Explosion of Silence (1961)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Explosion of silence |
| Original title | Blast of Silence |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1961 |
| length | 77 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Allen Baron |
| script | Allen Baron Waldo Salt (as "Mel Davenport") |
| production | Merrill Brody |
| music | Meyer Kupferman |
| camera | Merrill Brody |
| cut | Peggy Lawson |
| occupation | |
| |
Blast of Silence (Blast of Silence) is an American gangster movie from the year 1961 . The low-budget production was staged in black and white by Allen Baron, who also plays the leading role, and is considered a long-forgotten, late masterpiece of film noir due to its dark aesthetics .
action
The film begins in complete darkness, only the noises of the train can be heard. A narrator with a distinctive voice, who will accompany the plot as a voice-over in the second person , reports in short, derogatory words about the birth of the protagonist. Meanwhile, a light approaches from the darkness that can soon be recognized as the tunnel exit. The scene changes to a platform. A train stops at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan . A man in a trench coat gets out, puts down his suitcase, adjusts his hat and lights a cigarette. Contract killer Frank "Frankie" Bono has come from Cleveland to do a job here over the Christmas holidays. A taxi takes Frank downtown, where he gets a cheap hotel room. He gets himself a car and makes his way to the Staten Island Ferry . On the ferry, he meets his client's contact, who gives him further instructions and hands over a folded newspaper with an advance payment. Frank is supposed to murder the gang boss Troiano, who has become too greedy for the New York underworld.
The hired killer immediately starts the surveillance, meticulously spying out the habits of his victim. He quickly finds out that Troiano, who is constantly protected by two bodyguards, always dines in the same restaurant and can endure a lover with whom he meets regularly in a remote apartment block without a bodyguard. First, however, Frank still has to get a gun and visits the gun dealer Big Ralph, who lives in a shabby apartment with tame rats. Frank asks Big Ralph to get him a revolver with a silencer, but the arms dealer turns out to be a talkative and greedy negotiator. Finally, the two of them come to an agreement and Frank receives an address in the harbor district where he can pick up the gun in the next few days. To bridge the gap, Frank strolls through Manhattan, which is illuminated for Christmas, past festively decorated shop windows and shops. Eventually he stops at a bar where he meets Petey, a friend from orphanage days. The two drink and talk. While Petey reports on his successful career as a commercial artist, Frank remains evasive when it comes to questions about his career for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, Petey manages to persuade him to come to a Christmas party. There Frank meets the attractive Lori, with whom he was once in love. The two dance together and get closer.
The next morning, Frank visits Lori in her apartment. While the two of them are drinking coffee, Frank makes a rough attempt at advances, which Lori vigorously fends off. Frank claims to have misunderstood the situation, but Lori shows him the door. Frank later learns that Lori already has a boyfriend. The desire for love and a “normal life” makes the supposedly cold-blooded killer increasingly doubt the meaning of his hate-driven existence.
In the nightclub The Village Gate , Frank watches Troiano having fun with his lover. He unexpectedly meets Big Ralph, who has noticed that the gang boss is the target of the killer. Ralph therefore demands more money from Frank and threatens to blackmail him. Later, when Ralph staggered home drunk, Frank followed him unnoticed. Once at home, Ralph immediately throws himself on his bed and forgets to close the apartment door. Frank takes the opportunity, storms in and tries to kill the supposedly sleeping man with a fire ax. However, he starts up and fends off the blow. A scuffle ensues, as a result of which Ralph's rat cages are torn to the ground. Finally, Frank strangles the corpulent arms dealer with a lamp cable. The murder is quickly publicized and Frank now has to be even more careful of the police. Finally he phoned his clients and explained that he got cold feet and wanted to get out, but they did not release him from his duty and set him a deadline. Frank has to concentrate on the job again.
The other day Frank picks up the ordered weapon in the harbor, his thoughts revolving around missed opportunities. He drives to Troiano's love nest and carefully gains entry. First he inspects the premises, then he calmly starts to oil the revolver, check the cartridges and mount the silencer. When Troiano finally enters the apartment alone, he is shot by Frank.
Then Frank meets with his client on a deserted stretch of coast to collect the rest of his wages, but he is lured into an ambush. After a short, hopeless escape attempt, Frank dies in a mud hole, being hit in the back by several shooters.
background
Filming took place in New York Pennsylvania Station , New York City and on Long Island . The train ride out of the tunnel into daylight and the platform scene were filmed in Newark Pennsylvania Station , as the trains at New York's long-distance stations keep underground in the dark. The film still shows the old New York Pennsylvania Station building, which was demolished in 1963.
During the filming of the final scene on Long Island , Hurricane Donna raged over the east coast of the United States (September 10-12, 1960), which gives the action an additional dramatic element.
The screenwriter Waldo Salt is listed under the pseudonym "Mel Davenport", which he acquired during the McCarthy era . Even Lionel Stander , the narrator was temporarily " blacklisted " and was under observation of the Committee on Un-American Activities . He is not mentioned in the credits .
Allen Baron had originally offered the role of Frank Bono to Peter Falk , who turned it down because of a better paid engagement. Thereupon Baron, who had graduated from acting, cast himself in the lead role because he was the best actor he could have afforded.
The film was distributed by Universal International . The film premiered in the USA on April 1, 1961. The film was released in West German cinemas on August 24, 1962.
Reviews
"A dark B-Class gangster film with approaches to deepening the main character's psychological depth and long passages without dialogue that condense the feeling of desolate isolation in an oppressive way."
"A dark, taciturn masterpiece."
"'Blast of Silence' doesn't quite manage to keep up with the rough aesthetics of its film noir relationship, but it still offers the best entertainment at a high level."
synchronization
The German dubbing was created in 1962 by Elite-Film Franz Schroeder GmbH, Berlin.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Bono | Allen Baron | Peer Schmidt |
| Lori | Molly McCarthy | Margot Leonard |
| Big Ralph | Larry Tucker | Horst Niendorf |
| Troiano | Peter Clune | Curt Ackermann |
| Contact man | Charles Creasap | Konrad Wagner |
| teller | (Lionel Stander) | Arnold Marquis |
DVD versions
The Criterion Collection released Blast of Silence in 2008 in a digitally restored version. The English-language DVD also contains the making-of Requiem for a Killer: The Making of Blast of Silence from 2007, photos from the set and location photos from 2008, as well as a booklet with an essay by New York film critic Terrence Rafferty and a graphic novel - Adaptation by Sean Phillips.
A German-language (German / English), unrestored version was published in 2007 by Alamode Film / Alive AG. Apart from an audio commentary and a trailer, the DVD does not contain any other bonus material.
Web links
- Blast of Silence in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- An explosion of silence in the online film database
- Explosion of silence on der-Film-Noir.de
- Explosion of silence on Film-Rezensions.de
- Blast of Silence at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Blast of Silence (1961) - Trivia. IMDb, accessed June 20, 2012 .
- ↑ Allen Baron's "Blast of Silence" . In: The New Yorker . ( newyorker.com [accessed July 3, 2018]).
- ^ Blast of Silence (1961) - Release dates. IMDb, accessed June 18, 2012 .
- ↑ Explosion of silence. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Explosion of silence. Cinema.de, accessed on June 18, 2012 .
- ↑ Blast of Silence - Explosion of Silence ). (No longer available online.) Movieman.de, formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 18, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Explosion of silence. (No longer available online.) Synchrondatenbank.dei, archived from the original on February 12, 2015 ; Retrieved June 20, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Blast of Silence (1961). The Criterion Collection, accessed June 19, 2012 .
- ^ Blast Of Silence. (No longer available online.) Alive AG, archived from the original on April 24, 2016 ; Retrieved June 20, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
