As a practice, I typically disdain melodramas from the past.
This isn’t to say that I don’t find one or two or three of them worth the time spent. I certainly don’t wish to brush all of such films with the same brush and condemn them at the outset. My issue with them has always been that I find them a bit obtuse (in some ways) and downright predictable (in others). Rarely am I genuinely surprised with a character development or a plot twist as far too many storytellers entrenched in the studio community were ‘coloring by numbers’ all too often with studio requests. The resulting banality rarely gave the cast the chances they deserved to truly show audiences what they could do with such creations; and this is why a great number of said melodramas end up sounding and feeling like I’ve seen them before – or something similar – and I lose interest rather quickly.
It's for this reason that I get truly excited when I find a production that bucked the trend despite incorporating a good deal of what was already hitting screens elsewhere; and 1954’s The Good Die Young is one such effort. Directed by Lewis Gilbert and based on a novel of the same name, the film is a potpourri of character-driven Drama about four men whose lives aren’t exactly falling apart so much as they’re veering beyond their respective control. As a good deal of their private problems are linked to the ladies they love, the script embraces the usual melodramatic tropes about relationships, marriages, and role models; and yet – because there’s an heady undercurrent of disillusionment pushing them to make increasingly questionable moral choices – it weaves near and dear to Film Noir in ways that cineastes always appreciate.
The finale may not be all that fresh and original, but director Gilbert deliberately constructs the narrative in a way that’s increasingly interesting as to the stakes involved. It may be a bit difficult to shake off the approaching reality – that being that ‘the good die young’ – and I’d insist this is still a journey worth taking, especially with the screen talent all doing what they do best perhaps even singularly so in this particular time and particular place. Sometimes grim yet always relatable, crime thrillers of the bygone era aren’t always this consistently watchable … and that’s saying something.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
This isn’t to say that I don’t find one or two or three of them worth the time spent. I certainly don’t wish to brush all of such films with the same brush and condemn them at the outset. My issue with them has always been that I find them a bit obtuse (in some ways) and downright predictable (in others). Rarely am I genuinely surprised with a character development or a plot twist as far too many storytellers entrenched in the studio community were ‘coloring by numbers’ all too often with studio requests. The resulting banality rarely gave the cast the chances they deserved to truly show audiences what they could do with such creations; and this is why a great number of said melodramas end up sounding and feeling like I’ve seen them before – or something similar – and I lose interest rather quickly.
It's for this reason that I get truly excited when I find a production that bucked the trend despite incorporating a good deal of what was already hitting screens elsewhere; and 1954’s The Good Die Young is one such effort. Directed by Lewis Gilbert and based on a novel of the same name, the film is a potpourri of character-driven Drama about four men whose lives aren’t exactly falling apart so much as they’re veering beyond their respective control. As a good deal of their private problems are linked to the ladies they love, the script embraces the usual melodramatic tropes about relationships, marriages, and role models; and yet – because there’s an heady undercurrent of disillusionment pushing them to make increasingly questionable moral choices – it weaves near and dear to Film Noir in ways that cineastes always appreciate.
The finale may not be all that fresh and original, but director Gilbert deliberately constructs the narrative in a way that’s increasingly interesting as to the stakes involved. It may be a bit difficult to shake off the approaching reality – that being that ‘the good die young’ – and I’d insist this is still a journey worth taking, especially with the screen talent all doing what they do best perhaps even singularly so in this particular time and particular place. Sometimes grim yet always relatable, crime thrillers of the bygone era aren’t always this consistently watchable … and that’s saying something.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“In London, three otherwise law-abiding good men and their unscrupulous leader are about to commit a serious crime, but for different reasons.”
The drawback to practically every crime thriller is that audiences already go into them with full knowledge of the object lesson: “crime doesn’t pay.”
Filmmakers have tried switching that central premise up here and there over the decades, occasionally exploring stories that inevitably have left watchers rooting for the bad guys despite what our mothers, preachers, or other moral or spiritual advisors would think of us. In fact, Michael Mann has become rather adept at delivering some of the most authentic criminals, drawing them so vividly that audiences get almost rapturously wrapped up in their survival as opposed to seeing them brought to justice. While some might take issue with such an approach suggesting that it widens the moral chasm between the law-abiding and the lawless, I’ve long thought that such increased realism gives those of us who still think about myths the chance to ruminate over their messages – mixed or not – instead of reaching the same conclusions we did with the last outing. If nothing else, such films show better how some get seduced by the Dark Side (aka a life of illicit deeds); and maybe such storytelling can be said to be good for the soul.
This sentiment – an honest extrapolation of how men turn toward evil – drives a great deal of The Good Die Young.
The flick opens with a set-up of four stern-faced blokes riding in a car to some unspecified location. Once they stop (and the opening credits finish), guns are passed around – clearly a surprise to a few faces – and the stage is set … but the details remain sketchy for a good portion of the 100-minute running time as director Gilbert now takes the audience back several days in time in order to detail what lead up to this inevitably explosive moment.
Joe (played by Richard Basehart) is a Korean War veteran who abruptly quits his day job in order to head to England to reclaim his wife Mary (a young and exquisite Joan Collins). The lady finds herself essentially trapped there by a domineering mother Mrs. Freeman (Freda Jackson) under the constant emotional threat that she’ll commit suicide if she’s left all to her lonesome. Now that Mary is pregnant, Joe insists he’ll stop at nothing to pull her away from the master manipulator, but he’s operating a little short on funds at the moment.
Mike (Stanley Baker) wants nothing more than to put his failed career as a boxer behind him, wishing to start fresh on the relationship with his young wife Angela (Rene Ray). One last bout gives him the payday he needs to put them in good stead, but – alas – Angela’s sniveling brother keeps looking for handouts that are increasingly expensive. When she spends the last of Mike’s savings to bail her sibling out of jail, her husband feels the walls of financial debt closing around him, putting him in a position where he’ll do anything to get out.
“In London, three otherwise law-abiding good men and their unscrupulous leader are about to commit a serious crime, but for different reasons.”
The drawback to practically every crime thriller is that audiences already go into them with full knowledge of the object lesson: “crime doesn’t pay.”
Filmmakers have tried switching that central premise up here and there over the decades, occasionally exploring stories that inevitably have left watchers rooting for the bad guys despite what our mothers, preachers, or other moral or spiritual advisors would think of us. In fact, Michael Mann has become rather adept at delivering some of the most authentic criminals, drawing them so vividly that audiences get almost rapturously wrapped up in their survival as opposed to seeing them brought to justice. While some might take issue with such an approach suggesting that it widens the moral chasm between the law-abiding and the lawless, I’ve long thought that such increased realism gives those of us who still think about myths the chance to ruminate over their messages – mixed or not – instead of reaching the same conclusions we did with the last outing. If nothing else, such films show better how some get seduced by the Dark Side (aka a life of illicit deeds); and maybe such storytelling can be said to be good for the soul.
This sentiment – an honest extrapolation of how men turn toward evil – drives a great deal of The Good Die Young.
The flick opens with a set-up of four stern-faced blokes riding in a car to some unspecified location. Once they stop (and the opening credits finish), guns are passed around – clearly a surprise to a few faces – and the stage is set … but the details remain sketchy for a good portion of the 100-minute running time as director Gilbert now takes the audience back several days in time in order to detail what lead up to this inevitably explosive moment.
Joe (played by Richard Basehart) is a Korean War veteran who abruptly quits his day job in order to head to England to reclaim his wife Mary (a young and exquisite Joan Collins). The lady finds herself essentially trapped there by a domineering mother Mrs. Freeman (Freda Jackson) under the constant emotional threat that she’ll commit suicide if she’s left all to her lonesome. Now that Mary is pregnant, Joe insists he’ll stop at nothing to pull her away from the master manipulator, but he’s operating a little short on funds at the moment.
Mike (Stanley Baker) wants nothing more than to put his failed career as a boxer behind him, wishing to start fresh on the relationship with his young wife Angela (Rene Ray). One last bout gives him the payday he needs to put them in good stead, but – alas – Angela’s sniveling brother keeps looking for handouts that are increasingly expensive. When she spends the last of Mike’s savings to bail her sibling out of jail, her husband feels the walls of financial debt closing around him, putting him in a position where he’ll do anything to get out.
Eddie (John Ireland) comes home on leave from military service only to find his actress/wife Denise (Gloria Grahame) in an inappropriate relationship with the latest marquee name of her picture in production. Though she gives signs that she’s still attracted to him, she still refuses when he asks her to follow him to his new posting in Germany because she’s clearly having too much fun in the entertainment business. As a man of action who finds himself privately emasculated, Eddie goes AWOL and decides that he’s needing a new distraction to keep him from his resulting anger.
Rave (Laurence Harvey) has always had his sights on pursuit of the mighty dollar, and possibly for that reason alone he wed Eve (Margaret Leighton), a woman of financial means who could support whatever risky scheme he desired. Now that she’s grown wise to his shortcomings, she’s cut him off from her fortune, a development which causes him to search out the ‘next big thing’ that could make him wealthy. What better way than to rob the van transporting 90,000 pounds to the local post office in the dead of night?
If you missed it, then let me assure you that, yes, there is a great deal of set-up for The Good Die Young’s plot and characters.
Setting each of these dominoes up to fall accordingly is the stuff of great drama, and director Gilbert has fashioned his thriller in such a way that the four principles aren’t even in the same room together – a local pub – until about midway through the drama. Lesser flicks ignore clearly and cleanly establishing the foundation for their elaborate heist, and that’s why their criminals are easily forgotten after the screen fades to black. But here the audience is given a spate of faces and their respective backgrounds so that questions about how and why they chose to do this minimally makes sense. You might disagree with the choice. You might find one or two stories a bit, well, dull or anticipated. You might even be a bit stupefied by the ignorance of it all. Still, Gilbert assuredly delivers a tale that adds up to the heist’s necessity only them revealing the fact that Rave is a demented sociopath – a veritable wolf in a British dandy’s clothing hiding all the while in plain sight.
Some might argue that the script – credited to Gilbert along with Vernon Harris adapting the Richard Macauley source novel – operates with a cleverly concealed misogyny. Like it or not, a case could be made that each of these men’s greatest troubles stem from their relationships with women – i.e. the shrew for a mother-in-law, the philandering spouse, the perennial do-gooder who can’t or won’t refuse her own flesh-and-blood – and such a platform has critical merit. However, I thought that the story instead tries to cast the men in the shared position of disillusionment – disappointed with life, careers, or perceived destiny – and the women involved are only part and parcel of why their feelings of inadequacy lead them to such a lowly place.
Rave (Laurence Harvey) has always had his sights on pursuit of the mighty dollar, and possibly for that reason alone he wed Eve (Margaret Leighton), a woman of financial means who could support whatever risky scheme he desired. Now that she’s grown wise to his shortcomings, she’s cut him off from her fortune, a development which causes him to search out the ‘next big thing’ that could make him wealthy. What better way than to rob the van transporting 90,000 pounds to the local post office in the dead of night?
If you missed it, then let me assure you that, yes, there is a great deal of set-up for The Good Die Young’s plot and characters.
Setting each of these dominoes up to fall accordingly is the stuff of great drama, and director Gilbert has fashioned his thriller in such a way that the four principles aren’t even in the same room together – a local pub – until about midway through the drama. Lesser flicks ignore clearly and cleanly establishing the foundation for their elaborate heist, and that’s why their criminals are easily forgotten after the screen fades to black. But here the audience is given a spate of faces and their respective backgrounds so that questions about how and why they chose to do this minimally makes sense. You might disagree with the choice. You might find one or two stories a bit, well, dull or anticipated. You might even be a bit stupefied by the ignorance of it all. Still, Gilbert assuredly delivers a tale that adds up to the heist’s necessity only them revealing the fact that Rave is a demented sociopath – a veritable wolf in a British dandy’s clothing hiding all the while in plain sight.
Some might argue that the script – credited to Gilbert along with Vernon Harris adapting the Richard Macauley source novel – operates with a cleverly concealed misogyny. Like it or not, a case could be made that each of these men’s greatest troubles stem from their relationships with women – i.e. the shrew for a mother-in-law, the philandering spouse, the perennial do-gooder who can’t or won’t refuse her own flesh-and-blood – and such a platform has critical merit. However, I thought that the story instead tries to cast the men in the shared position of disillusionment – disappointed with life, careers, or perceived destiny – and the women involved are only part and parcel of why their feelings of inadequacy lead them to such a lowly place.
In fact, Rave gives a speech late in the picture when all of them are gathered around the table sharing drinks that underscores how society – of its post-war era – failed men and women alike. In it, he details how the good were all sent out to defend the world’s interests; and the greatest return they were given for such a personal sacrifice was to die ‘honorably’ while the others were allowed to enrich themselves and their families back home. While it becomes clear that he’s got a big axe to grind with the human race, Gilbert’s film stops short of displaying Rave’s utter contempt for law, order, and the rest of that jazz until the robbery goes awry. This understandably puts him at odds with Joe, Mike, and Eddie a bit too late for them to seriously do anything about it; and this is why the second half of The Good Die Young is exceedingly grim … even more so when you realize this was made in the 1950’s.
The Good Die Young (1954) was produced by Romulus Films and Remus. DVD distribution (for this particular release) is being handled by the good folks at MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the various sights-and-sounds to be very good though a bit underwhelming in a few spots. The opening was unusually grainy – I could even see with the title credits that the images were shimmering a bit – but it improves significantly as the movie wears on. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Sadly, there are none of the DVD release I was provided, and I would definitely have liked to have known more.
Highly recommended.
I’m honestly known online as a guy who does tend to gravitate more toward older productions. Having read about so many, I’m aghast that – to my knowledge – I’ve never come across The Good Die Young (1954) anywhere. It’s about a grounded a 50’s era crime thriller can be, and that’s saying a good deal since there have been so many good ones. While I might take issue with a scene or sequence here or there, I’ll admit to absolutely loving a great deal of this one – its setting, its story, its commitment to drawing so many side stories into a central thread – and I was struck with the poignancy of these various men trying to put their lives into some acceptable order. Every performance hit a mark – hard to do with so much talent on the screen – and the picture sizzled for me in its fantastically realized climax.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Warner Archive provided me with a complimentary DVD of The Good Die Young (1954) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
The Good Die Young (1954) was produced by Romulus Films and Remus. DVD distribution (for this particular release) is being handled by the good folks at MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the various sights-and-sounds to be very good though a bit underwhelming in a few spots. The opening was unusually grainy – I could even see with the title credits that the images were shimmering a bit – but it improves significantly as the movie wears on. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Sadly, there are none of the DVD release I was provided, and I would definitely have liked to have known more.
Highly recommended.
I’m honestly known online as a guy who does tend to gravitate more toward older productions. Having read about so many, I’m aghast that – to my knowledge – I’ve never come across The Good Die Young (1954) anywhere. It’s about a grounded a 50’s era crime thriller can be, and that’s saying a good deal since there have been so many good ones. While I might take issue with a scene or sequence here or there, I’ll admit to absolutely loving a great deal of this one – its setting, its story, its commitment to drawing so many side stories into a central thread – and I was struck with the poignancy of these various men trying to put their lives into some acceptable order. Every performance hit a mark – hard to do with so much talent on the screen – and the picture sizzled for me in its fantastically realized climax.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Warner Archive provided me with a complimentary DVD of The Good Die Young (1954) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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