- Act of Violence
Infobox_Film
name = Act of Violence
caption = Theatrical poster
director =Fred Zinnemann
producer =William H. Wright
writer = Story:Collier Young Screenplay:Robert L. Richards
starring =Van Heflin Robert Ryan Janet Leigh
music =Bronislau Kaper
cinematography = Robert Surtees
editing = Conrad A. Nervig
distributor =Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released =December 21 1948 (U.S.A.)
runtime = 82 minutes
country =United States
language = English
amg_id = 1:83108
imdb_id = 0041088|"Act of Violence" is a 1948 "
film noir " directed byFred Zinnemann and adapted for the screen byRobert L. Richards from a story byCollier Young , featuring performances byVan Heflin ,Robert Ryan , andJanet Leigh . [imdb title| id=0041088|title=Act of Violence.]Plot
Frank Enley (Heflin), a
World War II soldier, returns home from the war after surviving a GermanPOW camp while the rest of his comrades have been murdered. What he does not know is that one of his prison mates, Joe Parkson (Ryan), has survived. Parkson knows that Enley helped theNazi s in exchange for food while a prisoner, and Parkson is on a manhunt to destroy the so-called "war hero."Enley, who is now married to Edith (Leigh), must confront his dark past and the truth that he's a coward not a war hero. Meanwhile, Parkson gets closer and closer to getting his revenge. Enley goes into hiding by leaving his confused wife behind and living on the lam.
Enley enlists the aid of a
prostitute , Pat (Mary Astor ), and ahitman (Berry Kroeger ).Cast
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Van Heflin as Frank R. Enley
*Robert Ryan as Joe Parkson
*Janet Leigh as Edith Enley
*Mary Astor as Pat
*Phyllis Thaxter as Ann Sturges
*Berry Kroeger as Johnny
*Taylor Holmes as Gavery
* Harry Antrim as Fred Finney
*Connie Gilchrist as Martha Finney
* Will Wright as Boat Rental Man at Redwood LakeCritical reception
Roger Westcombe, writing for the Big House Film Society, considers the film unsettling, and wrote, "Act of Violence"... with a profundity, through its unsettling moral continuum, redolent not of Hollywood simplicities of good/evil but of the art one associates with Zinnemann’s
Europe an background. This contains a clue. Fred and his brother escaped their nativeAustria in 1938, but their parents, waiting for U.S. visas that never came, perished – separately – in concentration camps. The "survivor guilt " this awful closing engendered must resemble the emotional see-saw ride which fiction like the ethical pendulum of "Act of Violence" can only start to expiate." [ [http://www.bighousefilm.com/reviews/act_of_violence.htm Westcombe, Roger] . Big House Film Society, film review, 2008. Last accessed:January 11 ,2008 .]The staff at "Variety" magazine liked the film and gave it a positive review. They wrote, "The grim melodrama implied by its title is fully displayed in "Actors of Violence"...tellingly produced and played to develop tight excitement...The playing and direction catch plot aims and the characterizations are all topflight thesping. Heflin and Ryan deliver punchy performances that give substance to the menacing terror...It's grim business, unrelieved by lightness, and the players belt over their assignments under Zinnemann's knowing direction. Janet Leigh points up her role as Heflin's worried but courageous wife, while Phyllis Thaxter does well by a smaller part as Ryan's girl. A standout is the brassy, blowzy femme created by Mary Astor - a woman of the streets who gives Heflin shelter during his wild flight from fate." [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117796660.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 "Variety"] . Film review, December 21, 1948. Last accessed: January 11, 2008.]
References
Notes
External links
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* [http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2008/08/act-of-violence-1948.html "Act of Violence"] at Film Noir of the Week (includes trailer)
* [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews32/film_noir_classic_collection_v4.htm "Act of Violence"] at DVD Beaver (includes images)
* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/00/8/violence.html "Act of Violence"] at Senses of Cinema
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