This is a movie that would seem to have everything going for it -- great cast, great story, great score, great photography! But the film is actually not all that gripping or entertaining. So I asked Vincente Minnelli what went wrong. "I didn't direct the whole film. Ronald Neame did that." So I asked Minnelli how he happened to become involved. I assumed that Neame delivered a final cut to MGM but that the studio was not happy with it, so they asked Minnelli to liven it up. Minnelli didn't answer my question directly but what he said was this: "I did quite a lot of work near the beginning, and also a lot of work towards the end. I also directed all Francoise Rosay's scenes. But really there were little bits all over the place that I directed, like odd establishing shots, inserted close-ups and so on." As the film was photographed in CinemaScope, Minnelli and his cameraman were very meticulous in staging the action and the players to take full advantage of the wide screen.
Review of The Seventh Sin
