A family's decline coincides with Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s and serves as an allegory for German society as a whole in this intoxicating work from Luchino Visconti. The Essenbeck family runs the German steel industry and the nervous patriarch attempts to appease the Nazis by appointing a successor sympathetic to their .. Read more
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger, Helmut Griem |
|---|---|
| Director | Luchino Visconti |
| Genres | Drama |
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A family's decline coincides with Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s and serves as an allegory for German society as a whole in this intoxicating work from Luchino Visconti. The Essenbeck family runs the German steel industry and the nervous patriarch attempts to appease the Nazis by appointing a successor sympathetic to their cause. But his choice sets off a round of in-fighting as his children battle for control of the company. His young grandson eventually takes charge, but his drug addiction wreaks havoc on his family when he brutally rapes his mother and turns her into an addict. By the end of the film, the Nazis, including the party members in the family, are on the verge of taking over Europe.
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Berger, Helmut Griem, Charlotte Rampling |
|---|---|
| Director | Luchino Visconti |
| Studio | WARNER HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 28 mins |
| Certificate |  |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | Production year: 1969 To Rent: DVD: not available To Buy: DVD: 24 May 2004 |
A film which has been called baroque, Wagnerian, and just plain unpleasant; it is also rather a strain to watch, with exaggerated colour and make-up to match the rotting theme. Visconti uses sexual transgression as a sign of Fascism, while revealing, with
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Not Visconti's best
The exciting set-piece action sequences, such as the destruction of the SA by the SS on The Night Of The Long Knives, are the best things about this film.The ... read more »
[Highly rated reviewer]
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Plumbing the depths.
As one viewer has said, at least it is one to complete the Visconti opus. I feel the same way about Bogarde. I've now seen all his films at least once. I ... read more »
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The Damned
I have watched Death in Venice and The Leopard and was entranced by Visconti's ability to tell a story. In the first the story is relatively short and fast ... read more »
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The Damned
As with most of the Italian directors of the time this film is much more style than substance. Lovely costumes, beautiful characters, vivid colours, but very ... read more »
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