esrosedotblog

TODAY'S MOVIE

THE BIG HEAT (1983); NYTimes1176BestFilms; Fritz Lang film noir thriller; at least five big gasps; comes at you like a freight train. A great cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, early, nasty Lee Marvin. Lang brings it all together in 90 minutes. There is not a moment of directorial indulgence.

One of the nice things about watching these older films, especially when digitally remastered, is experiencing the power of black and white photography. Compensating for the 'unreality' of no color with lighting and meticulous composition is at the core of the art. The faces are close in and powerfully rendered. I believe that the actors had to be very, very good to get across this barrier. Certainly, the pacing and the editing are critical in moving the mind beyond the b&w experience. Suspension of disbelief is two fold; the drama and the medium. Somewhere, there is a book on how this is done; yet it requires the hand of a directorial artist to bring it all together; the magic is inescapable.