Review of Key Largo (1948) by A B — 15 Apr 2005

[b]THE STRAIGHT STORY.

[/b]I still haven't decided whether this is the best David Lynch film or not. I fell in love with [i]Mulholland Dr.[/i] the first time I saw it, and it's gotten better the second and third time. It would be hard for a film to surpass it, but if any film can it's this one. This is better than [i]Umberto D.[/i] and [i]Wild Strawberries[/i], two films that deal with aging and death, and only a step behind [i]Ikiru[/i]. It's that good.

[b]PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)[/b].

I initially had a hard time adjusting to this film because I'm such a junky for the musical. I've seen it three times live in Toronto, so as this film was progressing, I found myself missing the music and songs I had grown so accustomed to. That said, this is a phenomenal silent film, and Chaney deserves all the credit he receives. This also has one of the most memorable scenes from any silent film I've seen yet, and that's the scene on the rooftop when Christine tells Raoul about the Phantom with him perched on the roof above. It's just brilliant.

[b]KEY LARGO[/b].

This film should be used as an example for great atmosphere. The hotel during the hurricane is a great setting and served as another character of the film, one that helped generate nearly all of the suspense. This was a solid film that was bogged down by some bad melodrama and a very slow start. Even so, it's well worth seeing and Bogart and Bacall are great as always. The scene stealer, however, is Robinson, who plays the banished gangster perfectly.

[b]HE LOVES ME... HE LOVES ME NOT.

[/b]Sure it's a gimmick film, and not only one gimmick but two. The first was using Tautou in such a dark role, and the second was the two part story. It played on those two gimmicks, as well as some pretty big and unbelievable coincidences, but it was still pretty damn entertaining. It should have ended five minutes before it did, as I didn't care for the final "twist", and thought it would have been perfect to end during the musical montage a bit earlier.

[b].

SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS[/b].

This Preston Sturges film suffered from a drastic and awkward tonal shift. I was loving this film, almost solely because of the relationship and chemistry between Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea. They were great together, and when the film abandoned them and put McCrea in his unfortunate position, the film fell flat. Really flat. It's a shame, because this could have been up there with [i]The Lady Eve[/i].