Compulsion, directed by Richard Fleischer, was a film made in 1959, based on the 1956 novel Compulsion by Meyer Levin, which in turn was based on the Leopold and Loeb trial. It was the first film Richard D. Zanuck produced.
Sometimes murder is just a way to pass the time. Compulsion is a compelling stylish thriller that sees two callous law students murder a young boy in cold blood to prove their intellectual superiority. Having been raised by wealthy, snobbish families Artie Straus is a sadistic bully and Judd Steiner (Dean Stockwell) a timid introvert. The two college friends concoct the 'perfect crime' - the murder of a young boy, but their arrogance and conceit leads to their arrest. The inimitable Orson Welles plays the criminal defense lawyer, based on the famous Clarence Darrow, who takes on their almost impossible case. This outstanding courtroom drama directed by Richard Fleisher is loosely based on the notorious and horrific 1924 murder trial of thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb. It was nominated for a BAFTA and garnered the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award for Stockwell, Dillman and Welles as well as a Palme D'Or nomination.
Compulsion' is a film of ideas, but with character and plot that cannot quite live up to the highbrow efforts of the director. The film was shot in 1959, but harks back to the earlier 1920s and the real life case of Leopold and Loeb. Either way the female characters are portrayed far too weakly in the film and moments of assault are pushed aside. These old fashioned ideals would not normally impact on a `classic' film, but in a film of ideals they cannot go unnoticed. The film feels innocent and a little hokey, but in a murdering type of way. It plays out as the dark heart of `To Kill a Mockingbird'. For this reason, although the film struggles to be taken seriously, it is still worth watching for the concepts within it.
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