Compulsion

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(c) ajmalouin 2008

(Rating: 1 by Al)
(1959/USA. Directed by Richard Fleischer. Written by Meyer Levin [the novel and play] and Richard Murphy [screenplay.])

“Compulsion” tells the story of two rich college students in Chicago in 1924. The two boys are very very intelligence, and consider themselves above the constraints of normal laws and morality[1.].

In this film, the two boys set out to live through the entire catalog of human experience, and to examine each experience coolly and without emotion.

After a home burglary, followed by an intentional hit-and-run of a roadside pedestrian, the next plan is for one of them to rape a mutual girl friend of theirs while he and she are on a bird-watching outing. The one of them who is to perpetrate this heinous activity, however, turns out to be the “weaker” of this psychopathic pair.

Moving from there to their next adventure, the two boys decide to execute The Perfect Crime: the motiveless murder of a 12-year-old boy who lives in the neighborhood.

One little mistake during the crime eventually trips them up, and sets them up for life imprisonment.

How all this unfolds makes for an almost perfect film.

“Compulsion” follows roughly the plot lines of the real-life Loeb-Leopold murder case. In Chicago, in 1924, Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr., and Richard A. Loeb murdered a child and, when apprehended, were defended by Clarence Darrow, an attorney already famous for his work in other courtrooms.

The courtroom speeches which the film’s attorney Jonathan Wilk (played by Orson Welles!) delivers are said to be taken almost verbatim from the transcripts of Darrow’s actual presentations in the courtroom. The speeches are a bit purple, but the Welles character delivers them probably as well as Darrow ever could have.

The speeches, moreover, are the least interesting scenes in the film. The tightly knit screenplay is a sparse and beautiful thing in which every single scene advances the story cleanly and precisely. This is probably due to both beautiful writing and the fact that the film was a well-received play before it was ever filmed.

In addition to a superb screenplay, the film showcases a whole gaggle of beautiful acting performances. Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, and Bradford Dillman tied for First Place for Best Actor at Cannes— the only time such a thing has ever happened.

Diane Varsi, E.G. Marshall, Martin Milner, and Richard Anderson all turn in outstanding performances, as do an equal number of supporting cast members.

The possible homosexuality of the two boy killers is something the audience must read into the proceedings, for it is never overtly detailed in the film. The two of them are almost interchangeable in most of the scenes, a duplicity which vastly increases the effectiveness of the story.

Welles is at his best when he interacts with other actors, as opposed to when he is merely delivering the courtroom arguments which Darrow made during the real-life trial.

In an interview, Bradford Dillman said that Welles demeanor toward him changed in the next film the two of them did together (“Crack in the Mirror”) after the three of them shared the Cannes “Best Actor” award. Welles was distant, stand-offish, and competitive. He didn’t care for sharing any award with any one.

Dillman further said that Welles was not an actor who worked well with other actors. Welles was at his best when he was alone center-stage, delivering his lines to a light stand while the other actors were off in the distance.

Welles’ attitude shows and reflects in the courtroom scenes. His summation speeches are not nearly as effective as the scenes in the earlier parts of the film. Nevertheless, “Compulsion” is an almost perfect film in which one scene builds beautifully to the next, and there is not one frame of wasted experience. Rent it immediately! (1 hr 43. Not rated in the USA. In black and white, and in English. With Orson Welles as Jonathan Wilk, Diane Varsi as Ruth Evans, Dean Stockwell as Judd Steiner, Voltaire Perkins as Judge, Martin Milner as Sid Brooks, E.G. Marshall as District Attorney Harold Horn, Gavin MacLeod as Padua, Bradford Dillman as Arthur Straus, Peter Brocco as Albert the Chauffeur [uncredited,] and Richard Anderson as Max Steiner.)
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1. This is true even though they were not working within the current Bush Administration.