As Donna Marie Nowak writes in her book about Joan, Just Joan: A Joan Crawford Appreciation: “Crawford is the intriguing combination of contrasts that make her so fascinating and powerful a star: elegant but earthy, seductive but girlish, assertive but demure: vulnerable but no one’s fool.” In Flamingo Road, Joan is the underdog, fighting tooth and nail to retain some kind of home after having a nomadic existence for many years. Lane desires wealth, but most of all, she desires love, a desire that Joan was incredibly good at conveying in her films. Titus favours the latter, as he is as sexless as they come, moving about like some great bloated thing. Like The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and later on, Body Heat, the film examines the darkest desires and machinations of people, and how they will do anything to come out victorious be it in terms of sex, wealth or power. But as with pretty much all of Joan’s film roles during this era, she will not be broken and the desire to survive and thrive emanates from her in a palpable way throughout. From that moment on you know that he will despise her forever, and he very nearly succeeds in destroying her completely. My favourite scene between he and Joan is when she confronts him on the Palmer House veranda and she tells him that she “won’t run!” and proceeds to slap him sharply across his sweat glistened face. He looks like a great, bulging toad in his white Colonel Sanders suit, with his eyes half lidded and his braying laugh. Sidney Greenstreet’s performance as the film’s antagonist is nothing short of brilliant. It seems that the more she tries to fight against Titus, the tighter his grip becomes on her world. Curtiz’s direction is brilliant, as he bathes everything in almost impenetrable shadows that cement the film noir elements of the film and further the claustrophobic reality that Lane keeps trying to escape from. When watching Flamingo Road, you can feel the oppressive environment of Boldon, of the heat in the Southern United States and the festering corruption of those in power.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |