The Big Night

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andy f An unexpected pleasure. Fantastic cinematography and a clever blend of film noir and kitchen sink drama. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Dorothy Comingore, still being persecuted by the American government for being a "red" gives her last performance. She was an astonishing actress. The House Un-American Activities Committee was to persecute several dozen innocent Hollywood actors, writers, and directors and drive them to their deaths, one way or another. This Republican witch hunt was joined by William Randolph Hearst and columnists Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell because Comingore had the temerity to play a part reminiscent of Hearst's live-in mistress, Marion Davies. Comingore's performances were so outstanding, they were expected to win the Academy Award for best acting in a dramatic role, but Hearst and the HUAC publicized her as a "communist sympathizer" and this effectively ended her career. So much for living in a "free" country. It certainly was not free for Dorothy Comingore. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member OK film noir starring Drew's father. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member The Big Night tells the story of George La Main (John Drew Barrymore), a teenage kid whose rather meager and awkward. On his brithday, his father is severely beaten in front of him by Judge, a sports writer who performs the beating in George's fathers own bar. The father shows no resistance to Judge's actions, but George wants revenge. The Big Night is a rather great, different type of coming of age story which uses the tropes and the Noir genre to effectively deconstruct masochism. Essentially we follow this head strong kid who goes out to avenge his father, and through a series of events learns that things aren't exactly how they appear. It's not 'The Servant' in terms of dynamic compositions, but it still has some great sequences in terms of how Losey's positions the camera, choreographs the scene, etc. The best example I think of is the scene where George's father is beaten. Losey doesn't show the beating at all, but instead opts for a single long take, focusing on the face of young, George witness his father being caned, only providing the sound and one's imagination as to what George is witnessing. I think the character George is just a fascinating endeavor in itself: The way he rehearses his toughness in the mirror, for example, or how he mistakenly insults the black singer at the night club by basically telling her that she was gorgeous, in-spite of being black. He's a character whose innocence and desire to be tough really shine through, making this sort of deconstruction of masculinity effective. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Wish they still made films like this Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Big Night

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