Ossessione
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Movie Reviews of Ossessione
Movie Review: DO NOT MISS THIS!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the sexiest movies of all time! Pre-dating the Italian Neo-Realist wave of film-making by just a couple of years, its influence can be felt in the the movies of film-makers such as DiSica and Rossellini.Movie Review: The REAL version
Summary: 4 Stars
Yes, this IS the best filmed version of James Cain's classic The Postman Always Rings Twice. The first version, with Lana Turner and John Garfield, was much too tame and polite. When the husband gets bumped off, it's a matter of fact event, as though the two lovers were going out shopping for wallpaper. And the eroticism of the story is just not there at all--nor is the desperation.The 1981 version with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange certainly showed off the sexuality of the story, but was much too vapid and superficial; the director, Bob Rafelson, had apparently decided that the story's core was its sexuality and so focused on that at the expense of pretty much everything else. The desperation that should be brimming over in the development of the story is really not in evidence in this version--the two good looking leads basically just want to have sex a lot and that's what they do. They yell and scream, too, but it's the sex that everyone remembers in this film.
But Luchino Visconti, in this 1943 Italian neo-realist noir, gets it just right. Eroticism is here, but so is desperation, which is just as important, if not more so. This comes through so well because the setting is a small Italian village where there are no really wealthy folks. Everybody's engaged in his or her small activities to get by. The one exception is Giovanna's paunchy husband Giuseppe who's squirreled away a lot of dough.
And the desperation comes through in the doomed couple--Gino the drifter and Giovanna, the wife. Gino's labile temper and emotionality are well portrayed by Massimo Girotti, and Clara Calamai balances Girotti's performance with her depiction of Giovanna as a wife desperate to be free of her gross (to her) husband. The story introduces characters and situations that epitomize Italian culture--an opera singing contest, for example--but follows Cain's story closely enough to make this an early film noir, albeit a non-American one.
Even above eroticism and desperation, the overriding tone of this story is irony--unquestionably missing in the first American version, and only half-heartedly on display in the 1981 version. But irony is the soul of this film. The tragic ending is the most bitterly ironic scene here, and it is done simply--thus, very effectively. Visconti was intelligent enough to see that simplicity, combined with an emphasis on strong emotionality, would carry this ironic story through to its supremely ironic ending.
This is a surprisingly strong film for a first directorial effort, and one that should be remembered for some time to come. It's interesting that a non-American director made the best cinematic version of a seminal American noir story.
Movie Review: What's Love Got to Do With It?
Summary: 4 Stars
Visconti's directoral debut is a cinematic milestone both in noir and neo-realism. A brilliant adaptation of Cain's 'The Postman Always Rings Twice,' depicting the descent of two lonely souls into lust, avarice, and desperation. The use of light and shadow emphasize the character development. The finale is one of the most ironic scenes in film history (unwittingly omitted from the american versions).Movie Review: Paging Lana...
Summary: 4 Stars
... although I appreciate the extremely and artfully restrained performance of LanaTurner in the Hollywood version of ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice, if for no other reason, one must view Visconti's first film, Ossessione, to see one of the most beautiful men of the 20th century: Massimo Girotti.Movie Review: A great film survives in poor shape
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a truly great movie. It is the precursor film to the Italian Neo-Realist film movement. You can see many of its scenes were filmed in city streets and that the restaurant is a real building alongside a real highway. It is a wonderful mix of Film Noir and tragic opera.
Sadly, the existing copies of the film survive in poor condition. Some of the outdoor scenes look rather washed out. Other scenes appear dark and grainy. Some flickering is apparent. This is one classic film that is crying out for restoration.
The Image Video disc is pretty good considering the flaws in the quality of the film itself.
I got a new disc through Amazon sellers and when it arrived, it was not the familiar purple Image disc but a Korean disc of the same film. I have nothing against Korean discs; One disc I had of the original "King Kong" was from a better copy of the movie than the new western reissue in stores now.
I wish I could say that about this Korean disc of "Ossessione". The film the disc was mastered from was extremely worn, especially the sprocket holes. As a result some reels of the film jitter up and down in a really annoying manner. There is a spot early in the film where the film broke and was spliced. Fortunately, It takes place so early in the film that it does not affect the flow of the plot.
I've had this type of substitution occur before while buying from Amazon. I think that Amazon sellers should state when the item being sold is not the item pictured.