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Foundational Cinema

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Frenzy (1945)

A sculptor’s wife goes missing and the weird occurrences in and around the studio end up requiring a medium to be brought in to reveal what had happened.

Lets not beat around the bush the end of this movie is really creepy. There is something about it that is more than a bit unnerving, even if you’re only paying half attention to the movie. It creeped me out.

The problem is that getting to the end is a chore. Based on a play this movie is very talky and stage bound. If you were to do away with a few cinematic flourishes, such as some of the camera angles or the opening pan over the Paris skyline, you’d have yourself what amounts to a filmed stage play. While not the “nail the camera” to the floor sort of film you’d expect from by play comparison, the movie can be rather static; the upshot of it is that it made me want to doze off.

Still there is the ending. which certainly livened things up.

While there are many people who love this film and think its a lost classic (a person I trust strongly suggested I see it), I’m less enamored of it. Certainly worth seeing if you run across it on TV, its probably also worth renting if you run across it at your video shop. I think its an okay time killer, you may think other wise.