Word: dassins
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1949-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Director Jules (Naked City) Dassin is a realist with a varnished style that switches from arty to operatic to documentary. His highway scenes give a sense of speeding movement and the ominous effect on the driver of cars hurtling past in a metallic rhythm. Occasionally he turns in a totally authentic shot, e.g., an oatmeal-grey Sunday morning in the produce market, the street forlorn and empty except for some work-worn truckers sitting on crates eating watermelon...
...Dassin's erratic direction of actors produces some mixed results: Morris Car-novsky's generalized flourishes as a once-happy Greek, Lee Cobb's flabby, badly timed portrait of a marketeer, Millard Mitchell's hard-bitten acting of a tired truck driver. The Italian glitter girl, Valentina Cortesa, seems a likely candidate for the top-salaried star bracket. In the role of a waterfront fixture, she looks like an unemployed countess, but she spikes the role with a sweater-girl figure, viva-ciousness and great self-assurance...