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Matt Hough

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Joan Crawford’s exploration of film noir continues unabated in Michael Curtiz’s Flamingo Road, an engrossing melodramatic exposé of small-town political corruption and its effects on a handful of citizens on either side of the law.



Flamingo Road (1949)



Released: 30 Apr 1949
Rated: Approved
Runtime: 94 min




Director: Michael Curtiz
Genre: Drama, Film-Noir, Romance



Cast: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet
Writer(s): Robert Wilder, Edmund H. North, Sally Wilder



Plot: A corrupt small town sheriff manipulates local candidates to the state legislature but he eventually comes into conflict with a visiting carnival dancer.



IMDB rating: 7.1
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: Warner Brothers...

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Robin9

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Thank your this review. I'm not a Joan Crawford fan but I am a big admirer of Michael Curtiz and I always enjoy Zachary Scott and Sidney Greenstreet so I will definitely buy this disc.
 

Mark Mayes

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I watched this last night... And really loved it, rather than just '" liking" it. That hasn't always been the case because I also agree that Joan Crawford is a bit too old for this role. But she does a great job and I like her work and the film better each time I see it.
 

Stephen_J_H

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Never seen this, though I am curious. Given my age, I hear Flamingo Road and think of the nighttime soap from the early 80s starring Mark Harmon and Morgan Fairchild. That was mildly diverting, but I fully expect this to be superior.
 

Santee7

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kirk
I over spent my budget this month due to Kino sale, but in May, grabbing this because Sydney Greenstreet is the best Brit as Southerner since Laughton, in Advise and Consent.
I think he steals the whole picture.
 

Robin9

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I over spent my budget this month due to Kino sale, but in May, grabbing this because Sydney Greenstreet is the best Brit as Southerner since Laughton, in Advise and Consent.
I think he steals the whole picture.
Since?
 

benbess

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Thanks to this perceptive and overall positive review, I picked this blu-ray up. Hadn't seen it before, and as the review detail it's a solid movie, but a step down dramatically from Mildred Pierce. PQ, however, is excellent.

It was a bit shocking for me to see, however, the physical decline of Sydney Greenstreet since Casablanca. He seemed to me to be in significant discomfort for much of the movie, and it didn't surprise me that this was about the end of the line for him when it came to movie acting. He seemed ill, which was sad to see.

The movie itself was still a solid piece of entertainment, reflective of the studio's often economical narrative style. Where MGM, for instance, would often have movies of two hours, or sometimes even two and a half, this 94-minute abbreviated epic is more in the Warner Bros. manner of brisk storytelling.

This movie capped an impressive 15-year run of mostly hits for Curtiz, which unfortunately pretty much ended with this picture. Most of his movies for his last three years at Warner did only so-so at the box office. Then he came back with a box office smash for Paramount, the first VistaVision movie White Christmas. Then came another flop, with the ancient-world color film noir, The Egyptian, in CinemaScope for 20th Century Fox.

It's now possible to have quite a good at-home Michael Curtiz film festival. I think I'd do these Curtiz movies on blu-ray. I'd skip the early 30s horror movies, and instead start with....

The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938 (although hoping for a 4K remaster of this one)
Angels With Dirty Faces, 1938
Dodge City, 1939
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, 1939
The Sea Wolf, 1941
Captains of the Clouds, 1942
Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942
Casablanca, 1942
Passage to Marseilles, 1944
Mildred Pierce, 1945
Romance on the High Seas, 1948
My Dream is Yours, 1949
Flamingo Road, 1949
Young Man with a Horn, 1950
White Christmas, 1954
The Egyptian, 1954

I wonder if there will be any other Curtiz movies from Warner Archive this year or next?


flamingo road best.jpeg
 
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