Verboten! (1959)

an old movie. not exactly for time passing from its birth but for the themes who are always fresh, for the sets, for the measure of story who impress again and again. a war film and more that. because important remains the way to translate in image, with grace, delicacy and courage a dark side of reality. the photographs, the wallpapers, the dialogs, the scenes from Nuenberg trial, the story story itself are tools for a clear and objective picture of period. and that fact remain great , more important, in fact, than the artistic virtues. the equilibrium - that is the essential thing who defines Verboten ! and who gives to its poetic moments more force.

There is Only One Sam Fuller and His Detractors might say that was Certainly Enough. But No One can Argue that Sam Fuller made Boring, Uninteresting, or Common Movies. He was Anything but Common.While watching a Fuller Movie one is Struck by the Audaciousness as it Unspools with the Usual Low-Budget and Barely Professional Actors. For His Films are all about the Subject. Be it War, Western, Crime, or any Number of Odd Stories He chose to do, Sam Fuller always gave His Heart and Soul.In this WWII Movie it is the Very End and Post War Germany that is the Setting and the Nazis have been Reduced to Nothing More than a Street Gang and the Occupiers are Struggling to keep all the Threads of Society from coming Unraveled. The Most Basic Things like Food and Medicine are in Short Supply and there is Never a Shortage of Suffering People.This is just some of the Layers that Fuller Uses here to Elicit a Template of Surreal Cynicism. The Claustrophobic Sets and the Dense Lighting also Manage a Meilu of a Hell on Earth. Posters and Leaflets are Wallpaper and Signposts and the Love Story is not only Edgy but Verboten. This is the Writer/Director's Vintage Heavy Handedness that is a Delight to Watch and is Another Example why there is Only One Sam Fuller.

One of Fuller's (a combat veteran himself) early works of average quality, but accurately hits on the many conflicting aspects of life in postwar Germany. The main character starts the movie in Apr'45 as a Sgt with C Co, 157th Inf, 45th Div, which really did end the war in Munich as in the movie. (Same unit in the previous month had fought heavily in Aschaffenburg and then liberated part of the Dachau facility). To the uninformed the movie may seem confusing by flip flopping between showing the good & bad of the german people. But anyone who has been there or at least well read on it would know that most of what is portrayed in the movie are things that really did happen in 45-47 Germany. The only inaccuracy I noticed was minor: while on a boat cruise of the Rhine passing the remains of the Remagen bridge he comments he crossed there. But his unit really crossed well south of there - north of Worms Germany.

Great film about an American G.I. who quits the army to marry a German girl who saved his life in the last days of the war. She accepts, but does she do it because she really likes him, or because he can support her with easier access to food and such? Meanwhile, her brother and an old friend form an anti-American terrorist group called the Werewolves, their purpose to drive away the occupants (you might remember the same group playing a major part in Lars von Trier's film Europa (Zentropa)). James Best, best known for his role as Roscoe P. Coltrane in the 1980s television show The Dukes of Hazzard, is shockingly excellent as the American. He should have become a big movie star – at this age he reminds me very much of Warren Beatty. The other main actors are good, as well. Fuller's direction is quite good, using a lot of long takes again (although they are not nearly as complex as they were in Park Row; the long takes more often than not consist of long scenes with a lot of dialogue). The only problems lie in the script, as seems to be the case with all of the Fuller films that I've seen. It's not too badly flawed, but it ought to have been expanded, fleshing out major characters and parts of the script. Helga, the wife, goes through a major change, but completely off screen. Therefore, the emotional center rests squarely on Best's shoulders. Fuller also should have killed off the sick mother early in the film. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh! She just doesn't really do anything throughout the film except lie in bed. She has so few lines. But Fuller keeps bringing her up as the film goes on. I would have had her death solidify David and Helga's relationship myself. And the film ends too abruptly, and it lacks payoff. These aren't really the biggest flaws in the world (the way I described them makes them sound bigger than they are). 9/10.