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The Damned



The most savagely subversive film by the iconoclastic auteur Luchino Visconti employs the mechanics of deliriously stylized melodrama to portray Nazism's total corruption of the soul. In the wake of Hitler's ascent to power, the wealthy industrialist von Essenbeck family and their associates—including the scheming social climber Friedrich (Dirk Bogarde), the incestuous matriarch Sophie (Ingrid Thulin), and the perversely cruel heir Martin (Helmut Berger, memorably donning Dietrich-like drag in his breakthrough role)—descend into a self-destructive spiral of decadence, greed, perversion, and all-consuming hatred as they vie for power, over the family business and over one another. The heightened performances and Visconti's luridly expressionistic use of Technicolor conjure a garish world of decaying opulence in which one family's downfall comes to stand for the moral rot of a nation.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 2K digital restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna and Institut Lumière, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Alternate Italian-language soundtrack
• Interview from 1970 with director Luchino Visconti about the film
• Archival interviews with actors Helmut Berger, Ingrid Thulin, and Charlotte Rampling
• Visconti: Man of Two Worlds, a 1969 behind-the-scenes documentary
• New interview with scholar Stefano Albertini about the sexual politics of the film
• New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by scholar D. A. Miller

It's not the greatest Visconti but I'm glad to see it pop up since it's on my 60s revisit list.

Honestly it’s my second favorite.

Skipped this one when it was on the Channel because of the awful quality, happy to see I'll get the chance to watch it properly

I'm with Pauline Kael on this one, and while I will not post her entire spot-on evisceration, this shall do

Pauline Kael wrote:I have rarely seen a picture I enjoyed less than THE DAMNED, a ponderously perverse spectacle

What was the original run time of "The Damned"? I read that 12 minutes were cut after the first screening, and further cuts followed. Some of these were restored. This description does not give the actual run times.

IMDB states the run time as 156 minutes. Does that include the 12 minutes initially cut?

What is the run time of the Criterion edition?

Sounds like Pauline Kael doesn’t like movies with 45min dinner scenes, side eye, and hats hats hats.

The site says 157 minutes, which is the same length as the Warner DVD.

therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:48 pm I'm with Pauline Kael on this one, and while I will not post her entire spot-on evisceration, this shall do

Pauline Kael wrote:I have rarely seen a picture I enjoyed less than THE DAMNED, a ponderously perverse spectacle

Sold

Pavel wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:26 pm Skipped this one when it was on the Channel because of the awful quality, happy to see I'll get the chance to watch it properly

Yes, I was disappointed to see the old DVD transfer when it showed up on the Channel and assumed that meant there was no chance of a forthcoming Blu from Criterion or Warner. Happy to have my assumptions upended! I love when Visconti does unpleasantness; this makes a wonderful pairing with Ludwig (which many also seem to despise).

This, like much of late Visconti, is pretty bad. Prob has more camp value than anything. It’s also very long: I’m not sure you’ll want twelve more minutes by the time this one is over!

Matt wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 12:10 am I love when Visconti does unpleasantness; this makes a wonderful pairing with Ludwig (which many also seem to despise).

Because they use all the same actors it also makes a good informal trio with THE NIGHT PORTER and SALON KITTY.

This and Salon Kitty are so good together. I doubt anyone could come up with a better. Igor at the movies.

I saw this years ago and remember really not liking it. The problem is is that I cannot for the life of me remember anything about it other than I thought it was too campy for it's own good.

Like domino I also strongly dislike late Visconti, and like Big Ben I remember very little other than being so repulsed with boredom during the “perverse spectacle” that it made me angry while watching. I feel like this material demands anything other strategy than the disengaging way it’s presented to be valuable, and so Kael’s key word is “ponderous.” Though I also hate Death in Venice, so if that film moved you in some way, don’t listen to me.

kekid wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:58 pm What was the original run time of "The Damned"? I read that 12 minutes were cut after the first screening, and further cuts followed. Some of these were restored. This description does not give the actual run times.

IMDB states the run time as 156 minutes. Does that include the 12 minutes initially cut?

What is the run time of the Criterion edition?

Working from memory here, but there was a longer pre-release version of The Damned. It screened at least once -- at a festival or press gathering (in Jamaica, maybe). Variety ran a review of it at the time, which I have somewhere. I believe it mentioned that the film was expected to be further cut by the time it was released.

Don't remember any specifics about what ended up trimmed, though Bogarde later said that Visconti cut out many of his scenes to give Berger more screen time. I believe the 157-minute edition is Visconti's original release version. AFAIK, any additional cuts that may have been made weren't 'official' and have since been restored.

The Wikipedia article on the film states that:

After the first screening of the film, 12 minutes were cut, including a scene where a young Jewish girl hangs herself after being molested.[2] The US version additionally cut much of the Bad Wiessee and subsequent Night of the Long Knives sequence. The footage was later restored on the 2004 DVD release, albeit in German.

I saw the film in the US in the 1970s and those scenes were there. They may have been censored (though I tend to doubt it--the film had an X rating at the time), but they were definitely there. And the "Night of the Long Knives" sequence has always been in German, as far as I know.

Big Ben wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 12:52 am I saw this years ago and remember really not liking it. The problem is is that I cannot for the life of me remember anything about it other than I thought it was too campy for it's own good.

It’s just the story of Oedipus told via Nazi industrialists over several dinner parties.

Gorgeous dinner parties. This has one of the most unique and exciting visual looks ever as if it was shot through dandruff filled lingerie.

I actually kind of like this one. I haven't seen it in along time though, I do remember it being a bit overly long and campy. I don't agree with the accusation, but hopefully the release of this film will finally shut up those people that were saying that Criterion was playing it too safe and was getting too politically correct. I'll wait for caps before purchasing, but going by Criterion's page it looks like another Ritrovata piss yellow job.

knives wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 3:04 am This has one of the most unique and exciting visual looks ever as if it was shot through dandruff filled lingerie.

And it’s the best hat acting film since Sternberg’s THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN.

The Damned may weirdly be Visconti's most influential film, with its histrionic reappraisal of waning Nazi decadence pretty much becoming the catalyst for the next decade of Italian 'Nazisploitation' cinema, and in particular splintering off into stunning offshoots with (as stated above) Ingrid Thulin and Helmut Berger appearing in Salon Kitty (as brothel manager and SS officer respectively) and Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling re-teaming for The Night Porter.

(Though it could also be argued that Salon Kitty is the dark mirror world, or couple of years down the line, version of Cabaret!)

Interesting to see Visconti: Man of Two Worlds, 1969 as an extra, but can't see much about it...

Man of Three Worlds: Luchino Visconti, 1966 is a BBC documentary included as an extra on SENSO...

I'm assuming they never got round to completing the trilogy with Visconti: Man of Four Worlds...

Was pleasantly delighted to discover that Death in Venice had a UK release. I am excited about The Damned and most likely it will also get to Region B.