venerdì 21 settembre 2012

The criminal (Giungla di cemento) – Joseph Losey

un film di un altro tempo, un bianco e nero perfetto, un carcere dove i prigionieri e le guardie se la giocano, una sceneggiatura credibile, attori davvero bravi.
come non vederlo? - ismaele


QUI il film completo in inglese

Il bottino di una rapina fa gola a troppi.Storie di ordinaria malavita in un carcere inglese.Uno dei detenuti sa dove è nascosto il bottino ma non lo vuole rivelare e mal gliene incoglierà.Ma il bottino non sarà preso da altri in un finale tragico.Losey punta tutto sulle facce,sulla claustrofobia del luogo chiuso per eccellenza ,il carcere,sui rapporti non sempre cristallini tra i detenuti e sugli strani rituali,quasi tribali che vi si consumano all'interno…

Directed by American expatriate Joseph Losey, who fled to England as a result of the Hollywood blacklist, The Criminal is an uncompromising crime drama scripted by Alun Owen from an original story by Hammer screenwriter Jimmy Sangster. Losey’s morality tale of crime, betrayal and institutionalized mistreatment explores the contradictions of the tough guy submerged within the self-contained prison and underworld culture. Robert Krasker’s superb cinematography creates a suitably harsh, bleak visual style. There are fine performances by Stanley Baker as the brutal central character based on notorious Soho gangster Albert Dimes, and Patrick Magee is suitably sinister as Barrows, the corrupt prison guard…

Director Joseph Losey might have been turfed out of his home country by anti-communists, but it is clear that he has well found his feet in the UK. Every frame of this film's stark black and white footage looks superb. Unlike some of his other works, particularly his Harold Pinter collabarations, this is a much more straight forward film with none of the surreality that marked an entry like The Servant (1963), but he does include a couple of unorthodox shots, firstly of a character looking through a kaleidoscope and later a theatrical soliloquy from a prisoner with the background dissolving into black. In keeping with the brutal script, Losey is not afraid to focus in on the violence, particularly in a cell beating early on, where another film might have cut away, he stays and we see the reactions of the poor victim - similarly during the prison riot we see a number of prison officers being attacked by the inmates. A haunting main theme on the soundtrack is used very well to emphasise the sorrow and dispair running through the whole film; the rest of the score is fittingly contemporary jazz...

I admit I love film noir. I would rather watch "Kiss Me Deadly" or "The Big Heat" any night instead of one of the modern Hollywood blockbusters. The good guys didn't always wear white, the bad guys were more then cartoon caricatures, and political correctness wasn't heard of yet. Even so, these films had a strong moral code - the bad guys never won. What makes a film noir so special is the crafting of the picture, from a solid story, to believable acting (most of these films didn't star the "A-list" actors of the day), to a style that became it's own. I doubt you'd find a better-photographed film today...

2 commenti:

  1. la fine di Stanley Baker mi ha ricordato quella di Gian Maria Volontè in "Le cercle rouge" (I senza nome), di Melville, altro gran bel film.

    RispondiElimina