Haunting, Avant-Garde, and occasionally Surreal Anti-Hollywood Movie from the Early Sixties failed to get noticed in its initial release despite Carol Baker's Notoriety, mostly from a similar Film with a lurid, controversial, and sensational subject matter, Elia Kazan's Baby Doll (1957).
Directed by Her then Husband, Stage Director Jack Garfein, and Co-Starring the prolific but curiously obscure Method Actor Ralph Meeker, this is a "Strange One" indeed. The least of which is the decision to bust the code with its "Rape" and its aftermath Storyline.
The Film has a few flourishes that stand out among the repetitive and slow-burning scenes that frankly lose some impact with a meandering of melancholy heavy-handedness. However, the Artistic Flare of the Director with a Jazzy and unsettling Score and some very Expressionistic Cinematography and Filthy Squalor of the Tenement Environment are indelible
Some of the Dialog is rather clunky and repeated often, and there is an urgency to the Story that is held back with some Over-Extension and the Film, at times, especially in the Second Half is a bit Stagy. As a whole it's not as good as its parts and is a somewhat endurance test, but is not without its Fine Points.
A Daring and Disturbing Movie has since gained some appreciation for its willingness to expand Cinema's conventions and its Artistic Template. Not a Great Film but a noteworthy Production as an Artifact of its Time and Place, and its contribution to help American Films evolve, taking a cue from the European New Wave Influence.
Directed by Her then Husband, Stage Director Jack Garfein, and Co-Starring the prolific but curiously obscure Method Actor Ralph Meeker, this is a "Strange One" indeed. The least of which is the decision to bust the code with its "Rape" and its aftermath Storyline.
The Film has a few flourishes that stand out among the repetitive and slow-burning scenes that frankly lose some impact with a meandering of melancholy heavy-handedness. However, the Artistic Flare of the Director with a Jazzy and unsettling Score and some very Expressionistic Cinematography and Filthy Squalor of the Tenement Environment are indelible
Some of the Dialog is rather clunky and repeated often, and there is an urgency to the Story that is held back with some Over-Extension and the Film, at times, especially in the Second Half is a bit Stagy. As a whole it's not as good as its parts and is a somewhat endurance test, but is not without its Fine Points.
A Daring and Disturbing Movie has since gained some appreciation for its willingness to expand Cinema's conventions and its Artistic Template. Not a Great Film but a noteworthy Production as an Artifact of its Time and Place, and its contribution to help American Films evolve, taking a cue from the European New Wave Influence.