THE DAMNED

Much maligned at the time of its release, (even by me), Visconti's late, great masterwork on the rise and fall of a German industrial family at the time of the Third Reich is now finally getting the recognition it deserves. It's a cross between "Macbeth" and "Gotterdammerung" with extra incest, paedophilia and homosexuality thrown in just to make sure we get it, that the Nazis were a thoroughly depraved lot. Visconti shot it in English with a huge international cast, many of whom were dubbed, and it is unevenly acted. Dirk Bogarde, never much good when playing 'butch' heterosexuals, is utterly miscast as the outsider being thrust into power by his mistress, (a superb Ingrid Thulin), whose son just happens to be the businesses major shareholder. Helmut Berger plays him as a child-molesting mother's boy, (he finally rapes mother), who likes to dress up as Marlene Dietrich. It is an extraordinary performance in many ways even if it is 'bad' acting. Others involved include Charlotte Rampling, Helmut Griem, (excellent) and Reinhard Kolldehoff.

The film's main centrepiece is The Night of the Long Knives when Ernst Rohm's SA were murdered on Hitler's orders in a bid to consolidate power, (here it's basically The Family doing things their way). Visconti films it as a bloodthirsty orgy, Genet out of Fassbinder, (Fassbinder rated the film as his own personal favourite), and the sequence is certainly a masterclass on how such things should be filmed even when it's a monument to bad taste. This is a hot-house movie with so many 'perversions' that it keeps going over the top but it is also one of the great Nazi films whose very 'campness' works in its favour. Aficionados of Visconti won't want to miss it.