Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a classic literary work but it isn't well suited to screen adaptation. This film has some of the necessary ingredients for success but comes up short in several respects.
Spencer Tracy turns in a fine performance as the titular 'old man', one which was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. Felipe Pazos (as the boy), on the other hand, is a dreadful actor and almost drags Tracy's performance down in the scenes that they share. Tracy does double duty as the omniscient narrator as well, though I don't think that it made much sense to delegate that task to the actor playing the main character of the film.
John Sturges seems to have had to cobble together footage from various shoots and locations, resulting in a somewhat haphazard look. Budgetary concerns were likely a part of the problem along with limitations in technology.
Dimitri Tiomkin's score won an Oscar but I didn't think it was that exceptional. Certainly not nearly as memorable as the scores that Elmer Bernstein provided for Sturges's "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape".
While some will undoubtedly find the story boring I think that it is easily the best part of this picture. Behind the simple story of a man and his marlin there are layers upon layers of deeper meaning. I could have done without some of the narration, though, particularly when the same thing could have been conveyed with visuals.
In the end, I give the content of the film high points though the film's technical aspects are riddled with inadequacies. It's worth watching but you should be prepared for some decidedly rough edges.
Spencer Tracy turns in a fine performance as the titular 'old man', one which was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. Felipe Pazos (as the boy), on the other hand, is a dreadful actor and almost drags Tracy's performance down in the scenes that they share. Tracy does double duty as the omniscient narrator as well, though I don't think that it made much sense to delegate that task to the actor playing the main character of the film.
John Sturges seems to have had to cobble together footage from various shoots and locations, resulting in a somewhat haphazard look. Budgetary concerns were likely a part of the problem along with limitations in technology.
Dimitri Tiomkin's score won an Oscar but I didn't think it was that exceptional. Certainly not nearly as memorable as the scores that Elmer Bernstein provided for Sturges's "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape".
While some will undoubtedly find the story boring I think that it is easily the best part of this picture. Behind the simple story of a man and his marlin there are layers upon layers of deeper meaning. I could have done without some of the narration, though, particularly when the same thing could have been conveyed with visuals.
In the end, I give the content of the film high points though the film's technical aspects are riddled with inadequacies. It's worth watching but you should be prepared for some decidedly rough edges.