Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Manuela (1957)
Director: Guy Hamilton
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
From the opening scene of ribaldry over a dead shipmate's coffin to the brutally off-hand dismissal of easement and affection at the end, this may prove too bleak a prospect for many temperaments. That such a despairing work emerged from where and when it did is one of the minor wonders of the cinema. The setting is a ramshackle freighter hauling cheap cargo around the Med, Howard the washed-up captain with a crew of averagely vicious malcontents, and Martinelli the fugitive teenager with whom Howard doesn't find love and redemption, though such is on offer. The treatment of religion as a silly nuisance is likewise unexpected, though adding to the general impression of hopelessness. The closing dialogue might have become one of the standard quotes of the movies, had not the tone of pervasive bitterness consigned the film to an isolation almost as complete as that of its hero.Author: BBa
Cast & crew
Director: Guy Hamilton
Producer: Ivan Foxwell
Cast: Trevor Howard, Elsa Martinelli, Pedro Armendariz, Donald Pleasence, Warren Mitchell, Jack McGowran full cast
Duration: 95 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now