As you've gathered by now, this film is about a professor of philosophy who knows he has a few months to live and becomes obsessed with the idea that since he has so little to lose he could seize the opportunity to murder a really bad person.
A disturbing thought in today's era of copycat crimes, gun violence, and hate in general. I almost feel like this film should be suppressed before some segments of the population start seriously considering the idea.
So we have a crime film, though with less action than usual, as well as a philosophical discussion of whether it's a good idea to murder people because you have a fatal disease and will die soon anyway.
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that ultimately the film doesn't recommend murdering people, but that hardly describes the events in the plot, which I won't give away, though I'll say that the event that makes the professor see the error of his ways is a bit forced and arbitrary.
Great performance by Thomas Mitchell, though audiences may not identify too much with a dying old man vacillating between sanctimoniousness and contemplating murder. Even greater performance by Mona Maris, whose career was mostly in Spanish-language films, as amoral home wrecker and intended victim. Geraldine Fitzgerald and Jeffrey Lynn both fine as usual as the couple involved, and Thurston Hall amusing as usual as a blustering bureaucratic boss.
I feel like I've made this film sound more interesting that it is. Well, it is in a way but I'd recommend it more for curiosity value than enjoyment.
A disturbing thought in today's era of copycat crimes, gun violence, and hate in general. I almost feel like this film should be suppressed before some segments of the population start seriously considering the idea.
So we have a crime film, though with less action than usual, as well as a philosophical discussion of whether it's a good idea to murder people because you have a fatal disease and will die soon anyway.
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that ultimately the film doesn't recommend murdering people, but that hardly describes the events in the plot, which I won't give away, though I'll say that the event that makes the professor see the error of his ways is a bit forced and arbitrary.
Great performance by Thomas Mitchell, though audiences may not identify too much with a dying old man vacillating between sanctimoniousness and contemplating murder. Even greater performance by Mona Maris, whose career was mostly in Spanish-language films, as amoral home wrecker and intended victim. Geraldine Fitzgerald and Jeffrey Lynn both fine as usual as the couple involved, and Thurston Hall amusing as usual as a blustering bureaucratic boss.
I feel like I've made this film sound more interesting that it is. Well, it is in a way but I'd recommend it more for curiosity value than enjoyment.
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