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By
NICK ZEGARAC
If ever there was a film
that spoke to the ill advised road toward fame and
fortune -- paved with its good, but unfortunately
corrupting intensions -- Elia Kazan's "A Face in
the Crowd" (1957) is that film. It's a sort of
perverse Picture of Dorian Gray brought up to,
then, contemporary standards, and ramped with all
the slick, split and polish of the emerging media
age. The film stars the usually wholesome and
congenial Andy Griffith as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes
-- an impoverished hobo whose saving grace is that
he's got something to say and is certain people
are willing to listen. One such interested party
is promoter Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal). With
her connections and Larry's mouth, the two embark
upon a media blitz that transforms Larry from a
good time guy into a perverse and power mad media
sensation. With the swell of his ego, comes the
bitter and reclusive understanding that Larry has
been forever changed -- and not for the better. It
is Larry's own realization and self discovery,
that he's become the man he was always destined to
be -- an unflattering, uncaring and dangerous
individual -- that tops out this highly strung,
gruesome portrait of life without soul or
redemption.
Screenwriter Budd Schulberg, on whose story "The
Arkansas Traveler" this film is based, keeps the
pace of this manic and often oppressive tale up in
a way that derives empathy and pity for the
character of Larry, while sitting in paralyzed and
frightful awe of both Griffith's performance and
the prospect that what we are seeing might be true
for a good many more Hollywood celebs -- both then
and now -- than we'd care to imagine. Kazan,
always the purveyor of 'message pictures', on this
occasion is recanting what Shakespeare might have
coined 'a tale told by an idiot. Full of sound and
fury -- signifying nothing' -- nothing that is
except one of the most exceptional entertainments
you are likely to see in your lifetime.
Warner's DVD is very nicely put together. The B&W
anamorphically enhanced picture exhibits solid
blacks, very clean whites, and an impeccably
balanced grayscale. Contrast levels are bang on.
Fine details are nicely rendered throughout. The
audio has been nicely cleaned up. A documentary,
"Facing the Past" takes the place on an audio
commentary on this disc. It's short -- at 30 min.
-- but nevertheless provides for a slew of
succinct sound bytes from members of the principle
cast. |
