Review of Compulsion (1959) by Tonypolito — 15 Aug 2010
A highly-faithful and fairly interesting retelling of the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case, where two well-do-to, highly intelligent, elitist law students decide they are among Nietzsche's Supermen (Ubermenschen). As such, they believe themselves superior enough to be entitled to kill an 'ordinary' young boy -- and genius enough to get away with 'the perfect crime.' B&W.
The screenplay derives from a well-researched novel; only the names were changed, a lame (and unsuccessful) attempt to avoid legal entanglements. Mid-Century censorship standards required the film to skirt the duo's homosexual entanglement.
The big delivery here is Orson Welles as the duo's defense lawyer (who was in fact Clarence Darrow) in what was dubbed - 70 years before OJ - "The Trial of the Century." However the rest of the major cast members also do their jobs very well.
The film's reminiscent of "In Cold Blood" (1967) in that this is not a highly dramatic or gory telling, but rather a subtle yet engaging one, made so mostly by the true-enough oddities of its protagonists.
Hitch delivered (well) a more fictionalized presentation of this duo in "Rope" (1948). But here in this film are the real details, where a pair of monied-up, spoiled-rotten bookworms who called their mothers "Mumsy" killed just for the thrill of an intellectual exercise.
RECOMMENDATION: Well spent viewing.
This review of Compulsion (1959) was written by Tonypolito on 15 Aug 2010.
Compulsion has generally received positive reviews.
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