Comments on Thanks for the Use of the Hall - Archive: Sweet Smell of Success

Danny - on rereading what I wrote, I'm not happy w...

2009-03-09T15:21:00.000-04:00

Danny - on rereading what I wrote, I'm not happy with my statement that Mackendrick's direction is somehow less prominent than the contributions of the writers, cinematographer and composer. It seems more sensible to say that multiple artists can express their sensibilities at the same time in a movie, and that we tune into each "layer" of sensibility depending on our abilities, preferences and

Mackendricks influence is everywhere as a director...

2009-03-06T23:49:00.000-05:00

Mackendricks influence is everywhere as a director, Though he regarded himself as a professional more than an artist. the performances were great, he got career best out of his two stars. the blocking and compositions of his shots are exquisite and meaningful, his use of eyelines and physical triangulations of scenes adds to the menace and enjoyment. The way he sets up Falcos everpresent dog

I've never even had the feeling that Touch of Evil...

2007-08-11T09:17:00.000-04:00

I've never even had the feeling that Touch of Evil was trying to present Heston as a prig or as unattractive. When he leaves his wife in a tight spot, I don't take that as a criticism of the guy so much as a dramatic irony: I think we're supposed to admire the dedication to work that leads him to the marital neglect. And Heston gets the most authoritative political line in the film, the

Just an off-topic comment here: I don't think Char...

2007-08-11T04:40:00.000-04:00

Just an off-topic comment here: I don't think Charlton Heston in Touch of Evil is 'lots less interesting' than Quinlan, I think he was perfectly used for a specific purpose, as foil and patsy for Welles' Quinlan.

The comedy of it is that Heston's crusading lawyer is a self-righteous prig and more than a little clueless, and Quinlan scores endless jokes against his virile and unsmiling

The backstory to the script is fun. Lehman wrote t...

2007-08-04T17:42:00.000-04:00

The backstory to the script is fun. Lehman wrote the story based on his experiences working as a press agent for Winchell - so Falco is in a sense, himself. He was hired to write the movie but at his first meeting with Lancaster, Burt walked in doing up his fly and remarking "Well, she swallowed it!" Lehman jumped ship, faking an illness. When Lancaster later realised he'd been had, he threatened

David - I definitely see those odd, unattractive q...

2007-08-04T12:09:00.000-04:00

David - I definitely see those odd, unattractive qualities in Mackendrick's gallery. And the unattractiveness is often combined with a blankness of affect, a stolid, almost animal-like quality of doing for doing's sake. It creates an interesting tone: the amoral innocents are somewhat comic because of their expressionlessness, almost cute; we can enjoy the humor that they provide; but there's

Well, as a director Mackendrick was always quite i...

2007-08-03T12:41:00.000-04:00

Well, as a director Mackendrick was always quite involved in preparing the script, so a thematic analysis of his films has some uses. But this would be less so in the case of TSSOS, since Odets was still writing during the shoot. Some of the overdubbed dialogue seems to be an attempt to clarify plot points bodged during ths scuffle, similar in intent to the Harvey Weinstein Moments we see so many

David - I wasn't so much thinking about Mackendric...

2007-08-02T17:14:00.000-04:00

David - I wasn't so much thinking about Mackendrick's themes, if any: the thematic approach always feels to me as if it's primarily about information contained in the script. I was more interested in how Mackendrick's directorial style seems somewhat submerged in this project.

I've never loved Touch of Evil, so maybe you're exposing a peculiarity of my taste. But preaching

The book LETHAL INNOCENCE does a good job of ident...

2007-08-02T07:03:00.000-04:00

The book LETHAL INNOCENCE does a good job of identifying a central theme of Mackendrick's work, right there in the title. TSSOS fits right in, with the innocent characters triumphing over the sinister ones without even really understanding the struggle. TSWOS is an exception in that the young lovers are rather boring (Mackendrick more or less admits this in interviews in the book) and in that