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6.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. A Successful Calamity remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you're into those dusty, black-and-white dramas where everyone speaks like they're reading from a fancy telegram, A Successful Calamity might be your speed. It's not for the impatient, and if you need a car chase or even a brisk walk, you’re going to be bored out of your mind. But for a rainy afternoon? It works.
George Arliss plays this industrialist, Harry Wilton, and he's got that specific kind of gravitas that makes you feel like you're in a library. He decides his family is a bunch of vultures, which, honestly, they are. So he tells them he's flat broke. The way his wife and kids react is exactly what you'd expect—some crying, some sweating, lots of looking at the floor.
There's this one scene where they are all sitting around a dinner table, and the tension is just... weirdly polite. Nobody actually screams. They just sort of sigh and fidget with their silverware. It’s strangely human, even if the dialogue is a bit stilted by today's standards. It reminds me a little bit of the observational energy you find in People on Sunday, just way more formal and stuck inside a mansion.
The movie doesn't try to be a grand statement on the human condition. It’s just a guy being petty because his house is full of people who only talk to him about money. Relatable? Probably not, but the way he orchestrates his own 'ruin' is kind of fun to watch.
There's no big twist here. You know where it's going. It’s not like The Power of Evil where you're waiting for the other shoe to drop. This is just a quiet, 1930s-style character study that feels like it’s barely holding onto its own plot.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s just a movie. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need. ☕