Ossessione

Rating:
Summary: Revolutionary
Review: An absolutely amazing film that changed cinema, and not just because it was the first film of the Italian neorealism movement. Visconti's version of The Postman Always Rings Twice is beautiful, desperate, and inspiring.

Rating:
Summary: Visconti's First Film
Review: As many of you know, this is the first film adaptation of James M. Cain's novel, "The Postman Always Rings Twice", but there's something, that to me is even more important than that. It was the first film made by one of my favorite directors, Luchino Visconti.
Before I saw this movie, I think like most I saw the two American films first. When you watch those movies first and try to compare it to this, this one will come off being much different. It doesn't seem to follow the same formula. There were two things that bothered me about this movie and they both deal with the same thing, the death of the husband. First of all I didn't like the way the idea was approached. There wasn't much of a lead in. Though, in fairness, we do "sense" it will happen. Secondly, if you remember in the American versions, remember how well planned out everything was? They both made sure that they had all the angles figured out. They made sure they had a witness seeing that the husband was drunk. That was something I liked about the movie. How it showed this "perfect" plan. Visconti doesn't allow such detail into the actually murder scene. Infact, he offers none. Does that ruin the movie? No, but, it would have been nice if Visconti would have given the movie more detail.
Clara Calamai plays Giovanna Bragana the unhappy wife who wants to murder her husband. Massimo Girotti is Gino Costa, the man who help Giovanna kill her husband, so they can be together. Finally there's Juan de Landa, the husband. Now most of the movie follows the story most of us are familiar with. There are some small changes in this movie though. I can't clearly remember the American movies, but I don't remember in either one, the woman coming on to the guy first. In this movie it's the woman that makes the first move.
Luchino Visconti to me has always been a bold filmmaker. He made the kind of films he wanted to make. All of his films, including this one, are all about much more than meets the eye. This movie for instance isn't just a movie about a murder, it goes deeper than that. Or what about "The Innocent". It's not just merely a movie about a man having an affair. Visconti is making a comment on high society. Though, of all the Visconti films I have seen my favorite would probably be "Ludwig".
If you've never seen a Visconti film, I'm not quite sure this is where to start. "Ossessione" is a good movie, but, I don't think it captures Visconti's style at his best. You should see this movie though, but, maybe after you've seen "The Innocent", "The Leopard", & "Death in Venice". From the three versions of this story I think this one and the 1946 version our my favorite. Most people didn't like the 81 film.
Here's a little triva for everyone. Did you know that French filmmaker Jean Renoir gave Visconti the idea to make this movie? Did you also know that Visconti never read the book. Renoir gave him a Frenh translation of a script made before.
Bottom-line: An effective adaptation of Cain's classic novel. Good directing by Visconti and a talented cast. Visconti's first movie showcases the genius that would come in his later films. Very entertaining film.

Rating:
Summary: FATALISTIC NEO-REALISM.....
Review: Early Italian version of James M.Cain's "Postman Always Rings Twice" by Luchino Visconti is the best I've seen. Set in a sparse Italian village in the white heat of summer, a drifter named Gino begins an affair with Giovanna, the unhappy wife of a cafe owner who offers him work. She tries to leave with him but returns to the husband afraid of giving up what little security she has. The drifter continues on the road and takes up with a self-styled King of the Vagabonds who does street shows and happily lives on nothing. The vagabond is attracted to Gino but Gino (who's hungry for more out of life) can't forget Giovanna. Later, Gino's and Giovanna's paths cross again and murder binds them together in a fatal (and ironic) bond. Earthy and stark storytelling as well as excellent cinematography make this a compelling film to watch. The acting is remarkable as is the casual sexual frankness that was off the screen in American films at the time. The utter desperation of the two characters' lives is beautifully realized and is nicely contrasted with the vagabond's existance that he is clearly happy with. The ending is unforgettably done. "Ossessione" is rich with atmosphere and detail and laden with irony. Highly recommended as a vintage classic of Italian cinema.

Rating:
Summary: Best movie version of "Postman"
Review: I saw this movie years and years ago and still remember it fondly. It's an italian version of James Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and in my opinion, the best of the three. It manages to get the right mix of lust and noir that make this genre great. END

Rating:
Summary: Il Postino always rings Twice
Review: It is difficult to review this movie without comparing it to "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (TPART). That's because both are based on the same novel by James Cain. I had heard of "TPART" for years before I finally saw it for the first time earlier this year. My impression was that it was a good movie but, having waited anxiously for so long to see it, it was something of a let down. Last night I was tired and looked forward to watching a good movie. I chose "Ossessione" but almost changed my mind when I saw it was based on "TPART". After all, I'd recently seen that and didn't think it such a great story to see again so soon. Fortunately, I gave the movie a try and was quickly absorbed into it.

What seperates "Obsessione" from "TPART" is the quality of the acting and the excellence of the directing. There is a feeling to this movie that is lacking in the John Garfield/Lana Turner version. We seem to know what everyone is thinking and feeling without depending on obvious dialogue. There is a series of scenes, for example, involving a character by the name of Spangnolo who becomes involved with Gino, the male lead. There are any number of ways that you can interpret him and his relationship with Gino. From fellow vagabonds to a political theorist and his understudy to homosexual lovers. Visconti gives us so many subtle hints that it's up to the viewer to decide for themselves (disappointedly, I assumed the latter relationship). The way everyone interacts with one another is so impressively done and the passions they emote really reach out and touch us. The fact that it is in Italian doesn't hurt its' passionate nature. I have a theory about foreign language movies; they require your constant attention since you don't want to risk missing a critical subtitle. As a result, we come away more focussed on every aspect of the movie and this tends to make good movies even better.

I don't want to disparage "TPART" since it is a good movie. However, "Ossessione" stands so much taller in so many ways that I'm not sure I'll ever feel the need to watch "TPART" again. Take that as praise for "Ossessione" rather than a knock on "TPART".

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!!
Review: This film is a classic on so many levels and for so many reasons, I can't even encapsulate them all. Lurid, innocent, sexy, sensuous, humorous, earthy, sad, --- it runs the whole gamut of emotion, and is absolutely transfixing. Just see it; you'll understand completely. As must-own as it gets.

PS: You''ll appreciate it even more if you see the original Postman Always Rings Twice, which was based on this, first.

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT MISS THIS!
Review: This is one of the sexiest movies of all time! Pre-dating the Italian Neo-Realist wave of film-making by just a couple of years, its influence can be felt in the the movies of film-makers such as DiSica and Rossellini.

Rating:
Summary: MALE MEN and desire.......
Review: THIS is the earlier, unofficial, earthy, banned version of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and quite the best of the three - the others are different, the Turner version - smothered by censorship, the Lange version? 'Bread on the table' - just a little distorted by the angst of that period.

HOWEVER, Master Visconti's version has so much more ......there is that added [perhaps it's Vixsconti's touch?] level about our drifter friend, that's not with Garfield or Nicholson. AND its this touch that adds just that extra little spice to the nasty little tale of lust at the Truck Stop.

Very well worth a DVD resotration!

Rating:
Summary: Traumatic but absorbing ride
Review: Unhappy people in unhappy circumstances. Gino is a drifter. Not because he has no talent. He is a lost soul looking for an undefined future and is determined to not be tied to anything until he finds his personal nirvana. Giovanna wants the security of being settled, but is unhappy with the man who made it possible. She too, is a lost soul in search of an undefined future. With only passion as a common denominator, they cast their lots with each other and start in motion a chain of events that brings none of the joys anticipated.

Don't expect this movie to be a study of life in WWII Italy. Though made during the war, it is never an issue. Indeed, with the prevalence of young men throughout the movie, it is more likely an image of pre-war Italy. And although some reviewers speak of subtle references to homosexuality, such is unnecessary in describing the Spaniard. Identical scenes in American Westerns are understood to be simply friendship and the necessities of circumstance, i.e., one bed and two people in need of sleep.

Every nuance of the movie hinges upon the passion of Gino and Giovanna, complicated by his desire to be going somewhere, anywhere, and her desire to remain settled. It's a traumatic but absorbing ride, even with the distraction of reading sub-titles.

Rating:
Summary: The REAL version
Review: Yes, this IS the best filmed version of James Cain's classic The Postman Always Rings Twice. The first version, with Lana Turner and John Garfield, was much too tame and polite. When the husband gets bumped off, it's a matter of fact event, as though the two lovers were going out shopping for wallpaper. And the eroticism of the story is just not there at all--nor is the desperation.

The 1981 version with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange certainly showed off the sexuality of the story, but was much too vapid and superficial; the director, Bob Rafelson, had apparently decided that the story's core was its sexuality and so focused on that at the expense of pretty much everything else. The desperation that should be brimming over in the development of the story is really not in evidence in this version--the two good looking leads basically just want to have sex a lot and that's what they do. They yell and scream, too, but it's the sex that everyone remembers in this film.

But Luchino Visconti, in this 1943 Italian neo-realist noir, gets it just right. Eroticism is here, but so is desperation, which is just as important, if not more so. This comes through so well because the setting is a small Italian village where there are no really wealthy folks. Everybody's engaged in his or her small activities to get by. The one exception is Giovanna's paunchy husband Giuseppe who's squirreled away a lot of dough.

And the desperation comes through in the doomed couple--Gino the drifter and Giovanna, the wife. Gino's labile temper and emotionality are well portrayed by Massimo Girotti, and Clara Calamai balances Girotti's performance with her depiction of Giovanna as a wife desperate to be free of her gross (to her) husband. The story introduces characters and situations that epitomize Italian culture--an opera singing contest, for example--but follows Cain's story closely enough to make this an early film noir, albeit a non-American one.

Even above eroticism and desperation, the overriding tone of this story is irony--unquestionably missing in the first American version, and only half-heartedly on display in the 1981 version. But irony is the soul of this film. The tragic ending is the most bitterly ironic scene here, and it is done simply--thus, very effectively. Visconti was intelligent enough to see that simplicity, combined with an emphasis on strong emotionality, would carry this ironic story through to its supremely ironic ending.

This is a surprisingly strong film for a first directorial effort, and one that should be remembered for some time to come. It's interesting that a non-American director made the best cinematic version of a seminal American noir story.