Le génie du mal

We can add Welles to Wilde, Monroe and others who we never respected until they were gone. His pleading for the lives of those crazy boys (as Clarence Darrow did) is an eloquent plea for the ending of the death penalty. Funny, how a barometer like the death penalty tells us so much about a society's relative civility. The US had backed away from it, but is now swinging back toward even public executions (which I would much prefer, as they show all of us how barbaric we have become).

Note that the movie dwells on their 'craziness' and 'richness', not the Jewishness or the homosexual relationships that evoked the wrath of the public in the real case. Both Dillman and Dean Stockwell do an excellent job of drawing out your anger until you find yourself one of the mob yelling for blood. To stem the tide, in comes Orson Welles. Welles' phrasing and meaningful looks struck me again with what a magnificent actor he was, as well as director.

Now I have to go read 'Compulsion', the novel around which this movie was made, to determine what was left out and if it would have contributed to some of the obviously omitted details that make this movie a little choppy. This movie performs the task that great art must take on itself: to provide us insights into life and how it should be lived. That can be done either negatively or positively, by point or counter-point.

Of course, unless you had some excellent writers and actors of the stature of Welles, you wouldn't come up to the quality of this movie. Definitely, black and white contributed to the brooding quality of the film. Color would have detracted, and you'll seldom 'hear' me say this.

For those who complain about the closing speech being too long.... The closing speech (about 15 minutes?) is excerpts from Clarence Darrow's actual closing remarks at the Leopold & Loeb film. The actual closing statements took 12 hours over two days (so be thankful it wasn't longer!) For that bit of historical inaccuracy I can forgive all the other stuff they weren't allowed to explore indepth in the film. It's also a good anti-capital punishment film. We know the boys are guilty so it's now a question of is it right to kill them as punishment?

The real-life Leopold-Loeb murder case, which inspired Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope," among other films, is the basis for this story of a couple of rich young men committing a murder just for the thrill of trying to pull off the perfect crime. Stockwell and Dillman are well cast as the cold-blooded killers. The first half of the film, focusing on the strange relationship between the two men, their crime, and their arrest, is quite interesting. Then Welles shows up as the defense attorney and the film loses momentum. Welles seems to be sleep-walking through this one, and his final speech seems to take up about a third of the film.

Watching this 1959 Richard Fleischer confirmed something I've always known. Dean Stockwell is a superb actor and an extraordinary presence on the screen. So, I think it's strange that he's not regarded as one of the greatest actors that ever lived. He started as a kid. He was Gregory Peck's son, twice. He was in musicals with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. He was directed by Elia Kazan. He made allegorical movies like "The Boy With Green Hair" directed by black listed Joseph Losey. He was Edmond in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" sharing the screen with Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson and Jason Robards. No to mention his work in "Sons and Lovers" or the movies with Wim Wenders and David Lynch. Here, in "Compulsion" his performance is worthy of an Oscar and in fact he go the accolades at the Cannes Film Festival sharing the acting honors with Orson Welles and Bradford Dillman. But, looking at it now he is the one that comes out as the one who passed in triumph the test of time. His performance is so rich so perfectly modulated that you go straight into the human center of his sick, appalling character. "Compulsion" deserves to be rediscovered and Dean Stockwell's performance should be the main reason.

The film deal with two young men (Bradford Dillman , Dean Stockwell) who murder a pal . They are law students and followers to Nietsche theories . They are investigated by an astute prosecutor (E.G.Marshall) . He's growing suspicion but there isn't one perfect crime . As the relentless justice to be executed and they go on trial for killing . A famous lawyer (Orson Welles) will defend them on the accusation of murderers and under death penalty . A young girl (Diane Varsi) will testify for them .

This highly interesting film is inspired on real events about Nathan Leopold-Richard Lob killing case in Chicago of the 1920s . Although the story was obviously a thinly-disguised recreation of the known murder case , the legal department of 20th Century Fox was still concerned about a possible lawsuit from the still-living Leopold . In fact , a great effort was made not to mention Leopold or Loeb in the film , press releases , and interviews . The film contains suspense , drama , tension , illicit love with intertwining triangles , emotion , courtroom trial and complex intrigue maintained throughout . Besides , superb performances by main roles (Dillman , Stockell , Varsi, Welles) and supporting casting (Martin Milner , Robert F. Simon , Gavin McLeod , among others). Special mention for Orson Welles who displays a terrific acting and explaining a significant speech into criminal court . The movie is visually magnificent with an excellent black and white cinematography by William C. Mellor . Evocative and adjusted music by Lionel Newman . The motion picture was wonderfully directed by Richard Fleischer .

This is the second of four film adaptations of the Leopold-Loeb murder case , other versions about same events are the famous ¨The rope¨ (1948) by Hithcock with John Dall (in the character of Bradford Dillman )and Farley Granger (in the role of Dean Stockwell), ¨Swoon¨ and recently ¨Murder by numbers¨ by Barbet Schroeder with Michael Pitt and Ryan Gosling . Indispensable and fundamental seeing for court genre enthusiasts and Orson Welles fans . It's one of Richard Fleisher's best. Rating : Above average .