Word: turgidity
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...this was enough to induce a stream of narrative free verse that runs to book length, with a cast that includes the shade of the murdered George, the murderers, their parents, and Tom Jefferson himself. Author Warren takes the part of commentator and uninvited amateur psychiatrist. Stripped of its turgid pretenses, Brother to Dragons asks two questions: 1) why did Lilburn do it? 2) how could Thomas Jefferson reconcile his own noble ideals with so dark a deed done by men of his own blood...
...more-sent a fire-breathing young special prosecutor named Nelson F. Stamler into Bergen County with orders to wipe it clean as a peeper's telescope on a summer evening. Last week-31 months later-this abnormal development was still having an intensely disturbing effect on the turgid currents of Jersey politics...
Doubtful as history, Salome is just as dubious as screen entertainment. A turgid multimillion-dollar blend of sex, spectacle and religion, it has been directed with a ponderous touch by William Dieterle. Chewing at the Technicolor scenery are Charles Laughton as a fat, licentious Herod, Judith Anderson as an evilly scheming Herodias, Alan Badel as a weirdly wild-eyed John the Baptist, and Stewart Granger as an intrepid Roman commander. Actress Hayworth does her best in the dance of the seven veils. With choreography by Valerie Bettis, Rita is the very picture of a Galilean glamour girl...
...chorus varied in function and effectiveness. Sometimes commenting on the action, sometimes becoming a part of the action, it resembled the chorus of a Greek tragedy. Berlioz was no genius at writing choral music. His counterpoint is at times turgid, his sonorities monotonous. Nevertheless, there are passages in the final scene where the words and music combine in mutual enhancement, and even steal the show from the orchestra. The Harvard and Radcliffe choral groups, trained by G. Walace Woodworth, were no better than usual, but they really couldn't be. That they were able to successfully project the rather unrewarding...
Angel Face (RKO Radio) has as its leading character that familiar film figure-the beautiful but evil-hearted female. In this turgid thriller, she is a spoiled young woman (Jean Simmons) who, for no very clear reason, plots to murder her stepmother (Barbara O'Neil). She accomplishes her purpose by tampering with the reverse gear on her stepmother's automobile so that it backs over a cliff. Accidentally, the murderess' father (Herbert Marshall) also happens to be in the car at the time...