Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
If you enjoy the overheated melodramas of Douglas Sirk, then King Vidor's bombastic classic comes highly recommended. Originally released back in 1949, it's entered cinema history as the movie about architecture.
Gary Cooper is Howard Roark, the genius architect who refuses to compromise his artistic vision, to the extent that he'll even detonate a building that doesn't conform to his original plans. Patricia Neal, meanwhile, plays the aloof heiress who is so tormented by her desire for Roark that she flees into a loveless marriage with Robert Douglas' newspaper baron.
The script, based on Ayn Rand's best-selling novel, provides a critique of American capitalism from a right-wing perspective. Collectivism is lambasted ("the world is perishing in an orgy of self-sacrifice," Roark declares during his trial) while pioneering individualism is glorified. However, what impresses the most in this tale of dazzlingly heightened emotions is the expressionistic visual style. Vidor utilises gargantuan sets, sweeping camera movements and noirish lighting patterns, filling his screen with phallic imagery. Enjoyably bizarre.
NO VERDICT
Ryan Gosling in Star Wars? The Barbie star is reportedly in talks to join Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy's movie
33 years after his cartoon was canceled, Captain Planet is back (and kinda hot) in a new comic book
Bloodborne still seems a long way from getting an official 60fps port, but fans have finally gotten PS4 emulators to deliver the remaster they’ve wanted for years
