Customer Reviews

Swoon [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In my 11th grade English class, we were given a study on the case of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, two college students who came from well-to-do families, who committed a most gruesome act of murder against a small boy by the name of Bobby Franks. The question throughout our studies: why would two well-off young men, with everything going for them, do such a thing to ruin their futures?

Tom Kalin's "Swoon" answers that question in gritty detail, using an unrelenting style that is admirable but brings little emotion to the film's central story. Told in black and white, with small bits of narration cast into the sequence of events, the movie provides us a look we've never seen before at the duo, one that is intriguing at times, though becomes tedious and dismal in others.

Daring in its approach to reveal the truth behind the scandal, Kalin's script goes into the relationship of Loeb and Leopold, whose sexual relationship with one another serves as the drive for their crimes and grievances against others. Their murder of the Franks child, to them, was little more than a promise kept by Loeb to Leopold, while to the rest of the community, it was a sheer act of horror for which, everyone hoped, they would pay with their lives.

But this new theory that becomes the center of the story is never quite full of the energy it needs to make it more engrossing. There is a certain amount of gratification with the exploration of the relationship between the two; in one scene, Leopold tells a shrink of a slave/master fantasy, which describes his views of his relationship with Loeb. The two find themselves together not out of want, but out of a need for one another, which makes for some very twisted yet intriguing mind games between the two.

The way the material is handled creates a problem: there's no energy to it. Throughout the second half of the film, primarily after their arrest and imprisonment, the movie loses what little momentum it had reserved, settling into stages of boredom without becoming absurd or redundant. The black and white photography is in the film's favor, placing us in Chicago during the mid-20's with an authenticity that accentuates the time and setting. Actors Daniel Schlachet (Loeb) and Craig Chester (Leopold) are convincing in their portrayal of Loeb and Leopold as emotionless, and without remorse for the crime.

So what is it about "Swoon" that keeps it from being a first-rate film? I just don't know. Here is a film that borderlines on greatness, boasting a daring story with style and acting to boot, and yet it never seems to cross the line into something interesting. It doesn't have the spark needed to make the story worth getting into; there's no emotional drive or connectivity, which allows us to get into the plot only so much before we start wondering what we should be feeling for it.

"Swoon" starts out with a surrealistic reading of Leopold van Sacher-Masoch's "Venus in Furs." The tone set in this opening scene, both in the artistic and narrative sense, continues throughout the film. Told first through the journal entries of its two main characters and then through an objective, reporter-like narration, "Swoon" presents the story of the real-life murderers in a fashion that is both historically accurate and cinematic. The research is admirable, creating a depiction of the events that stays true to real life and allowing the audience to peek inside the minds of Leopold and Loeb. (Save for the film's one flaw: a minor inaccuracy that occurs when Leopold mentions a fantasy that is sadistic, when he was in fact masochistic.) The performances delivered by the two leads are breathtaking, turning the characters into humane figures while never trying to excuse their actions. The directing is ingenius, creating an atmosphere that not only cultivates a true sense of the trial of the killers, but of the entire twenties era.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who has any interest in history, cinema, or is simply able to enjoy a complex story-line. While the film may not be suitable for an audience that is not prepared to exercise its mind, it would be a pity for anyone to miss such a work of art. Suspenseful, humorous, dramatic, and heartbreaking, it is a story that stands both as a documentary and a brilliant story. "Swoon" is an example of what historical cinema should be like: unnervingly beautiful and strikingly unforgetable.

I was really impressed by the quality of this film, particularly considering its budget. Good black and white shooting is nearly lost in my opinion but apparently the photographer of this one had studied his Earnie Haller and Leni Refenstahl. I also found it highly ironic that in this retelling of the story that Leopold and Loebe escaped death due to a lack of understanding of homosexuality. They were declared mentally deficient by virtue of phrenology and old freudian neurosis. Had the establishment of the 20's understood homosexuality, Leopold and Loeb would surely have hanged, for they were guilty as can be. I was very pleasantly surprised at how good this film was. When it came out, any film with a gay theme got a good review so I have avoided the late 80's and early 90's gay movies. This film was quite the exception. Very good.

This is a review for SWOON, a DVD release from Strand Releasing

of this 1992 film about the 1924 Leob and Leopold case concerning

the kidnapping and murder of 14-year old Bobby Franks.

As others have stated SWOON is not exactly a straight forward

telling of the crime but more an impressionistic examination of the

lives and atmosphere surrounding the two pre-adult

miscreants and something of a never before presentation of

how the crime happened from their own notes and confessions.

Of course this is all told in a surreal and impressionist style,

with some artistic speculation on their associates and

their mental states that led up to a "Crime of the Century."

This black and white film is, despite the artsy veneer, fairly graphic

in depicting the homosexual relationship between the two principals

as well as some of their party guests.

If nothing else, I would bet that SWOON is an emotionally accurate

depiction of what occured and for that it shoud be applauded. But by

concentrating on the murderers and their fate, the victim

is somewhat forgotten, which is a shame if you ask me.

But in a way young Bobby Franks is almost incidental to these two

self obssessed college students who really seemed to believe that what

they considered to be their superior intelligence almost gave them

the right to ccmmit the perfect crime.

SWOON does not really depict Clarance Darrow's dramatic plea for their

lives which is widely credited with keeping them from the gallows.

But it does depict their lives in prison and the fate of Dick Loeb

who did not survive his life sentence. SWOON does show Nathan Leopold

during his long sentence and afterwords during his parole.

All and all, SWOON is a fairly satisfying character study told

in a very stylistic and somewhat sensational manner for which I

give it a four star rating.

The now almost forgotten true crime story of Leopold and Loeb, two young men convicted of murdering a boy just for the sake of killing and seeing if they were smart enough to get away with it. Leopold and Loeb were both geniuses who felt they could outsmart the law, and they employed the famed Clarence Darrow as their attorney, but even he could not save them. Swoon is a mid 1990s black and white version of the story which plays up the gay angle of their story a lot. The 1950s telling (Compulsion, starring a very young Dean Stockwell) leaves out any hint of a homosexual relationship, and really the story of the crime is told more effectively in the 50s version. Swoon is all right, and exposes an aspect of the Leopold and Loeb story we did not see in the 50s or in our high school history textbooks, but it is not the definitive film of this heinous crime.

This is a great film. Its prospective is very different from the two previous films(Rope/Compulsion) made on the Leopold/Loeb case. These other movies were both highly fictionalized versions of the case. This film is considered the most historically accurate to be made so far on the case, the trial scenes were taken directly from the actual trial transcripts. For this reason the film is often shown in Criminal Justice, Law and History classes.
This movie is also the first to boldly examine the homosexual relationship between the two killers.
Actors Daniel Schlachet (Loeb) and Craig Chester (Leopold) do an excellent job in the very diificult roles of two child killers.

Tom Kalin's 1992 film is a landmark of what Ruby Rich famously called "the new Queer Cinema," and though it's filled with flaws, it's so gorgeous and haunting that it stays with you long after you've forgotten other films that are objectively better. Like ROPE or COMPULSION before it, SWOON seems to dramatize what was known for decades as the Crime of the Century, the morder of fourteen year-old Bobby Franks by two brilliant and wealthy Chicago college students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who wanted to prove they could commit the perfect crime. Other version of the story have made the homoerotic nature of the relationship between Leopold and Loeb only implied: here Kalin makes it the absolute center of the story, and the film is as much about how frustrated two beautiful and gifted young gay men are when they cannot express their sexuality openly but have the money and the leisure to do almost anything else.

Certain sequences of the film are absolutely heartstopping in their beauty, in particular the beautifully photographed opening sequence of the pair's friends photographed against a hazy sky. There's a great deal of pleasure to be had in Kalin's ingenuity in creating 1920s sets and costumes and props to make the whole thing look authentic (though his trick of using anachronistic contemporary props--such as a push-button payphone--looks to be mostly a dodge he passes off as an hommage á Derek Jarman because he couldn't figure out how to get authentic props).

The problems with the film are that in the end it's a bit empty-headed. The analogy between gay men and criminals is done in a very heavy-handed manner, particularly at the end when Kalin has a montage of photos of "criminal types" that are clearly all his friends in real life. Moreover, the film seems to treat Leopold and Loeb as if they were mere martyrs to homophobia; very little is made of how much Bobby Franks and his parents suffered from their crime. (Bobby is hardly seen in the film at all, and when he is he's usually not photographed directly face-on.) It's one thing for Derek Jarman to present Edward II as being martyred on account of his sexuality; but Leopold and Loeb? Despite this, I recommend seeing the film if only for its cinematography and for the excellent performance of Craig Chester as Nathaniel Leopold.

This film takes a look at the leopold/loeb case that is often glossed over in other films and even books on the subject. The focus is obviously on Leopold and Loeb rather than the crime itslef and the importance their personalities play in their connection to each other. The film seems rushed at times but it just seems to add to the intensity of it all. It's rushed but you can't seem to think of it being any other way. You're not left thinking one of the two boys is any more 'evil' than the other (which is perhaps the best thing about the film).

However, if you're not familar with the leopold/loeb case much of the movie could potentially be confusing and while many of the lines are actual things said by the two boys they are often placed in a different context or said to different people. If you've previously read Hal Higdon's book on the subject the movie makes much more sense than it would otherwise. However, if you have not, it is still a disturbing yet touching story. You'll realize the complicated nature of the boys' relationship and question who really contributed to the crime.

It turns out to be mediocre to everyone.

Swoon feels something like a rather lavish PBS documentary with some stylized, artsy murmuring and elaborate costumes and sets (except for the rather glaring touch-tone phones.) As a documentary, it feels forced, and needs lots of narrative ("On July 15, we this or that and I felt this or that.") However it leaves out any attempt at an examination about why these two men behaved the way they did and what the shaping forces were that created these arrogant, outwardly-polite murderers.

As a presumably entertaining movie, it lurches from one scene to another and lacks congruity and basics of story-telling (like a beginning or an end.) It is interesting, and there are glimmers of excellence, but mostly they get drowned out by costumes and smoking and narrative.

Worth seeing, but not entirely successful.

I can't add too much about the movie concerning the script, acting, directing, etc. It's a good independent movie, with a few too many "artsy" flourishes, which Kalin (the director) said later were self-conscious and mainly pointless. Nevertheless, I was introduced to a wonderful indy actor, Craig Chester, so the movie is worthwhile for that alone.

My big issue is how many dvds I've had to order to get one that plays correctly. Lots of jumping and "stuttering" in how *THREE* of these have played. How many do I have to order to get one that plays normally? Maybe if I order a used one, I'll be more certain of getting a copy that plays the way it should. I just opened a back-up copy, still in its cellophane wrapper, and it's having problems. I don't bother returning them, as I understand it's a total drama to try to get replacements sometimes.