Had no idea Borzage was capable of this darkness. The opening scene is a minor masterpiece.

Rural noir that shows director Frank Borzage in top form. The much-heralded opener promises more than the rest of the film can deliver, but it's still a sensitive, gorgeous movie with excellent supporting performances and striking imagery. (Other high points beyond the opening include a paranoid freak-out on a ferris wheel, and a chase through a misty swamp.)

Noir tinged with a lush, lyrical air. The expressionist melancholy of the film generates a sense that it's floating just above reality. The melodrama is not exactly heightened but made pervasive and ethereal. Borzage's usual attention to mise-en-scene tantalizes the imagination, and I was struck by the multiple references to the concept of witnessing. Probably the only real complaint I have is that Gilly's love for Danny seems to spring out of nowhere. Otherwise, a beautiful film.

Strikingly beautiful imagery and great performances make for a haunting and very captivating noir. I found the film's thematic choices more interesting than the narrative ones, as Hawkins seems to do things that depict his melancholy and moral confusion rather than things which would be natural outgrowths of those feelings. This made me have to change my expectations, but it was still a rewarding film to watch.

945

# 935

A beautiful, poetic film that anticipates "Night of the Hunter" in its magnificent opening sequence. Dane Clark has perhaps the best role of his career, Gail Russell is beautiful, and both Ethel Barrymore and Rex Ingram are fine. Frank Borzage got one last chance at excellence, and he made the best of it here.