Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

classicsoncall Going in, I had no idea that this film had it's inspiration in the famous Sacco-Vanzetti trial of 1927. Now that I do, I don't find that it makes much difference. I have some real problems with this picture, not the least of which is the way it brings the characters together. Case in point - the judge from the original murder trial of 1920 shows up as an amnesiac wanderer in a New York City slum, doesn't remember his own name, and then comes around to recall the events of a case for which he carries sixteen years of regret for not really knowing the truth of it. His crusade brings him to the exact location where a mobster (Eduardo Ciannelli), a witness to the original crime (Paul Guilfoyle) and the son of the convicted man sixteen years earlier (Burgess Meredith) all converge to set up a final climactic showdown in the battle of good versus evil. Now think about that - what are the odds? Overlooking these highly improbable aspects of the picture, I can see why some other reviewers on this board give it higher marks than mine. The characters are portrayed with earnest sentiment, and the overriding sense that justice must win in the end propels the picture forward. But I just couldn't escape the idea that gangster Estrella (Ciannelli) would have been left unscathed if he had just left things alone. He didn't seem to have anything to do with the trial that opened the picture, (he wasn't even there), and there was nothing in the story to implicate him or his associates in the payroll robbery crime. Yes, we saw him do it, but it seems no one else in the story did.You know, I like Burgess Meredith, and it was really cool to see him in a film he made forty years before becoming Sylvester Stallone's trainer in the Rocky movies. It gives you an idea how far he came as an actor from this, his first credited big screen role, and in the lead no less. He's surrounded by a handful of competent supporting players as well, notably the single named Margo as his love interest Miriamne, and Guilfoyle as the conflicted brother Esdras. But overall, I think the best performance here was John Carradine in his damning declaration of innocence to open the picture, a brief but moving encounter before the judge who would eventually lose his way. My compliments as well to director Alfred Santell for the effective use of those magnificent stone arches and alley ways, lent a particular sinister ambiance by the night time elements. Also for the clever way bad guy Estrella was brought to justice without ever getting to the bottom of the original case.

Snow Leopard The drama itself is interesting to watch in this adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's play, and the themes that it brings out include some particularly weighty ones. The solid cast included at least three performers who were continuing their Broadway roles, and while the production does have a stagy feel at times, it often seems rather appropriate to the material.The brief prologue shows a political extremist (who is presumably also an immigrant) wrongly accused and executed for a murder committed by a holdup gang. The circumstances are similar to those in some notorious real cases of a slightly earlier era, in which politically unpopular persons were railroaded into convictions because of the public's fear of their beliefs.The main action starts with Burgess Meredith portraying the executed man's son, now an adult, and determined to get to the bottom of the case despite the obstacles that have come with time. In the course of things, he encounters the judge who had presided over his father's trial, a witness with important information, and a brutal crime boss who is determined to prevent the case from being re-opened. The setup produces some good psychological and ethical tensions, in addition to the drama on the surface.Most of the supporting cast performs well. John Carradine has a brief role as the father, Margo has a good and important role as a young woman torn between family loyalty and her attraction to Meredith's character, and Eduardo Ciannelli believably portrays the soulless, desperate crime boss. Mischa Auer succeeds in a brief, atypical role as a street agitator. But Edward Ellis gives the best performance, as the judge whose conscience has been tormented ever since the fateful case. The characters and the tragic situation that links them are all effectively portrayed.

ronvieth Winterset starts out beautifully and profoundly. The story flows well, but the latter scenes are so implausibly constrained that I ended up losing sympathy for the characters. The dialog was hard to make sense of at times, and many of the movie's sequences look like dark scenes from a bad dream... you know, the kind of situation you just can't escape from.It looks as though, in the transition to turning the stage play into a movie, the makers never gave much thought to overcoming the obvious limitations that the stage imposes on what we now think of as the "action sequences".I don't regret the time spent watching Winterset. It was interesting, but as a movie (and even allowing for its vintage) it was just "OK".

nocrud222 Call it Vintage, if you will, but you will not call Winterset boring unless a world of interesting details bore you. The movie is full of sub-stories, full of details that bring back the early days of everyday troubled life for Americans, especially New Yorkers. While not actually typical, the story is one that hangs together.I suspect the story plot and actor management of the story were perfected on Broadway long before going to film. It is both engaging and fascinating for movie buffs who are students of the perfected B/W film and is a study in filmography which makes one wonder if this is not the height of perfection, if you will, concerning films of that genre: Good story, good delivery and good conclusion.The story is not one with a tragic ending for the principles. It is not one that builds up the viewer's expectations and hopes and then dashes them in the end. While there are hints of evil and tragedy, the people most deserving receive this end, the ones who deserve the best of the ending actually do get the best in the end.The organ music is superb for selection and for an almost hypnotic melody that plays on in one's head for some time afterward. A nice, pleasant melody. And on it hangs the turning point in the movie, a grand hook to hang the ending.The antics of the policeman is what one would expect of one of New York's finest of that era. A masterful job of acting.Most of all, Margo! She was again engaging, spell-binding and her job well-done. She caused the viewer to want to provide her sympathy from a good and kind father, who was incapable of doing all he could for his children, and to a brother who was caught up in a crime and later regretted it and who endeavored to correct his mistake. Again, superb acting.Overall, Winterset stands out as one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever watched. I try to share it with friends who have never seen it before. None who see it for the first time have been disappointed.