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Rating of
4/4
Extremely Well-Written
SIngli6 - wrote on 06/06/2011
There exists a unique screenplay type characterised by a standard of tautness and logical construction that is so exhaustive that it paradoxically accords the material the appearance of the cinematic equivalent of Swiss cheese. I call to mind such excellent films as 'Angels and Demons', 'Clue', 'The Talented Mr. Ripley', and Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho'. At first glance their screenplays appear to be riddled with superfluous and clumsy details (such as a cat on a balcony railing), but, upon closer inspection, those details are realized as explanations for otherwise inexplicable plot elements (such as a grapple hook falling of it's own accord to the ground).
'Elevator to the Gallows' is the very manifestation of this script type, and though some would understandably be repelled by …
Rating of
3/4
Expositional but somehow great
sidehacker - wrote on 09/18/2007
I've mentioned plenty of times how I tend to not like plot-driven films, whether they're film noir or film noir-esque. This is really the epitome of the latter but somehow I was quite into the whole story. Speaking of which, this is seriously some of the worst writing ever. The plot itself is completely ridiculous and you can tell the writer is trying sooo hard to create conflict. "Oh, looks like I forgot to clean up my murder. I'll just leave go fix that and keep my nice car running right in front of that James Dean like character." - But I think lazy stuff like this really contributed to my overall enjoyment of the film. A majority of the time I was laughing so much at the events taking place that I had to be caught up in them. Malle did genuinely impress me with this film because he …
