Reviews

Okay, I rarely write a review, but this isn't really a review...It's a warning--DON'T WATCH IT. People have been putting in a 10/10 rating just to offset the low ratings this film has received? Are you serious?! I seriously wish I would have read the reviews before wasting over an hour of my life on this movie. The only reason I'm going so high as 2 stars is because at moments the acting was bearable (but only at moments!) and Sarah Lind is pleasant to watch. I have to say the story and the directing is what really put me off. I had to go back and make a list of all the movies the writer had a hand in so I know what NOT TO watch. The same with the directors--but not as much. I'm a huge B movie fan and I watch a lot of bad sci-fi. There's rarely a movie that I feel 'I wish I didn't waste my time watching that'... Unfortunately, this is one of those movies :( Sorry Mr Cage and Ms Lind, I wish you had roles with a bigger budget, better script, a good director....heck, basically a different movie!

Gorgeous location photography of Argentina and the subtle, lyrical direction of Jacques Tourneur are the main reasons for watching this story of a gaucho who becomes first outlaw and then revolutionary, in an attempt to preserve his way of life from encroaching foreign influences and money. The acting is somewhat uneven - Calhoun and especially Tierney are somewhat miscast, though Richard Boone and others in smaller roles come off as more authentic.

Although Winsor McCay is primarily known for such whimsical flights of fantasy as "Gertie the Dinosaur" and the comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland", this recreation of the great ocean-liner tragedy is just as remarkable. Painstakingly realistic, the graphic detail and fluidity of motion in this cartoon are far ahead of their time. This was actually the first film to use cel animation, as the amount of detail McCay envisioned would have made drawing each picture individually near impossible. In fact, you really have to look closely at the human figures to tell that it isn't actual live footage. The torpedoes striking the hull, the subsequent explosions, the lifeboats and ropes flying over the sides, the passengers jumping overboard, the attempts at rescue, and the tragic fates of those unfortunates adrift in the ocean are all wonderfully and harrowingly realised. That the quality of this film isn't in the greatest condition anymore (at least the print of it I saw wasn't) somehow only makes it feel even more authentic. The final shot packs an emotional wallop infinitely greater than anything in Cameron's TITANIC.