Review of Verboten! (1959) by Mathieu F — 02 Jun 2011

Dramatically terse and unsubtle, even by writer/director Samuel Fullerâ(TM)s standards, "Verboten!," one of his least-known films, explores the panorama of Germany Year Zero and wields the usual pressurized melodrama with a social and historical conscience-raising purpose that was Fuller's specialty. The film displays Fullerâ(TM)s strengths and weaknesses as a director. Made on a low budget, full of odd casting choices, curtailed ideas and fragmented story arcs, it still delivers with a force and clarity of intelligence the desired impact few other directors could ever muster, as it charges into the heady atmosphere of the post-War mixture of utter defeat and lingering horror.

"Verboten!" is a rip-roaring little film, and one that looks remarkably good thanks to Fullerâ(TM)s vivid eye and the technically excellent work of DP Joseph Biroc. His carefully lit, heavily shadowed, deep-focus visuals seem to keep the energy and beauty of noir film alive long after most such intricacy had vanished from Hollywood cinema. Fullerâ(TM)s stylistic creativity here seems to have had an impact on other filmmakers, especially in his use of classical music throughout, still an uncommon practice at the time. The concussive strains of Beethovenâ(TM)s Fifth Symphony, anticipating its similar usage in "The Longest Day" in establishing the apocalyptic struggle, give way to swooning quotes from Liszt and, most impressively, an electrifying montage of the Werewolvesâ(TM) crimes and the occupiersâ(TM) hunt set to Wagnerâ(TM)s âRide of the Valkyries,â? 20 years before "Apocalypse Now." Here Fullerâ(TM)s ironic counterpoint of high culture and down-and-dirty business is at its most vital.