Popular reviews

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 5

  A really brutal early serial killer noir with an effective expressionist subjectivity to it a la M. Combines constant fractured POV imagery + unnatural camera angles + a graceful musicality to the movement/cutting that together develop into a mournfully blurred depiction of artistic and murderous compulsion. There's a fiery delirium to the style that follows the protagonist around as he slowly loses himself to his own impulses/art in these haunting, trancelike suspense sequences and ultimately destroys everything around him. The scorching concerto finale (with incredible music from Bernard Hermann) is as tragic and beautiful a depiction of an artist being consumed by their work as I've ever seen, and is a really solid precursor to other artist-as-killer genre pieces like…

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★ 11

  The last 10 minutes of Hangover Square are masterful, a perfect coming together of director, editor, actors, set designers, art directors, and special effects technicians. Ultimately, ambition of the sequence — the flames, the emotions, the whirlwind of perspectives — is matched only by its brilliance. Truly a jaw-dropping piece of filmmaking.

  The other most memorable segment of the film, for me, is the one during which our Netta Longdon (Linda Darnell), our femme fatale, is effortlessly, ruthlessly using the hapless George Harvey Bone (Laird Cregar). A buttoned up classical composer, Bone turns his talents to dancehall music based on a look from Netta; he abandons his symphony in exchange for a kiss.

  It's all terribly sad — Bone has…

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★★½ 15

  A man torn between obsessions is ultimately consumed by them in John Brahm’s “Hangover Square.”

  The director’s immediate follow-on to his successful Jack the Ripper-inspired “The Lodger,” “Hangover Square” depicts a turn of the century English composer, who, in the midst of writing a dark symphony, also finds himself suffering from intermittent blackouts; perhaps, ones of violent ends. 

  “Lodger” and “Hangover” both feature actor Laird Cregar, a looming figure of a gentleman, who attempted to trim down for his latter role by taking amphetamines. This apparently led to erratic behavior by the actor during production, the look of which, more even than the weight loss, is evident in the final edit. 

  Just as “Lodger” resembled in form early monster or slasher…

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★

  75

  78 minutes of delirious Edwardian horror noir. Glowing gaslight shadows and shifting dream states. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is certainly a blueprint, but director John Brahm is eager to complicate matters with ideas of jealousy and control. Laird Cregar is a sorrowful, pitiful protagonist, and the film builds to a real stunner of an ending.

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  Review by pirateneckbeard ★★★★ 3

  Wow what a unique film noir and a great one to dip my toe into noirvember. It definitely subverts a lot of the conventional narratives with it dabbling mainly in the musical realm but holds it with the femme fatale. I enjoyed the crux of George Bone played amazingly by Laird Cregar dealing with problematic issues of sound but also harmony being his profession and inspiration in life a double edge sword. Sure it plays on some clichés but I feel it plays off of them smartly and honestly it's shot beautifully and captures some great emotion especially from Laird Cregar. I see why it is a highly remarked upon film noir. Just got a state that the Guy Fawkes bonfire scene is breathtakingly gorgeous.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 4

  I did not mean to watch this on Guy Fawkes' Day, and it never would have occurred to me to do so even if I had known going in that it had major scenes set on Guy Fawkes' Day. But now that I have accidentally made this happen, I hereby call for people to make November 5th a day they celebrate by watching this disturbing murder mystery.

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  Review by Anna Imhof 🌸 ★★★★ 1

  A feast for the eyes, a terror for the soul, and Laird Cregar just broke my heart. What a beautifully sensitive performance, and what a shame that it was to be his last. And Linda Darnell? She’s a “bad little girlie” indeed, almost made me hate her, but how can you hate a gal who glitters and sparkles and glows?

  Also features some of my favorite cinematic elements:
  Fog, fire, cats, classical music, and in the middle of it all a tortured artist.

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  Review by Raphael Georg Klopper ★★★★★ 7

  Part of the rare breed of Noir movies that took an unprecedented left-turn into period-piece setting, that’s both able to remain intact as one classic Noir thriller embarking on a dark tale of deceit and crime propelled by character drama, as well as creatively playing into a mix of other genres recognizable language and aesthetic choices (so yeah, expect some psycho horror territory too). Call out on that the immensely underrated Siodmak’s The Spiral Staircase and director John Brahm’s The Lodger whom its twin movie right here Hangover Square somehow manages to be even more enticingly darker and erratically unnerving in all the best ways as a superior and neglected masterpiece!

  Jump starting from the premise of serial killer with…

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  Review by Blair Russell ★★★★

  This will be the first of at least two pictures that will be viewed for Noirvember. The Criterion Channel currently has 20 films in a November Noir collection; almost 1/3rd have already been reviewed before and in fact are part of a film noir list I started long ago. I've watched a lot of noir in the past 9 years, it turns out. Thank heavens that this is yet another solid example that's part of the list. In hindsight, I waited one day too late for a viewing; instead of November 6, it should have been the fifth... a few scenes are set on Guy Fawkes Day and as the setting is 1903 London...

  It's a noir I dug a…

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★★½ 17

  "Please do remember the fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot..."

  (Warning: spoilers ahead, including the ending.)

  To commemorate Guy Fawkes Day, it was only right that I watch Hangover Square, a turn-of-the-century psychological drama/thriller that is now available in Criterion Channel's "Fox Noir" series. Set in London circa 1903, this intriguing tale is even better than I recalled, a captivating portrait of anguish that rises and falls to the magnificent stirrings of Bernard Herrmann's poignant score and Laird Cregar's last (and only) starring role.

  As pianist and composer George Harvey Bone (what a name!), Cregar embodies his character's angst with total conviction and a striking quality of sympathy.…

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  Review by PUNQ ★★★★

  The amazing finish of Laird Cregar. He came when the war started and was gone by the time the war ended. He was truly one of the greatest things to happen to Hollywood during those depressing years, and by the time Hangover Square (1945) was released he was already dead. Such a gifted actor and this magnificent performance, movie, murder symphony, was a testament of what energy he brought to the silver screen. Rest in peace big man.

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  Review by Cormac 👑 ★★★★ 4

  Symphony for Mr. Vengeance.

  "That crescendo was literally fire, yo" - audiences in 1945, probably.