DbcultAccessing Vault...
7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Crime Without Passion remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like movies where guys in suits talk fast and sweat even faster, then yeah, watch this. It’s for the folks who enjoy that old-school noir vibe where nobody is actually a good person. If you need a hero to root for, or if you get bored by talky, stagey courtroom-adjacent drama, you’ll probably want to skip this one.
Claude Rains is the whole show here. He plays this lawyer named Gentry, and he’s got this way of sneering at the camera that makes you want to reach through the screen and smack him. He’s so full of himself that you’re just waiting for the floor to fall out from under him. And it does, eventually.
The pacing is a bit of a mess, honestly. It starts with this manic energy, almost like the filmmakers were scared the audience would fall asleep if someone wasn't shouting every thirty seconds. There's a scene in the middle involving a phone call that goes on for ages, and I found myself checking my watch, wondering if they just forgot to yell 'cut.'
But then, every so often, the movie finds a weird, quiet groove. It reminds me a bit of the frantic, restless energy you get in L'Atalante, even if they aren't really the same kind of movie at all. It’s just that sudden shift from loud chaos to a whispery, tense stare-down that makes you sit up straight.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s a bit rough around the edges, and the dialogue has a habit of trying way too hard to sound 'clever.' Sometimes it lands, and sometimes it just sounds like a guy who read a lot of poetry in college and hasn't let anyone forget it.
Still, it’s got teeth. It isn't trying to be deep or win awards. It just wants to watch a guy scramble to save his own skin. And in that, it mostly succeeds. Just don't expect it to change your life. It’s a mean little flick for a rainy Tuesday.
