Moonfleet
Dir: Fritz Lang
1955
***
Fritz Lang's Moonfleet is beautifully shot and unnervingly eerie. The townsfolk's wretched faces, the piecing eyes of the graveside statue and the bleak undertones of life in the secretive coastal village are all fantastically handled and another example of Lang's visual mastery. However, the story is overcooked. The ending is predictable within the first five minutes. The script goes from brilliant to laughable depending on the actor and I'm afraid half way through the film the story looses steam and stagnates somewhat. Occasionally the film pics up, whenever Jon Whiteley states that Jeremy Fox is 'My friend', your anticipation of the conclusion bubbles high but without any real character development it's all a bit too hard to take seriously. There isn't enough George Sanders screen-time either, although the jump of temperament from his character from first scene to second scene is a fine example as to what is wrong with the film in general, so it's probably not surprising he's used sporadically.