Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

se-24406 There was a small theater in Shelby NC that showed "art house" films on Sunday afternoon. Films like Bergman's "The Virgin Spring", The "L Shaped Room" with Leslie Caron and "The Condemned of Altona" with Maximlian Schell, Sophia Loren, Robert Wagner and Fredric March. "The Condemned of Altona" was dark and arresting, as only a black and white film can be. This film pulled you in and would not let go and many who have seen it have never forgotten.One puzzled at how the family pulled off the hidden son, supplied him with custom printed newspapers and kept him virtually a prisoner in order to keep him from the post war tribunal, be judged a war criminal and be imprisoned. The irony is inescapable. But the power of wealth makes any thing within reach of the wealthy, including keeping a war criminal secreted way for decades. This is a superb film and really should be available on DVD.

sobot When a movie from 1962 has less than 200 votes on IMDb, what does it mean? Directed by legendary De Sica, and starring great Sophia Loren... it must be a terrible failure? Well, it isn't.Having read Sartre's play "The Condemned of Altona", it is my impression that the movie is very faithful to its atmosphere. There are some changes, of course: instead of concentrating exclusively on torturing his characters inside the mansion (as Sartre does), De Sica takes advantage of possibilities of film, adding outdoor scenes.I don't want to reveal the plot, although it is very interesting. I recommend reading the play first, since the relations between characters will be clearer then. Anyway, see this movie if you get the chance!

mlraymond I only saw this film once, nearly forty years ago, on television. I later read the original Sartre play in a drama class, and found that the movie was reasonably faithful to the original. It is apparently unavailable on home video, unfortunately.I remember being fascinated by the compelling performance of Maximilian Schell as the former Nazi officer who is believed dead, but actually hiding out in his family's attic. His sister, for some reason ,lets him think the war is still going on, twenty years later. She reads him made-up news bulletins about the Allies' destruction of Germany, feeding his madness.The most memorable scene was when the recluse Schell left the house, and went out into the city for the first time in twenty years or more. People stare and laugh at him, as he walks around the modern city in his old Nazi uniform. He is bewildered by all the modern buildings and signs of prosperity in a Germany he had believed utterly destroyed forever.In a particularly clever touch, he somehow ends up in a theater, where a Nazi era satire is being performed. The modern German audience laughs at the caricatured Hitler and his followers. As a kid, I realized it was some kind of Hitler spoof, but the whole thing was in German, and I had to guess at its significance. I now believe that it was most likely a play within a play, namely a scene from the climax of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. It's been a long time since I saw this film, but it seems to me that Schell, in his madness and confusion, mistakenly believes it's some kind of real Nazi rally, and starts saluting "Hitler" , while the audience thinks he's part of the show. It's unfortunate that this movie isn't available for a new audience to appreciate. With any luck, it will come to home video eventually.

4-Eyes While this film was not entirely successful, there are scenes that will stay in your mind forever! If you liked Von Trier's "Zentropa", you will like this film on a similar theme.