1959: Compulsion

Compulsion (1959, Fleischer) 6/10

"Please Artie, I'll Do Anything You Say?" (Judd Steiner)

In what was dubbed "The Crime of the Century," two men Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were convicted of murdering fourteen year old Bobby Franks in a south Chicago park. In 1924, Chicago was in the midst of the Prohibition era. The city became home to gangsters such as Al Capone and later John Dillinger, as organized crime became commonplace in the city.

Therefore what made the Leopold and Loeb case so shocking was that the two men in question were neither gangsters or hoodlums, but teenage intellectuals fervorously attempting to create the perfect crime. In 1924, Leopold and Loeb were amongst the brightest individuals in America. Nineteen year old Leopold was a revered ornithologist, spoke five languages and was attending law school at the University of Chicago; Loeb was the youngest graduate of the University of Michigan and was already taking post-graduate law classes at the University of Chicago when he met Leopold.

Misappropriating Nietzschean logic and ideas such as the Übermensch, the pair believed their intellectual superiority and affluent backgrounds placed them beyond the reproach of the law. To apply their theory, the youngsters kidnapped Bobby Franks, murdered him and dumped his body in a culvert under a railroad track on the outskirts of Chicago. Using hydrochloric acid, the pair disfiguired Franks' body and wrote a ransom letter to the deceased teenager's wealthy parents. The purpose of the ransom letter was to fool police into believing that a motivated individual had kidnapped Bobby Franks and was holding him for ransom.

But when Tony Minke, a Polish immigrant, found Franks' body, the investigation changed. A pair of prescription glasses were recovered at the crime scene, which officials traced back to Nathan Leopold. Eventually, the pairs' alibis broke down, as each publicly blamed the other for the crime. Despite arrogantly claiming that their crime was motiveless and simply driven by "the thrill," the teenagers' wealthy parents hired famed trial lawyer Clarence Darrow to defend the pair. The vile and luird nature of the crime disturbed the nation. Despite neither came from practicing Jewish homes, their family's ancesteral roots resulted in an anti-Semetic fervor, which splintered into groups which also targeted the openly agnostic Darrow and the homosexual relationship Leopold and Loeb shared.

The Leopold and Loeb story has captivated audiences since the mid-Twenties. Hollywood has loosely based several films on the characters and events surrounding the trial. Films such as Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope, Tom Kalin's 1991 picture Swoon and Barbet Schroeder's Murder By Numbers have each taken various elements and positions from the case as the fulcrum of their story. Despite being based on a fictionalized treatment of the case by Meyer Levin, Richard Fleischer's 1959 film Compulsion is arguably the film which sticks closest to the facts of the case.

Beginning in media res the film stars Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman as the fictionalized Leopold and Loeb, Judd Steiner and Artie Straus. From the film's opening sequence, Fleischer fleshes out the psychological fabrc of his two central characters. Hurtling away from the scene of the crime in their rented car, the pair celebrate their success at committing an apparently "perfect murder." But when in their drunken haste, the pair almost topple a local drunk, the boys' true nature comes to the forefront; as the sadistic and arrogant Artie (Dillman) orders the sensitive and anxious Judd (Stockwell) to run down the man. In a rare act of defiance, Judd resists by swerving away.

Quietly lauding his triumph over the police, Artie is horrified to learn that a pair of glasses were recovered at the crime scene. But to Judd's dismay, Artie refuses to discuss an alibi for the pair, as he believes the pair have outwitted the police. But soon Artie's flamboyant interactions with local police officers catches up with him, as the law uses their solitary piece of evidence to connect Artie and Judd to crime: culminating in a legal trial featuring Clarence Darrow-esque lawyer Jonathon Wilk (Orson Welles).

Ideas of power and presentation are at the forefront of Compulsion. Arrogantly believing his intellectual abilities override his moral duties, Artie openly disparages professors, students and lawmen. His blind admiration for Nietzsche's philosophies results in his misinterpretation of the German author's writings. He places his entire faith in the belief that he is a superintellect and therefore above morality.

Aware of Judd's submissive attitudes, Artie regularly exploits this facet of his friend's personality for his own will. Through suggestive language and verbal abuse, Artie uses the veneration his friend holds toward him for malicious ends. His callousness is evident in the swiftness with which he abandons his lone friend when the latter needs him most. Yet, when Judd quietly attempts to foster new friendships, Artie openly mocks his friend's decision to resort to fraternizing with a less academically refined element.

Throughout Compulsion Fleischer sets up a dichotomy within a dichotomy: first showing the separate attitudes of Steiner and Straus; and then indulging in how each character creates a public persona to mask their internalized contempt. The boys' status as prodigies at the University of Chicago makes them appear unlikely criminals in the eyes of the law, as does their wealthy parentage. To enchance their public reputations, the two law students also capitalize on their family's affluence and position within the community.

Around journalists and police officers, Artie comes across as a charming, affable and overly "helpful." But in the company of Judd he is tyrannical, menacing and openly mentally ill. In an era when resourcefulness and utility were prevalent character traits in cinema, Artie is able to quickly adapt his persona and actions to his surroundings such as the rapidity with which he secretly disposes of Judd's typwriter. But we also see his sadism, when he takes Judd to a local slaughterhouse: eagerly desiring to watch the bludgeoning of sheep.

In one of the film's most memorable scenes, Artie uses a Teddy Bear he commonly carries around to demonstrate to Judd his despisal of the other's foolishness; yet when Judd's brother enters the room and interrogates Artie as to why he is carrying around a children's toy, the genius removes the bear's head to reveal a hip flask filled with whiskey. Interestingly given his persona, his attire and his close relationship with his mother, one must wonder whether Alfred Hitchcock would use Dillman's Artie as the basis for Norman Bates the following year.

Despite his quiet nature, Stockwell's Judd also has two different personas. Around Artie he is acquiescent and distressed, while in the company of others, he is overly polite and timid. When Artie orders Judd to rape a female colleague Ruth (Diane Varsi) on a private birdwatching trip, Fleischer shows the internalized struggle Judd faces. On the one hand he desires to please Artie; on the other we can see as others believe, he is incapable of commiting such heinous acts on his own accord.

At the core of Judd's attempts to satisfy Artie's whims is the film's underlying homoerotic nature. Due to censorship restraints during the period, Fleischer craftily disguises this bond through coded dialogue and character positioning. The latter is exacted by cinematographer William Mellor, who captures the pair in close proxomity and often facing each other to express the possibility of an erotic relationship. In the film's brief scenes with Judd's brother Max (Richard Anderson), the latter repeatedly expresses his distate for the pair's odd relationship involving hours "giggling" in his room with Artie. Max even suggests to Judd that he needs to participate in manly quests such as baseball or chasing girls. Throughout the film, Judd appears to be combating his sexual identity: unwilling to admit his homosexuality, but unable to hold any genuine heterosexual lust for the opposite sex.

In Compulsion, Artie associates with two of the film's most feminine characters: his mother and Judd. When Judd attempts to go on a heterosexual date with Ruth, Artie responds with aggressive sarcasm to mask his internalized hurt. Yet on the date, Judd fails to find heterosexual intimacy with Ruth: eventually resorting to hyper-masculine acts of aggression and violence, after his attempts to lust for her fail. Ironically, it is the characteristics such as sensitivity and intelligence, which other male characters ridicule in Judd that endears him to Ruth and are exploiting by Artie.

It is this psycho-sexual interplay between Artie and Judd, as well as their erroneous methodology and intentions which are the strong points of Compulsion. The brutal and innovative first half of Compulsion is fascinating due to Stockwell and Dillman's strong lead performances.But. despite being famed for a rabble-rousing cameo effort by Orson Welles in the film's final act. the film noticably loses much of its potency when it shifts from psychological combativeness to standard courtroom drama.

At the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, Stockwell, Dillman and Orson Welles shared the unique honour of the festival's best acting award. Imbued with ad-libbed theatricality, Welles' speech on the moral implications of the death penalty is steeped in poetic liberal concepts of justice; yet it is nowhere near as absorbing as the film's edgy first act. Mellor's off-kilter expressionistic cinematography exemplifies the mental state of Steiner and Straus, but it too is tamed once Welles steps into the frame. Fleischer's point of view also changes to a blunter, drier perspective: resulting in Stockwell and Dillman becoming mere extras once the film enters the courtroom.

* Compulsion is available on R1 DVD through Fox Home Video

Other Richard Fleischer Films Reviewed:
The Narrow Margin (1952) 8/10

Copyright 2007 8½ Cinematheque