The Big Noirvember 16/30prompt 26: With "Confidential" in the titleThis film takes place pre-WWII, right around when the Spanish Civil War was ending & the Francoist Regime was about to take over. It was compelling to watch because I’m not too familiar with this period in history. And while I liked the story, & there were a few times where I was struck by the cinematography, I didn’t enjoy the film as much as I’d hoped. Charles Boyer was an odd choice to play Luis, a Spanish agent on mission in the UK. He spoke with his French accent which was distracting & didn’t make sense. Lauren Bacall plays Rose, who makes Luis’ acquaintance while traveling, & even though they have zero chemistry throughout the film, they end up falling for each other. Bacall’s acting is super stiff & her line delivery often doesn’t land. It was surprising because it’s the first film I’ve seen where she didn’t give a good performance. It makes me wonder what was going on behind the scenes!I love Peter Lorre, but he doesn’t have much screen time unfortunately, so he couldn’t save this film. If I wasn’t so engaged in the world history revealed through the story, this would have been a big miss.
