Word: wicky
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Izzy Iskowitz on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Cantor sang, danced and joked his way to stardom on Broadway (Banjo Eyes) and in Hollywood (Kid Boots), pioneered live comedy on radio and TV, set the U.S. humming such ditties as Ida and Oh How She Can Yicky Yacki Wicki Wacki Woo. Stricken with heart trouble in 1952, grieved by the death of his wife and eldest daughter, he donated most of his later years and many of his millions to charity. But charity had always been a big thing with Cantor; he was instrumental in founding the March...
Though the movie follows roughly the same plot, the darkly gleaming heart of it has undergone major surgery. In a postscript to his play, Dürrenmatt wrote: "Nothing could harm this comedy with a tragic end more than heavy seriousness." Director Bernhard Wicki falls into that error, compounding it with a gimmicky screenplay. The eunuchs, the coffin, and much of the mordant wit are omitted, as is the wooden leg. The sex angle is fattened up with a juicy subplot. And to make the slow corrosion of conscience more graphic, the good burghers of Guellen struggle against...
Clearly this poses something of a moral problem for the good townspeople; it's not every day that Murder Inc., offers to go public. But director Bernard Wicki for some reason keeps his camera resolutely trained on Miller, the victim. As the town, by quick stages, turns on him, Miller covers a reasonable--but hardly unexpected--course from confidence to apprehension to terror...
...considering such an offer. Yet the town council, headed by the mayor himself, ultimately revives the death penalty and condemns Miller--with the town's unanimous approval. The moral collapse of the mayor, of the schoolmaster (who seems not to care about the money), of the bishop--these Wicki slights...
...been crippled--as she contends--by her betrayal by Miller, Ingrid Bergman's portrayal is flat as a steppe, alternating facile hatred with superficial charm. Anthony Quinn does better as Miller, in a roomier role. Several relatives of the producer seem to be cast in the minor parts. Maybe Wicki knew what he was about after...