barkingechoacrosswaves

McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a character study that shows the talents of Warren Beatty and Julie Christie to great advantage. They both play people driven by greed but controlled and ultimately undone by their self destructive impulses.

The acting in the picture is very good across the board; of the two leads, I'd say Beatty delivers the most compelling and fearless performance. The hand of the director can often be glimpsed in these portrayals.

Technically speaking the film is a mixed bag... there is outstanding, atmospheric cinematography (marred occasionally by phony postproduction snowfall) paired with remarkably poor sound recording. Certainly we must appreciate the incredible effort expended to create a whole town from scratch in the wilderness. It looks quite authentic... we can even see the actors' breath indoors during the scenes filmed during winter.

The weakest part for me was the music. I wasn't much taken with the songs created by the very famous Leonard Cohen, but what annoyed me most was how and when those songs or other incidental music were invoked. We hear it at some very awkward times.

I recommend seeing this movie, albeit with a few reservations. Altman was a master, but he was not quite up to par here.

I came to this movie with no expectations at all and was very impressed. The story -- centering on forbidden love between a romantic, naive soldier and a world-weary prostitute -- is told with surprising finesse. Watching it, you really feel the terrible impact of the First World War and the equally harsh impact of class differences raging in parallel to the military conflict.

The acting is uniformly excellent, with especially potent and convincing performances by leads Mae Clark and Kent Douglass. The direction by James Whale is also wonderful, with many fine choices made as to how to portray the tragic proceedings as they hasten to their inevitable end.

This is a film that deserves to be better known and more widely appreciated. I highly recommend it.

I'm a fan of Jean Harlow when she's working with a proper script and a decent director (e.g., "Dinner at Eight"), but this movie was torture. I found it a frustrating bore watching Harlow throw herself against the virtuous poses of Chester Morris again and again. She comes across as truly desperate with no depth or nuance to her character at all. Thanks to the lousy script and weak direction, the limits to Harlow's talents are vividly on display.

For me, this movie failed on almost everything -- script, acting, direction... even cinematography (check out the enormous hair stuck in the camera gate at 22:30 to 23:00).

It's interesting to compare "Red Headed Woman" with "Baby Face" which came out the following year. Actually, there is no comparison, other than the fact that they both follow the careers of two relentless golddiggers -- "Baby Face" is miles ahead of "Red Headed Woman" on every level.