elif-4

To me, Basil Rathbone is the one and only superior actor in this film. Fans might disagree, but I find Garbo rather unconvincingly playing the [in my mind] fragile and victimized Anna character. Garbo's screen presence is so strong that, combined with her voice and perhaps also due to the extreme soft-light shots, she gives the impression of a winner, a survivor, a diva. Also the direction and adaptation by Clarence Brown deserve a compliment.

Although not an Altman fan at all, I was pleasantly surprised by seeing this movie. First of all, it did not look as if it was made decades ago at all; it could just have been made yesterday. Much of the credit must go to Gould, who really is astonishing, I never knew he could be this good. Finally I must say that the discussion whether this movie is a film noir or not, seems totally irrelevant. It is a really well made film which does not need to rely on genre cliche's, except for providing many references and comments upon the past Marlowes, Chandlers, Hawks and in general private eye movies of the film history.

This film suffers from not so well written and too sentimental dialogues. Although the improbabilities within the plot are quite acceptable given the melodramatic cliche's, some of the scenes that should have been the most important ones, get so sentimental that they make you feel uneasy. One big question for me left unanswered throughout the picture; why does Goldie not want to go back home? Anyway, the presence of Menjou is rather impressive and he really carries the whole story which otherwise would be uninteresting.