Ruthless

A childhood incident propels Horace Vendig (Zachary Scott) onto a new path in life into the circles of the well-to-do and he does everything he can to capitalise on this unexpected turn of events. Having carried out a much-lauded good deed as a child, at first, his "ruthlessness" is not very apparent; he seems to be more of an opportunist as he attempts to valiantly bootstrap himself out of a broken, poverty-stricken, neglectful family. Although the story starts off quite glacially and tamely, the psychological damage caused by his upbringing and how this drives his behaviours is soon all too apparent. Even Horace himself seems to be at moments self-aware of his twisted personality and how devastating this is to those around him but his compulsion to persist in his Machiavellian maneuvers overcomes him, discarding business partners, friends and lovers like trash for the next 'big thing' as he clambers his way to the 'top'. Later, any glimmers of contrition and self-recrimination he had wither away as we see the 'ruthless' lengths he is willing to go to get the women and the status he craves. The noir-ish elements include multiple extensive flashbacks, ambiguity in the motives and morals of some of the players, a weird 'doubling' of a female character (the same actress plays two women), unexpected fateful reverses, and a "good versus evil" streak that runs through this film. This dark energy gets amped up at the halfway point when Sydney Greenstreet turns up as a bigger-than-life tycoon. His Buck Mansfield brings a fresh dimension to the movie as a wily big shot who Horace treats as a white whale to be harpooned, and whose position he schemes to usurp. In addition, there are quite a few other threads including a few romances that are not as straightforward as they look at first glance, and the meaning of friendship between men as they mature with different values (to say the least). Initially slightly dull, stuffy and stiff, I was pleasantly surprised by the increasing depth, twistiness, and darkening of tone of the film, with great acting all round from Scott, Hayward, Greenstreet, Vickers, Lynn and others. It is fascinating to watch the central character's initially quite blank and ambiguous character become ever more morally depraved (even deranged). By the end we get a somewhat nuanced and riveting portrait of Horace Vendig, a man we almost feel sorry for at some points: a sociopath driven by his own avaricious demons, who even seems to be sincerely ready to return to the path of 'good' at various times, aided by well-meaning people around him, but who is ultimately consumed by his own insatiable envy and overweening ambition. Get through the first 30 mins and you will be rewarded with a rarely-seen little gem.

Ruthless is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and adapted to screenplay by S.K. Lauren, Gordon Kahn and Alvah Bessie from Dayton Stoddart's novel Prelude to Night. It stars Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Sydney Greenstreet, Diana Lynn, Lucille Bremer and Martha Vickers. Music is by Werner Jansen and cinematography by Bert Glennon.

Even as a boy Horace Vendig always got what he wanted. Then into adulthood and he manipulates himself into high society. Now a fully fledged tyro of commerce he is even more cruel and impervious to how his actions harm others. But when Horace (Scott) reunites with his old best friend Vic Lambdin (Hayward) and he falls a foul of the bitter Buck Mansfield (Greenstreet), all the resentments come crashing together as one!

"Animals kill for food or love. You and I spoil the jungle because we kill for profit, a taste of victory and revenge. Then we destroy each other after"

It was a one time hard to locate picture, where even in early releases it had been shorn of 25 minutes, but now it's out there, a full one hour and forty four minutes of Ruthlessness! Ok, that might be over selling it a touch, but this is a pretty spicy piece of greedy film noir, a scathing attack on capitalism, a telling of the corruption of a man's soul and the bitter treatment he hands out to those who care for him.

Tagged as a sort of baby brother to Citizen Kane, which is fair enough in fact, but that be in narrative drive more than visual panache. There's some nice expressionistic touches, with Glennon (Crime Wave) proving what a very talented cinematographer he was (see his Westerns output), but the pic does lack for noirish visual menace to marry up with the sour lead characterisation. Which is a crime given it's Ulmer (The Black Cat/Bluebeard/Detour/Strange Illusion) in the directors chair.

However, where the pic shines bright is with the performances, Ulmer getting his cast to turn in impressive portrayals of the human condition. The ladies are especially great (Lynn has a dual role) as they nail the respective heartbeats of women buffeted by Horace's duality of twisted emotions and lofty avarice ambitions. In short we get very mature turns in a film that's very much mature in thematics. Add it to your Ulmer "to see lists" post haste. 7.5/10

While in a philanthropic meeting promoted by the millionaire Horace Woodruff Vendig (Zachary Scott), the guest Vic Lambdin (Louis Hayward) tells the history of the beginning and end of his friendship with the host to his date Mallory Flagg (Diana Lynn). When they are boys, Horace is a poor boy from a dysfunctional family and Vic's best friend that saves the wealthy girl Martha Burnside from drowning in a river. Horace is adopted by the rich Burnside family and later sent to Havard and gets engaged to Martha, for whom Vic has a crush. When the ambitious Horace meets the wealthier Susan Duane (Martha Vickers) that belongs to a more influent family, he calls off his engagement with Martha and moves to New York with Susan continuing his social raise. Later he meets the shark Buck Mansfield (Sydney Greenstreet) and seduces his young wife Christa (Lucille Bremer) to profit in business, leading to tragic consequences.

I was zapping the cable TV this raining Sunday morning in Rio and I found this rare film-noir by chance, which has never been released on VHS or DVD in Brazil. Edgar G. Ulmer made a magnificent movie with a timeless plot of merciless ambition of a poor and selfish boy that wishes to climb financially and socially using and disposing wealthy women and friendships. The screenplay uses flashback to perfectly develop the lead character and his acquaintances, supported by awesome black and white cinematography and camera work. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Insaciável" ("The Insatiable")

Note: On 23 Aug 2019 I saw this film again.

Excellent drama about a poor boy who is adopted by a rich family after saving their daughter from drowning. Given all the benefits of wealth and society, he uses the people who care about him and give him his breaks, especially the women he meets. Zachery Scott is chilling in his mentally perverse portrayal of a tycoon that is more in league with Norman Bates than William Randall Hurst. Diana Lynn (the Sandra Bullock of her day) is wonderful as the woman he had saved as a girl and who's heart he would break in his rise to success. There is a twist in the plot mid-way that will be a treat to Lynn fans, though I would have liked to seen more of her in the second half. The entire cast is compelling and the soundtrack is appropriately eerie. Very rare to find this on VHS or TV, so if you find it anywhere, get it, rent it, buy it, tape it, watch it.

That's the lesson learned too late by all the good souls who help ruthless Zachry Scott in this movie. Scott is appropriately hard and tough in the unsympathetic lead role, and Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, and Raymond Burr head up a marvelous supporting cast. Still, there's an element missing here, although I cannot put my finger on precisely what it is, that would have made this movie truly memorable instead of merely interesting.