MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 (1954)

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Saturday, October 3, 2015

RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 (1954)

Ultra-tough prison meller shows its age in some sound-bite bromides on inmate sociology (quick-fix remedies via meals, guards, isolating psychos), but with dead-on casting & razor-sharp action staging from director Don Siegel in a great early credit, it's terse & effective all the way thru. Filmed by Russell Harlan in a god-sent location, an unused, slab-like maximum security unit at Folsom Prison, the film jumps to life after a brief documentary set-up, walking us thru a bit of lock-up routine. Prisoners down for the count with each clang of a cell-bolt. The riot that soon breaks out is meant as a principled stand, but soon spins out of control, spreading to other units with alarming speed; a domino effect perfectly handled by Siegel working on all cylinders. And look for a stunning sequence with hostages tied to a pipe along a wall that’s been prepped with dynamite to blow. Those hostages make for a Goya-worthy composition. Great (anti) poetic-justice ending, too, followed by a perfect, brusque tracking-shot out.

DOUBLE-BILL: Siegel went back to prison for one of his best late efforts, his last Clint Eastwood pic, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ/’79.

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

Saturday, October 3, 2015

RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 (1954)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE