Iconic B-noir Raw Deal shines as a bright light in perennial Hollywood outsider Anthony Mann’s oeuvre, despite being a hyper-violent ride. What could have been a run-of-the-mill genre movie, turned into a thing of beauty thanks to Mann’s bravura style and flair. Made right after his T-Men, Raw Deal is on one hand a revenge film with Joe Sullivan (played effectively by the lumbering Dennis O’Keefe) escaping from prison in order to get even with a sadistic gangster who double-crossed him, while on the other it is a curiously charged tale of ménage à trois between Sullivan, his obsessed fiancé and a dangerously beautiful legal aide who he develops the kicks for. More than the plot, the movie relies on heavy stylizations, what with terrific usage of expressionistic photography replete with chiaroscuro, canted camera angles and an overall moody cinematography. That, coupled with a script that is peppered with smart dialogues, a palpable undercurrent of loneliness and carnal desires, and a deep sense of doom and fatalism pervading nearly every scene (thanks in large parts to the haunting voiceover accompanied with an equally haunting, albeit minimalistic, soundtrack), made this relentlessly bleak, strangely poetic and utterly magnetic film a truly fascinating watch.
p.s. And there goes my 400th film review at Cinemascope. And what better way to get there than with the kind of films (read: film noirs) that makes my love for the medium keep growing.
Director: Anthony Mann
Genre: Film Noir/Crime Thriller/Romantic Noir
Language: English
Country: US
10 comments:
Congratulations!!
Dada u equaled Lara's highest test score.. Now aim for his first class record!! 501* :):)
Thanks a lot buddy. Yeah, it certainly is on my radar now :)
First of all, congrats to you Shubhajit on that 400th post at CINEMASCOPE! That's quite an accomplishment. As far as this:
"More than the plot, the movie relies on heavy stylizations, what with terrific usage of expressionistic photography replete with chiaroscuro, canted camera angles and an overall moody cinematography. That, coupled with a script that is peppered with smart dialogues, a palpable undercurrent of loneliness and carnal desires, and a deep sense of doom and fatalism pervading nearly every scene (thanks in large parts to the haunting voiceover accompanied with an equally haunting, albeit minimalistic, soundtrack), made this relentlessly bleak, strangely poetic and utterly magnetic film a truly fascinating watch."
You've really said it all here. I saw this film a few months ago at the Film Forum as part of the Anthony Mann Film Festival, and was so impressed with it, that I gave it the highest rating and saw it as Mann's greatets film noir. As you say it was really 'magnetic', an engrossing and riveting film.
Thanks a ton Sam for the appreciation. You're really too kind.
Yeah, I remember your coverage of the Anthony Mann film festival, in general, and Raw Deal, in particular. What really bowled me over was the film's stylistic aspects. Despite such a muscular plot, there was a hint of surrealism thanks to the haunting voiceover and the terrific interplay of light & darkness.
Congrats on ur 400* dada! Keep it going :)
Thanks a lot Srikkant :)
Cheers, dude & my heartiest congratulations for achieving this feat! Proud to have a friend with such international glory.
May the force be with you.
Sthito, thanks a lot buddy for the good words. You're a rarity in that you love and appreciate good art. And since I consider you as a very good friend, coming from you it surely means a lot.
As they say, the journey has just begun :)
Congratulations!!!
The camera angles and the overall cinematography make this one of Mann's/Alton's finest works. It is a captivating bleak dark world that is conveyed. Beautifully done.
Thanks a lot John.
As I read somewhere, Mann has been famously called by American critic Andrew Sarris as a resident of the far side of paradise. This movie is a fascinating illustration of that epithet.
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