The Hill (1965)
Country: GB
Technical: bw 122m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave, Ian Bannen, Ian Hendry, Jack Warden, Ossie Davis, Alfred Lynch
Synopsis:
In a military prison during WW2, new inmates sweat and bridle under the tyranny of the RSM and his Staff Sergeant, who makes them haul themselves and their equipment over a sunbaked mound of sand and back again.
Review:
Lumet's Sisyphean melodrama benefits from New Wave/TV? freedoms (handheld camerawork and crazy angles, pin sharp blank and white) as well as older school disciplines. His experience with male ensemble casts (Twelve Angry Men, Fail Safe) and rigorous planning of camera movements also bring dividends. The cutting is invigorating, as is the muscular acting, and the heat palpable, but the production is elsewhere a mite creaky: camera crane shadows at the bottom of the frame, dolly tracks marking the path of a reverse tracking shot, and at times indistinct sound recording. The abrupt ending is an asset in its overall effectiveness, however.
Country: GB
Technical: bw 122m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave, Ian Bannen, Ian Hendry, Jack Warden, Ossie Davis, Alfred Lynch
Synopsis:
In a military prison during WW2, new inmates sweat and bridle under the tyranny of the RSM and his Staff Sergeant, who makes them haul themselves and their equipment over a sunbaked mound of sand and back again.
Review:
Lumet's Sisyphean melodrama benefits from New Wave/TV? freedoms (handheld camerawork and crazy angles, pin sharp blank and white) as well as older school disciplines. His experience with male ensemble casts (Twelve Angry Men, Fail Safe) and rigorous planning of camera movements also bring dividends. The cutting is invigorating, as is the muscular acting, and the heat palpable, but the production is elsewhere a mite creaky: camera crane shadows at the bottom of the frame, dolly tracks marking the path of a reverse tracking shot, and at times indistinct sound recording. The abrupt ending is an asset in its overall effectiveness, however.
Country: GB
Technical: bw 122m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave, Ian Bannen, Ian Hendry, Jack Warden, Ossie Davis, Alfred Lynch
Synopsis:
In a military prison during WW2, new inmates sweat and bridle under the tyranny of the RSM and his Staff Sergeant, who makes them haul themselves and their equipment over a sunbaked mound of sand and back again.
Review:
Lumet's Sisyphean melodrama benefits from New Wave/TV? freedoms (handheld camerawork and crazy angles, pin sharp blank and white) as well as older school disciplines. His experience with male ensemble casts (Twelve Angry Men, Fail Safe) and rigorous planning of camera movements also bring dividends. The cutting is invigorating, as is the muscular acting, and the heat palpable, but the production is elsewhere a mite creaky: camera crane shadows at the bottom of the frame, dolly tracks marking the path of a reverse tracking shot, and at times indistinct sound recording. The abrupt ending is an asset in its overall effectiveness, however.