i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Stroheim was the older, more experienced and perhaps greater director of the two, while Mann was still learning. There were clashes between them during the shooting, and Mann was wise enough to duck: it's definitely von Stroheim's film, as he succeeds in realizing his perhaps most poignant and shattering film character. He is a total perfectionist doing his job perfectly, when a false woman starts using him for her purposes. He is deluded, but as the perfectionist he is he refuses to realize he has committed a mistake and insists on believing in her the whole way, until everything is lost.At the same time it is almost autobiographical. He was himself on top in the 20s as one of Hollywood's greatest directors, and then had a long and great fall, just like Orson Welles. He was never allowed to direct again after the total failure of "Queen Kelly" with Gloria Swanson, left unfinished, and all he could do any more was some acting. This is one of the three films in which he still succeeds in taking over the whole film, the other two being Renoir's "La grande illusion" (1937) and "Sunset Boulevard", putting Gloria Swanson back on the screen with a vengeance. The story of the perfect shot is Vicki Baum's, and the story as unfolded by Anthony Mann is shattering and in a way a parallel to Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel", describing the same kind of long great fall from established greatness to pitiable misery by delusive love. Although short and almost condensed (only 75 minutes), it's a great film deserving only the highest possible applause. Just the introductory scene, as the camera slowly approaches the acting on the stage closing up on a ridiculous clown, when the long shot suddenly is shattered by an unexpected event, is even up to Hichcock's standard.

I watched this film based on the favorable reviews posted here. Do NOT repeat my mistake. The Great Flamarion is so slow -- it's 78 minutes felt like 2 hrs.The script was poor, the dialog flat, the plot predictable and the ending telegraphed from the first scene.I guess everybody else was wowed by the big name director (Anthony Mann) and the big name director turned actor (Erich Von Stroheim) and the sort of big name producer (William Wilder - brother of Billy Wilder). It just proves that you can't judge a book by its cover, nor a movie by its credits...

Early in his career, Erich Von Stroheim was well known for his temperament and excesses--so much so that his once celebrated career was practically in ruins by the 1940s. Because his star power had faded so, he was forced to act in a few relatively low budget films that were surprisingly good--much better than you'd expect. Part of this was due to Von Stroheim's acting, but it also was fortunate that he was paired with a young but very talented director (Anthony Mann). Because of his success with films like THE GREAT FLAMARION, Mann went on to direct many wonderful films and Von Stroheim had a mild resurgence in his prospects.The film begins with a murder at a theater in Mexico. A short time later, a badly wounded Von Stroheim is discovered by the lone person still in the theater and Von Stroheim tells his story about why he committed the murder. Since you know that the murder occurred, there isn't a lot of suspense about the whole thing, but the film did a wonderful job of making the viewer actually care about him and understand why he felt compelled to kill this particular woman. The sweet and lovely Connie, you learn, is one horrible lady and her character is exceptionally interesting and gritty--sort of like an evil Noir femme fatale. She is so compelling to watch that this helps to elevate the film well above the ordinary.Overall, a very entertaining film that nearly earns an 8. Fascinating character studies and a great script help make this one a keeper.

Or so the von Stroheim character begins his flashback narration.This movie has never quite worked for me. Anthony Mann was a superb director. Von Stroheim was too. And he was a fine actor in "Grand Illusion" and an interesting character actor in "Sunset Boulevard." Dan Duryea was good at playing heals. But he isn't one here, exactly. He drinks too much but we have an idea why.Mary Beth Hughes is persuasive as a cold-hearted gold-digger. But it never rings true. Stroheim is not sufficiently sympathetic. If his role had been played by Peter Lorre, the movie might have worked. As it is, everything is set up before we even begin to watch it.