copyright © Jedo Dre 2011

I don't know what it is up with these older movies. There are interesting stories and good cinematography, but I do not get the overacting. Maybe it is meant to compensate for the lack of color in the film or maybe it is the uneasy transition from the habits acquired in silent films where you had to do all your acting with your body. I do not know about that but I know Humphrey Bogart, as one of the main characters, starts overacting the hell out of this film.


And the dialogue is often written for that occasion. "Just like I thought" and "I know what your game is" (while making sudden gestures) are the kind of sentences you can hear in this film.


It does not get much better in the physical department. There is a scene where a guy is eating near the fire and he is crouching in the most uncomfortable unnatural position no one would ever eat in, unless of course they were posing for a camera, for a specific shot. The movie is not all like this but a lot of it is.


Other than that, the composition in the scenes is good. In fact, if this movie was a comic book, a set of paintings or drawings, it would have been a fun experience I bet. And when the actors occasionally stop overacting, it does become a fun experience, but then it goes back to cartoonish.


The movie actually keeps going from normal to cheesy to normal to crazy. And the normal makes the crazy stand out even more.


But if you do not mind that the movie has a fit every now and then, it is still fun. For me, the more time passes since I saw this movie the more I dislike its memory. That style of acting leaves a really bad taste…

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre