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Ruthless (1948)

Filmnoir | 104 minutes
3,07 22 votes

Genre: Filmnoir / Drama

Duration: 104 minuten

Country: United States

Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer

Stars: Louis Hayward, Sydney Greenstreet and Zachary Scott

IMDb score: 6,8 (1.589)

Releasedate: 16 April 1948

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Ruthless plot

"Money and Power"

Charismatic Horace Woodruff Vendig is a financial prodigy, dealing with corpses and alienated from his family, friends and business associates. When he gets the chance to free himself from his past, he seizes it to start a new life with the woman he loves.

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Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Horace Woodruff 'Woody' Vendig

Vic Lambdin

Martha Burnside / Mallory Flagg

Buck Mansfield

Christa Mansfield

Mr. Burnside

Mrs. Burnside

Pete Vendig

Kate Vendig

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avatar van ToNe

ToNe

  • 2865 messages
  • 2336 votes

Edgar G. Ulmer's Citizen Kane, although it shows more similarities with Baby Face, due to the fact that the main character 'Woody' always strategically ' connects'.

A woman quickly becomes a sex issue for censorship, but with a man ... it's just a matter of cunning. American double standards.

With Zachary Scott (with his dandy role in Mildred Pierce in mind) you quickly get the feeling that understated roles are not in his reach. Fortunately, the film also features a self-assured Sidney Greenstreet and a small supporting role from Raymond Burr as the failed father of the future tyrant.

But Woody, like Charles Foster Kane, is a tragic victim of his lack of love. He seeks it in wealth, the ultimate success, without even realizing that happiness does not lie there. No one (Kane was raised by Wall Street, after all) ever taught him that.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Movsin

Movsin

  • 8264 messages
  • 8426 votes

When the greed for money takes precedence over everything else, even romance doesn't get a real chance.

This is more or less the theme of this rather mediocre film that does not particularly appeal when the financial tribulations come to the fore, the work is sometimes confused with flashbacks and when the same actress is given two almost equal roles...

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Bobbejaantje

Bobbejaantje

  • 2260 messages
  • 2062 votes

Fine film noir with Zachary Scott and Sidney Greenstreet as highlights in the cast. With Scott in the lead role, you usually know where you stand. He is the quintessential homme fatale equivalent to the genre's more common femme fatale. As the title implies, he plays a ruthless person who, in this case, leaves behind a trail of destruction and broken women's hearts. Not surprising you might think, but the script still puts you on the wrong track at first. He is not the bad guy from the start, but still hovers for a while between the good intentions. Edgar G. Ulmer and his team provide a striking play of light and shadow on a visual level that accentuates the moral state well. This time a noir without a voice over but with long drawn-out flashbacks. It gives an atmosphere of nostalgia, fatalism and in the end Freud also comes into play when Scott starts to go crazy. The only downside are the somewhat long scenes in which Scott's business affairs are explained rather broadly. In any case, this film belongs to the forties' noirs in which talking comes before the action. Prima B-noir.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original