Word: melodrama
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...Casablanca" (1942), of course, is the sentimental favorite of Bogart fans everywhere. Originally intended as just another propagandistic war-time melodrama, its appearance in theaters across the country coincided fortuitously with the allied invasion of North Africa, and with such unprecedented quantities of free publicity, the film soon acquired a large and devoted following. It's not hard...
Tiny Alice, by Edward Albee, is a delaying action of adroit theatricality designed to conceal a clutter of confused thought. Albee preaches "resign yourself to the mysteries," but in this quasi-metaphysical suspense melodrama he practices only mystification. He brings the playgoer through the Nietzschean revelation that "God is dead" to the Sartrean discovery of the absurdity of existence. Albee adds that man creates God in his own image, a profundity he presumably shares with many sophomores, past and present. Who's Afraid of Virginia Wool)? rang with the brassy gong of reality; Tiny Alice is a tinny allegory...
...give the Goldfinger people credit for clever parody. However that form depends on a recognizable model and only the two previous Bond movies are effectively ridiculed. This is incestuous and--if that's not the right word given 007-ludicrous. Although the movie starts out as an enjoyably satiric melodrama, it is so lacking in character or conflict that melodrama too soon becomes no drama at all. A parody of a parody is too much...
...should be noted for those who are unfamiliar with this 1930 classic, that M tells the story of a child-killer eventually hunted down by the under-world itself. The famous final scene, in which Lorre confesses his crimes, is a true melodrama of the soul. And the initiates to the film should watch out for the use of asynchronous sound or counterpoint, the brilliant use of incidental music as an active dramatic element, and the melodramatic use of space, especially in long shots from above...
Hanley is a newcomer to Broadway and exhibits a remarkable gift for original and fascinating dialogue, Slow Dance is melodrama, but profound melodrama. Reflecting some of the virtues of both Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams, it is also a bit pretentious and uncontrolled; and, under Joseph Anthony's guidance, it is almost unbearably suspenseful...