☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Blast
of Silence (1961) – A. Baron
I kept thinking “What would this picture
be like without the (second person) voice-over narration?” It might actually
ascend to Melvillian levels (i.e., Jean-Pierre Melville, director of French
noir gangster films such as Le Samourai and Le Doulos)! Indeed, Blast of Silence is full of incredible
location shooting in a New York City that no longer exists and the kinds of
mesmerizing shots of a hitman at work or lost in thought that also elevate the
French master’s work. I suppose the
voiceover does provide an emotional resonance that would be lost, unavailable
to someone watching from the outside (the narrator is omniscient) – especially
when it comes to the hitman’s painful upbringing at an orphanage and his lack
of success with women. So, there are
more pluses than minuses and, you know, this film could very well have been an
influence on the late great French noirs and for that it deserves high marks.
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