connie and Al seem happily married, but behind closed doors her ruthless ambition has turned him into an alcoholic and rumour has it she is having an affair with Eddie (Stephen Barclay), a cyclist with the troop. Connie leads Flamarion to think she cares about him but her motive is to convince him to kill Al during a performance and make it look like an accident. He does and the coroner believes Al died due to his own drunken miscalculations. Connie and Flamarion agree to meet in Chicago, but she has her own plans that include Eddie, not Flamarion and he waits at the hotel in vain. To me, the best scene in the film is where Von Stroheim does a little dance in his eager anticipation to soon be with Connie.
He sets out to find her and eventually traces both Connie and Eddie performing at a cheap theatre in Mexico City. He upbraids her for her duplicity but Connie pretends she still loves him - all the time reaching for his gun to shoot him. With his ebbing strength he strangles her before crawling away to die.
Is there another actor more under-rated than Dan Duryea. He was a stage actor who was bought to movies to repeat his success in the stage play "The Little Foxes" but soon found himself in demand playing everything from pimps and spongers ("Scarlet Street" (1945), "Too Late For Tears" (1949)) to saddle tramps ("Black Bart" (1948)). "The Great Flamarion" presented him with a rare sympathetic role and as usual he perfected it. Mary Beth Hughes, originally a blonde bit player ("These Glamour Girls" (1939)) went back to her natural hair color (red) and became a noir cult favourite. Martha Vickers can be glimpsed as a chorus girl in the first scenes.
Recommended.