Perhaps not a masterpiece, but certainly a very good film. Cliff is sensitive and driven, Taylor is beautiful and Winters is folorn and pitiable. Definitely worth a look. And a second look.

Bad pacing, acting isn't impressive (especially Clift, Taylor gives it life though) and the character of George Eastman is so unbelievably dumb that it is impossible to feel sympathy. Who the hell would flee from the police when you didn't commit the crime? The first hour is particularly awful, it doesn't pick up until the boat scene, which is a bit underwhelming considering how many people rave about it. It's not a total bomb, but it certainly isn't as great as people say it is (92 PSI wtf?).

Someone want to tell me why I should care? Apart from the boat scene, this is terribly uninteresting.

456

George Stevens' depiction of what some people will do for class contains some beautiful black and white cinematography and a sweaty, steely performance from Montgomery Clift. This could have been called Man on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown if Stevens wasn't so concerned in making it a controlled melodrama.

I really can't figure out how I feel about this one. It isn't very engrossing but there's a lot to like about it - Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor together, Shelley Winters, some excellent scenes and things like that.

It's cheesy but good, and I'm glad they didn't cop out on the ending.

#524

You idiot. You poor, poor idiot.

The direction is clever. But scriptwise it sucks. The dialogue is dull, the key romance is badly motivated and overall the plot is too predictable.

A moralist tale for a pessimistic America, it is kind of erotic and also a conservative Hollywood picture, while Winters, Taylor and Clift elevates its ordinary premise to a enormous tragedy, with bitter and obsessed acting.

# 389

A little known but beautiful film in so many senses. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor are faultless and give amazing performances. A dark study of love and how chosing the wrong person can lead to devistating consequences. Touching, timeless and engrossing. The final walking shot is one that will stay with you forever.

The scene on the lake is pretty damn tense, but overall I wasn't very impressed. The musical queues are particularly annoying at times.

All plot points are made with a sledgehammer

Overblown, overlong, and over-praised melodrama from a monumental novel of social guilt; sometimes visually striking, the version alters the stresses of the plot and leaves no time for sociological detail. A film so clearly intended as a masterpiece could hardly fail to be boring.

I have mixed feelings about this. On a technical level it's great, well paced, beautiful lighting and great performances. The story's interesting too, but the way it makes you feel about Clift's character and his actions is a little worrying.

The ordinary story works extraordinarily well, thanks not in small way to the Clift-Taylor pairing.

Stunning, and I'm not just talking about Elizabeth Taylor's beauty.

I suspect the book is better than this adaptation, but the film is still an engaging drama. I kind of liked watching it but I didn't find it that exceptional either. Some nice touches: very good cinematography and mostly good performances, a story that's rather predictable but still worthwhile with a few subtle nuances. In the end though, it's not much better than the average Hollywood drama; the type of thing the Academy loves to throw awards at but as time goes on, people stop caring about it.