drystyx

Director Shonteff and the writing team give us one of the most iconoclastic films in History.

Made in 1964, this screenplay would be totally Anathema in the film industry today. There is no way it could end the same way that Shonteff dared to end this film.

There's a mystery about a ventriloquist and his dummy, and like all such mysteries, we wonder if it's a psychological thriller or a supernatural thriller or a science fiction thriller.

The ventriloquist is revealed early on as being a cruel and sadistic man, but just what is he doing?

The twist at the end is what would never be allowed in at least the past 50 years of Hollywood, nor in the imitations of Hollywood. Perhaps, Japan or another Oriental country would allow it, but nowhere else.

Why? Because instead of the glorification of control freaks that is important to get produced in the past 50 years is not only absent here, but it is also scorned here. The control freak is not an immortal god in this movie, and he isn't a demigod, so this isn't for the sheep of today. It isn't for the Beavis and Butthead audience. It's for the more astute and open minded audience.

This movie is a bit like "Judgment at Nuremburg", only it was released in 1944, a full year before the war ended.

It's a forward thinking account of what the trial for Nazi war crimes would be.

Many things about this film fascinate me. It's a classic film, and yet I never even knew it existed until 2025.

The Nuremburg trials did not exist yet. This film was a fictional portrayal of what the allies hoped would happen later, and it wasn't far off of the reality.

I'm fascinated by such movies as this and the 1941 49th Parallel, which gives insights into what made an evil Nazi regime work during the years in which it was actually taking place. These films let us know today what people were seeing in the early forties, when the U. S. was in the war.

Like "49th Parallel", the Nazis are portrayed as three dimensional characters, each with their own thoughts of what they are doing.

In this one, the character changes are remarkable. Alexander Knox gives one of the greatest performances ever as a Nazi, and how he came to become a Nazi.

He begins as a bitter man who feels that he is persecuted. But he is also a man who feels that he is superior, and that's what makes him dangerous.

The villain takes center stage here, and is almost never off screen. When we see how Knox portrays this villain, we understand a bit how people felt in 1944 and what they knew about Nazis in 1944. The concentration camps are mentioned, and they are seen as terrible, but in 1944 the camps were seen as a bit more survivable than what we saw later on. The villain betrays his own brother and sends this brother to a concentration camp, and the brother survives o testify at his trial.

The villain adopts the young son of the betrayed brother, who is brainwashed, and who undergoes his own metamorphosis To say more would be a spoiler.

Our villain isn't a sadist. Instead, he's an evil man with a superiority complex, who undergoes changes into an evil Nazi officer due to the momentum of his sins. He justifies his sins and the momentum carries him into the pit.

The characters who testify at his trial understand this, and are mature in the way that they see him for what he is. Their calmness at his trial is due to the fact that he is no longer a danger, and he is alone. And so these witnesses show more mercy to him than he ever showed to anyone else, not that it will help him escape judgement.

This film is also remarkable in that it is always relevant. And it is made close to the time of its own History, which gives it tons of credibility.

A sad and heartbreaking film, but one that doesn't delve into making you totally depressed. Instead, it shows a light at the end of the tunnel, while also showing the tunnel.

When I attended high school in the early 1970s, about once a year, all high school students grade 7 to 12 were sent to the auditorium to watch a film together. This would be a perfect film to show on such an occasion.

Writer/director Cregger puts up a sort of mystery, and I don't want to spoil what the mystery is about, so I will try to describe it without a spoiler.

Cregger appears influenced by the Tarantino way of just going back and forth in time, for no reason.

Like Tarantino, there is no strategy to this "back and forth" movement. It's just a gimmick. Cregger attempts the same dark humor that Tarantinto does, but the dark humor comes way too late in the movie.

Also, unlike Tarantino, Cregger doesn't play both ends against the middle. Tarantino makes movies both for the geeks and also for the people who laugh at the geeks. Tarantino actually makes fun of the geeks who eat up the mindless Beavis and Butthead sadistic action.

Cregger does nothing but bore the audience for the first hour of the movie. Even the "action" scenes are plodding and dull.

The last 20 minutes or so of the movie give us the dark humor and the reason for the movie, but it isn't enough to justify the movie. It just doesn't have any strategy, nor any inspiration.

On the plus side, the "segments" of the story told through different characters is at least put in jigsaw puzzle order. And the dark comedy of the last 20 minutes does work somewhat, if you're still awake.