Word: borsht
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...TIME.comix: Do you have memories of the Yiddish or so-called Borsht-Belt theater...
...Marlowe (clever, huh?), gets his puss fixed to look like the one and only, and becomes a private dick in Hollywood. Hires a secretary who could stop traffic on Sunset but has the brains of a flea, tangles with a midget, finds a stiff by the name of Horst Borsht, and runs into a Nazi. You know, the usual job. This dead ringer has played Bogie in tube spots for Ford and Gillette, trench coat and all. He's 39, and not bad for a beginner. Now if he can only find a dame who can teach...
...billed on the marquee as "The Laff Riot of Two Continents." Appallingly, the Loeb's Godot seems to have followed this Miami-Shlock school of drama approach. Everything is played for a laugh: the broadcast techniques of burlesque and vaudeville. Bob Hope-like gag timing, facial mugging, and borsht-belt delivery make for a jolly evening in the theatre. Unfortunately, this has transformed Godot from the blackest and best of our existential absurdist dramas into a Marx Brothers romp...
...cast is generally undistinguished, with the notable exception of the prosecuting attorney, played by Harold Gould, who resembles Mark Twain physically and George C. Scott professionally. But with Sidney Furie discarding Blackstone for Bailey-hoo, Barry Newman seems a better candidate for the Borsht Belt than Circuit Court...
...doesn't help, but the film's compelling fault is its total lack of tension. Underneath a sometimes-bizarre exterior beats a heart of purest melodrama: will Reason and Humanity save Miller from the whirling ripsaw? The answer is really never in doubt, and melodrama without suspense is like borsht without beets...