The Great Flamarion (1945)

Better Late Then Never

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I watched this film based on the favorable reviews posted here. Do NOT repeat my mistake. The Great Flamarion is so slow -- it's 78 minutes felt like 2 hrs.The script was poor, the dialog flat, the plot predictable and the ending telegraphed from the first scene.I guess everybody else was wowed by the big name director (Anthony Mann) and the big name director turned actor (Erich Von Stroheim) and the sort of big name producer (William Wilder - brother of Billy Wilder). It just proves that you can't judge a book by its cover, nor a movie by its credits...

William Lee Wilder was the older brother of Billy Wilder and "The Great Flamarion" was his first motion picture production. He didn't have a lot of flair but he did put Anthony Mann on the ladder to directorial fame and he also used a couple of great actors in Erich Von Stroheim and Dan Duryea. The film had a European flavour (it was adapted from a Vicki Baum story "The Big Shot") and Stroheim was perfect as an obsessed vaudevillian - a role he had perfected in "The Great Gabbo" (1929). He drew viewer's attention in every scene he appeared.A shot is heard throughout a Mexico City music hall - when a man falls from the rafters, Tony an old trouper, recognises Flamarion (Erich Von Stroheim), once the world's greatest sharp shooter. Dying, Flamarion tells his story:- Flamarion lived only for his work until he fell in love with Connie (Mary Beth Hughes), who with her husband Al (Dan Duryea) form Flamarion's shooting act. Connie and Al seem happily married, but behind closed doors her ruthless ambition has turned him into an alcoholic and rumour has it she is having an affair with Eddie (Stephen Barclay), a cyclist with the troop. Connie leads Flamarion to think she cares about him but her motive is to convince him to kill Al during a performance and make it look like an accident. He does and the coroner believes Al died due to his own drunken miscalculations. Connie and Flamarion agree to meet in Chicago, but she has her own plans that include Eddie, not Flamarion and he waits at the hotel in vain. To me, the best scene in the film is where Von Stroheim does a little dance in his eager anticipation to soon be with Connie.He sets out to find her and eventually traces both Connie and Eddie performing at a cheap theatre in Mexico City. He upbraids her for her duplicity but Connie pretends she still loves him - all the time reaching for his gun to shoot him. With his ebbing strength he strangles her before crawling away to die.Is there another actor more under-rated than Dan Duryea. He was a stage actor who was bought to movies to repeat his success in the stage play "The Little Foxes" but soon found himself in demand playing everything from pimps and spongers ("Scarlet Street" (1945), "Too Late For Tears" (1949)) to saddle tramps ("Black Bart" (1948)). "The Great Flamarion" presented him with a rare sympathetic role and as usual he perfected it. Mary Beth Hughes, originally a blonde bit player ("These Glamour Girls" (1939)) went back to her natural hair color (red) and became a noir cult favourite. Martha Vickers can be glimpsed as a chorus girl in the first scenes.Recommended.

Little Republic studio must have been a come-down for the great European impresario Erich von Stroheim. But he caught a tail wind in this minor production in the persons of an outstanding supporting cast and some fine visual moments from up-and-coming director Anthony Mann. The part is tailor made for the imperious von Stroheim. As Flamarion, a trick shot artist, he's all stiff-necked aloofness. That is until trollopy assistant Mary Beth Hughes decides to rid herself of dipso husband Dan Duryea. Then the heartless schemes fly fast and furious, resulting in a complex rectangle of passions -- so keep a score card handy.Though Stroheim certainly looks the part, he's really not a very good actor, especially when he goes all soft hearted. No, the film really belongs to the brassy, baby-faced Hughes, as she does a number on the men around her. No doubt about it, underneath that cheap, calculating exterior lies an even cheaper, more calculating interior. And when she and Duryea go into their tiger shark mode, the film reaches a blood-letting high. Too bad, Duryea plays drunken weakness most of the time, since their bouts of sarcasm show true championship form. Then too, adding real color in a bit part is Esther Howard as the boozy floozie dog lady, with a canine nose for sniffing out phonies. Stylish director Mann has yet to blossom, but shows early flair, especially in the shadowy backstage scenes. On the other hand, there's the program music. Whoever did the score must have gone to the Muzak School of Fine Arts, for where else would that kind of silliness play except in elevators. Also, the cheap park sets betray Republic's long established address along economy row. In fact, I almost expected a tree to fall over. No, this isn't a submerged gem unless you're a Mary Beth Hughes fan. But it does have its moments, and a chance to view one of glamor-obsessed Hollywood's biggest rarities-- a truly unattractive face in the lead role. Perhaps that's why the conventional finish manages a degree of pathos despite being a drop-dead certainty from the start.

"The Great Flamarion" is an undiscovered little gem of a film from Rebublic that features von Stroheim as the title character, a cold and arrogant vaudeville performer who specializes in sharp shooting. He is assisted in his act by Connie and Al Wallace, a seemingly happy couple. When Connie professes her love for Flamarion and tells of her husband's abusive nature and hard-drinking, Flamarion eventually opens his heart to this femme-fatale, played to the hilt by Mary Beth Hughes, a most underrated actress, who toys with men in the tradition of film noir greats such as Joan Bennett in "Scarlet Street," Jane Greer in "Out of The Past," and Yvonne DeCarlo in "Criss Cross." When Connie suggests that Flamarion accidentally hit Al, portrayed by the always terrific Dan Duryea, during their gun skit, Flamarion's life changes forever. Anthony Mann's direction is taut and economic. The film, told through flashbacks, captures the desperation and loneliness of a man willing to do anything for love. Next to "Sunset Boulevard," this is one of von Stroheim's finest hours as an actor. He allows himself to show joy and vulnerability as he never has before on screen.