Review #1391: The Man with the Golden Arm.Cast:
Frank Sinatra (Frankie "Dealer" Machine), Eleanor Parker (Sophia "Zosh" Machine), Kim Novak (Molly Novotny), Arnold Stang (Sparrow), Darren McGavin ("Nifty Louie" Fomorowski), Robert Strauss (Zero Schwiefka), John Conte (Drunkie John), Doro Merande (Vi), and George E. Stone (Sam Markette) Directed by Otto Preminger (#657 - Laura)
Review:
Film almost always seems to generate more interest when it is allowed to push the envelope in boundaries for the time, such as the case with addiction with films like The Lost Weekend (1945) or this one. The 1950s had a clash of television and film that had the latter try various techniques and gimmicks to keep people with the cinema (at least until they realized they could utilize television to their advantage), but it was a decade with shifting tastes for a new key audience of teenagers along with challenges to the restrictive Production Code that would lead to it taking a final beating and end a decade later. One key figure in that fight was Austrian-Hungary director Otto Preminger, who had developed interest for the theater in acting before he was approached to direct for film with Die große Liebe (1931), which proved a success for the 26-year old despite having less experience with filmmaking than with the theater. He emigrated to the United States four years later and soon found a chance to direct on Broadway along with 20th Century Fox through Darryl F. Zanuck, which resulted in two completed films (1936's Under Your Spell (1936) and 1937's Danger – Love at Work) before being fired off Kidnapped (1938) by Zanuck that led to a hiatus for five years. Preminger found his way back to Fox and gradually found his way back to doing dramas and noirs (along with occasional acting) over the course of the next eight years that had its high point with Laura (1944). His challenges with the Production Code took place over two of his films in the 1950s. His 1953 film The Moon is Blue attracted complaints about its treatment of seduction and chastity, with United Artists deciding to release the film without Code approval (which resulted in a few places banning the film from being shown or restricted viewings for adults). He received attention from the code for this film, since it deals with drug addiction (implied to be heroin), a taboo subject in their eyes (other subjects included mixed-race romances and kidnapping). However, Preminger and United Artists persisted on and released the film anyway (both films eventually received PCA codes of approval in 1961). By the time he directed Anatomy of a Murder (1959), a frank courtroom drama film, the PCA did not object this time around. The talented but rough director would do over 35 films before his death in 1986.
The film was adapted from Nelson Algren's 1948 novel of the same name, which was significantly bleaker in tone when it came to its main character, with the most notable change being that he does not survive to the end in the book, having found himself trapped with no way out of his predicament caused by his inhibitions after inadvertently murdering his drug dealer. The changes made by screenwriters Walter Newman and Lewis Meltzer, along with a lack of compensation for his work, did not sit well with Algren when it came time to release. When it comes time to having a prime star for an envelope pushing film, one can't go too wrong with famed singer-turned-actor Sinatra, who studied rehab clinics in preparation for this film. He proves to the task of living up to such a fascinating role, proving to be quite gripping to the audience in his attempts to pull himself upward from a whirlpool of city seduction. Parker proves just as well in controlled anguish that does so while spending most of her time sitting down. Novak provides a warm calm presence whenever on screen, while Stang provides his a seedy and loyal dramatic turn for the notably comic actor. McGavin and Strauss both do well with providing the seedy elements of city life with the kind of conviction and allure one would expect from them. In any case, the film does well with showing a look into a person trying to escape the demons that haunt his personal life and himself, with Preminger and Sinatra doing well in making a capable tragedy seem useful to view, such as a cold turkey sequence with the latter that accompanies the climax. While the film may have aged a bit in the six decades since its release, there is certainly still a power that this film has that can't be swept away for curiosity, and it is a feature that can be recommended for public domain viewing without too much trouble.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
