Two Weeks in Another Town

The opening up of the film corresponds with the opening up of Douglas. There is such cruelty, and such beauty, on display here. I think it has got to be one of VM's best.

Started to lose my attention by the third half.

The shift from MGM musical aesthetic to scenes of visceral emotional impact is amazing and profound. The cast is pitch perfect, even in moments where they fly off the handle it all works. How this movie has faded into obscurity I can't even fathom.

Same star, same director, and a number of the other principals of _The Bad and the Beautiful_ get together to make a similar picture... which, unfortunately, is not as good. Further evidence of how Hollywood insiders are fascinated by themselves; certainly this is competent, but there's hardly a genuine bone in its body. It's exactly the kind of moviemaking that was put right out of business by the massive cultural shifts of the later 60s

Self-indulgent melodrama with entertaining patches for cineastes, especially those who saw _The Bad and the Beautiful_.

Overcooked Vincent Minnelli melodrama is a quasi-sequel to The Bad and the Beautiful, though even more cynical. It's beautifully shot, and the cast strolls through well-appointed sets with the camera gracefully tracking their frequent histrionics. Though no one could be accused of underplaying, Claire Trevor and George Hamilton (a destitute man's Warren Beatty) are particularly grating. Nearly saved by a fantastic, wildly over-the-top climax that feels like it occurs in Kirk Douglas' mind only.

Not the most insightful, funny or engaging movie, but I'll be damned if Douglas and Robinson don't just have the best chemistry. The screen crackles when they're on screen together. The rest is pretty meh.

82.50

The film did a good job building up the story, then it just fizzled out in a spinning car.

watched: 2015, 2021

A Cidade dos Desiludidos estreava há 60 anos nos EUA. Mais um "must see" do Minnelli, outra vez usando Douglas para dinamitar os bastidores de Hollywood como também fizera lindamente em Assim Estava Escrito. Não é o corte final que Minnelli queria, mas ficou tão neurótico e ensandecido que não tem como não gostar. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

"A lot of people got it into their heads that the only thing the American moviegoer wanted to do was to stare at Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and they made movies accordingly." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/01/episode-42-vincente-minnelli-melodramas.html