La cible vivante

Von Stroheim is superbly cast as a stage sharpshooter who succumbs to the charms of his scheming assistant. Though some may not appreciate the actor's ramrod-spined, Teutonic demeanor, such bearing is useful in the portrayal of stoicism and all the pitfalls that it engenders. Von Stroheim's dearth of emotionality makes all the more credible his character's inability to discern the falseness of personalities, and there is a unique poignancy in watching him go through the paces of a festering realization of perfidy. The plot, however, is pedestrian and, related in flashback, all the more predictable. Von Stroheim mavens should appreciate the movie, though, as should devotees of Dan Duryea, who plays a hard-drinking, done-wrong hoofer.

"The Great Flamarion" has an interesting setting and a good cast that give life to an otherwise routine story of love, deceit, and revenge. It is a pretty good movie, while quite obviously a low budget effort, and worth taking a look at.

The opening sequence is nicely done, and pulls the viewer in quickly. A stage variety show is interrupted by shots and screams, and soon a murder is discovered backstage. As the police question suspects, the actual murderer is seen crawling away, seriously wounded while committing the crime. The rest of the movie is then a long flashback, as told by the murderer. The rest of the film moves much more slowly, and does not match the first part, but it is pretty good.

The main performers are quite good - Erich von Stroheim as a magician fanatically devoted to his act, Mary Beth Hughes as his manipulative assistant, and Dan Duryea as Hughes's drunken husband. None of them are desirable characters, and so the audience cannot really form any sympathies, which does diminish the film's impact. But they are all convincing, and make the story seem interesting.

Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives, and this is certainly worth a look if you like older movies.

A mild-mannered, melancholic and essentially decent man(Erich Von Stroheim) working as vaudeville star becomes romantically involved in a destructive affair with a predatory woman( the femme fatal Mary Beth Hughes).He falls fatally in love with his scheming and heartless assistant who's unhappy married to a drunk(Dan Duryea). But she leaves him, engaging with another.

This good production put all the force of the screen into a challenging drama of furious passions. It's a psychological , dark melodrama about pessimism, fatalism, duplicity and human passions.Love, hatred, killing revenge indeed figure strongly in this brightly seedy portraits. Wonderful performances all casting. Erich Von Stroheim makes an absolutely hypnotic acting as upright man subtly destroyed by a bad woman.The smouldering predatory Mary Beth Hughes as manipulating assistant who destroys them all around and Dan Duryea as alcoholic husband winning get another awesome acting. The well-designed atmosphere elaborately recreated in studios by cameraman James Brown is entirely convincing throughout. Stunning directing and compelling developed in agility by the great filmmaker Anthony Mann. He's an excellent expert in noir cinema(Strangers in the night, Raw deal, Tal target, T men, Railroad) and creator of Western masterpieces (Man from Laramie,Bend the river, Far country, Naked spur, Winchester 73). Rating: Better than average, well worth checking out.

Early in his career, Erich Von Stroheim was well known for his temperament and excesses--so much so that his once celebrated career was practically in ruins by the 1940s. Because his star power had faded so, he was forced to act in a few relatively low budget films that were surprisingly good--much better than you'd expect. Part of this was due to Von Stroheim's acting, but it also was fortunate that he was paired with a young but very talented director (Anthony Mann). Because of his success with films like THE GREAT FLAMARION, Mann went on to direct many wonderful films and Von Stroheim had a mild resurgence in his prospects.

The film begins with a murder at a theater in Mexico. A short time later, a badly wounded Von Stroheim is discovered by the lone person still in the theater and Von Stroheim tells his story about why he committed the murder. Since you know that the murder occurred, there isn't a lot of suspense about the whole thing, but the film did a wonderful job of making the viewer actually care about him and understand why he felt compelled to kill this particular woman. The sweet and lovely Connie, you learn, is one horrible lady and her character is exceptionally interesting and gritty--sort of like an evil Noir femme fatale. She is so compelling to watch that this helps to elevate the film well above the ordinary.

Overall, a very entertaining film that nearly earns an 8. Fascinating character studies and a great script help make this one a keeper.

This is a decent little movie with a really nasty woman. She is really quite beautiful, and in the Blue Angel tradition, makes a man twice her age and not all that attractive, fall for her. There's no fool like an old fool and you don't mess with Von Stroheim. I wasn't aware that the great actor/director made some pretty weak films over the years. This one survives pretty well. Von Stroheim plays Flamarion, a trick shot artist, who is in great demand. He gets into the business of an alcoholic and his cheating wife. She uses him, changes him, and then he wants revenge. The story is told by Flamarion as another vaudeville performer holds him in his arms as he dies. It is told in flashback. I have to admit knowing that things had no possibility of working out, yet because of the interesting nature of the characters, particularly the young woman (who is beautiful, even by modern standards). Those of us who have had those yearnings to be young again and have a second chance can easily sympathize as this man makes mistake after mistake; loving too much; trusting too much. I was fairly impressed by the movie.