COMPULSION

Of course they had to 'tone it down', (it was still 1959), but this screen version of the Leopold-Loeb case, (with the names and some of the facts altered), wasn't just a first-class melodrama but also as honest as it was possible to be at the time regarding the sexual relationship existing between the killers. Nothing's overt but you didn't have be Sam Spade to figure things out.

The movie "Compulsion" was based on Meyer Levin's novel, the adaptation was by Richard Murphy, the highly intelligent direction was by the remarkably gifted Richard Fleischer, the superb wide-screen photography was by William C. Mellor and best of all, the killers were played by Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman. Orson Welles was their defence attorney, based on Clarence Darrow and all three were jointly awarded Best Actor at Cannes. A girl, played by Diane Varsi, was also thrown into the mix, perhaps to put audiences off the scent of what was really going on between Stockwell and Dillman but she doesn't interfere too much with the plot and there's a very nice supporting turn from Martin Milner as a young, hot-shot journalist.

It's not a great film and Welles' lengthy final monologue is certainly nowhere near as profound as it thinks it is but the film is both intelligent and very entertaining and was a very grown-up film to have come out of Hollywood at the time.