Both the novel by Meyer Levin and the movie came out at the time that Nathan Leopold was granted parole after serving over 30 years of a life sentence for killing Bobby Franks. The film itself is a B picture with an out of place, fiftyish jazz score that is distracting. Other than some antique vehicles and kids dancing the Charleston, the film does little to capture the atmosphere of the 1920s when the Loeb-Leopold case took place. The acting by the cast is competent.
What lifts Compulsion from the ranks of the ordinary is Orson Welles.
Compulsion is arguably the finest work he ever did outside the films he directed himself, maybe The Third Man is the only competition. Welles's speech to the jury is absolutely mesmerizing, how he didn't get into the Oscar sweepstakes is a mystery for the ages.
Welles's Jonathan Wilks captures the real Clarence Darrow far more than Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind.
For you Orson Welles fans this is a must.
Compulsion
1959
Action / Biography / Crime / Drama / History / Thriller
Compulsion
1959
Action / Biography / Crime / Drama / History / Thriller
100% - Critics
86% - Audience
7.4Keywords: based on novel or bookbased on true storybased on a true storycourtroomchild murder
Plot summary
In 1924 Chicago, Artie Strauss and Judd Steiner are friends and fellow law students who both come from wealthy backgrounds. They have few true friends as they believe all their contemporaries are intellectually inferior. Within their relationship, Artie is the dominant and Judd the submissive who says he will do whatever Artie tells him. Although Judd acts intellectually arrogant to others, he also shows signs of weakness and reticence most evident to Artie. Part of their goal in life is to experience how it feels to do everything. As such, they plot to commit what they consider the perfect crime - a kidnapping and murder - not only so that they can experience the sense of killing for killing's sake, but also taunt the law with the knowledge of it and their superiority after the fact. They believe their crime is above the law. Their murder of young Paulie Kessler is not so perfect, with evidence at the scene uncovered by one of their law school colleagues, Sid Brooks, who also works for the Globe newspaper. As Artie and Judd try to manipulate their way out of how the evidence may implicate them, their manipulation ultimately backfires and they are charged with the murder. The most famed trial lawyer in town, Jonathan Wilk, is hired to defend the pair despite his atheism being against the families' sensibilities. Jonathan, renowned for his ability to manipulate juries, has to decide how best to defend his clients in the overwhelming face of evidence against them. The testimony of Ruth Evans, Sid's girlfriend, may have some impact on the trial's outcome.
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Orson's finest hour
compelling characters
It's 1924 Chicago. Rich law students Artie Strauss (Bradford Dillman) and Judd Steiner (Dean Stockwell) steal from their fraternity. Artie orders Judd to run over a drunk in the road. He misses. Artie wants to continue with his crime spree and Judd begs to join him in a well thought out dangerous plan to gain infamy. Judd is a bitter intellectual and Artie is a brash extrovert. They commit the 'perfect' crime killing a boy but their acquaintance rookie investigative reporter Sid Brooks finds Judd's glasses at the crime scene. Artie pushes Judd to attack Ruth Evans but he stops in time. Their crime unravels with the mounting evidence and the boys talking. Their families hire famed defense attorney Jonathan Wilk (Orson Welles) to battle D.A. Horn (E.G. Marshall).
These two guys are compelling characters. At times, their obsessive relationship hints at homosexuality while other times, it is all intellectual psychopathic banter. They could have heightened the bloody violence a bit more. Orson Welles doesn't show up until after over an hour. He does an interesting performance but it is the young men that are the most fascinating.
Very well cast
COMPULSION is a very well cast courtroom drama from 1959, featuring a trio of actors all giving very strong performances. The story is based on the same real-life murder case as Hitchcock's ROPE, about a pair of college students who killed a youth and then attempted to cover up their crime. This film goes for the psychological approach and is rather slow moving and dated, although the authentic performances go some way to making it watchable. A near-unrecognisable Orson Welles shows up late on as a lawyer, but the real stars are the youthful team of Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman, both completely believable.