A bizarre mixture of crime drama, comedy and social message movie, "You and Me" is another of Frtiz Lang's anti-capitalist experiments. He'd cite Brecht as the film's chief influence, but the film's avant-gardism is mostly played for laughs.
The plot? Sylvia Sidney and George Raft play a pair of criminals on parole and working at a luxurious department store. The store owner has hired a band of similar cases - all ex convicts and petty thieves - to manage his business, a decision he may or may not regret. Much commotion ensues.
"You and Me" was destroyed by critics upon release, but today offers a number of interesting moments: the bustle of department stores, the clatter of cash registers, "You Can't Get Something For Nothing" warbling on the soundtrack like an anti-musical refrain. Elsewhere, clerks and businessmen are all safe-crackers or thieves, criminal heists echo police confiscations, Lang uses a number of distancing effects and the film's plot seems like a perverse reversal of Lang's earlier "Metropolis", Lang's criminals defending workplace exploitation as being more rational than outright theft.
Much of Lang's plot follows a pair of clandestine lovers who break parole restrictions by getting married. Lang tries his hand at comedy, but he's best when solemn. Nevertheless, great shots abound – two lovers fleetingly touching hands whilst riding an escalator, the mirror image of gangster's crushing palms – including several musical sequences which blindsided contemporary critics. As is expected, Lang continues to shoot architecture well, most of which is Art Deco or sports modernist trimmings. The film's noir shadows suggest a crime movie, but the comedy and champaign suggest something else. What's going on? Lang called the film his Threepenny Opera.
7.5/10 – For Lang fans only.
The plot? Sylvia Sidney and George Raft play a pair of criminals on parole and working at a luxurious department store. The store owner has hired a band of similar cases - all ex convicts and petty thieves - to manage his business, a decision he may or may not regret. Much commotion ensues.
"You and Me" was destroyed by critics upon release, but today offers a number of interesting moments: the bustle of department stores, the clatter of cash registers, "You Can't Get Something For Nothing" warbling on the soundtrack like an anti-musical refrain. Elsewhere, clerks and businessmen are all safe-crackers or thieves, criminal heists echo police confiscations, Lang uses a number of distancing effects and the film's plot seems like a perverse reversal of Lang's earlier "Metropolis", Lang's criminals defending workplace exploitation as being more rational than outright theft.
Much of Lang's plot follows a pair of clandestine lovers who break parole restrictions by getting married. Lang tries his hand at comedy, but he's best when solemn. Nevertheless, great shots abound – two lovers fleetingly touching hands whilst riding an escalator, the mirror image of gangster's crushing palms – including several musical sequences which blindsided contemporary critics. As is expected, Lang continues to shoot architecture well, most of which is Art Deco or sports modernist trimmings. The film's noir shadows suggest a crime movie, but the comedy and champaign suggest something else. What's going on? Lang called the film his Threepenny Opera.
7.5/10 – For Lang fans only.