Incomplete masterpiece.  Perhaps the most frighteningly “real” of any Holocaust film.  The overseer’s narration is both theatrical and sickeningly plausible.

Quasimodo is a real actor trap.  Tough to resist overdoing the pathos and playing to the audience’s sympathy.  I’m not sure any of the three great actors who played the role  — Mr. Chaney, Mr. Laughton, Mr. Quinn — avoided that trap entirely.

My voice is ragged from reading all the intertitles aloud.

The kids were surprisingly into this.  The boy gives it a thousand stars.  The girl gives it 12 stars (because 12 is her favorite number).

My play Superior Donuts was performed at Sing Sing by some of the same actors who are in this beautiful film.  The director of that production, Kate Powers, wrote about her experience.  Here’s the link:

plainkate.com/productions/superior-donuts-at-sing-sing-correctional-facility/

And here’s a link to Rehabilitation Through the Arts.  You can donate there, which I recommend.

rta-arts.org

Inarguable.  It was great when it came out but time has been good to it — it feels even more emotional now.  It’s earned its place in the pantheon of Great Westerns.

RIP Gene Hackman.