Reception
“The film offers only a sketchy account of Trotsky as a political figure. Losey’s character is curiously disconnected from the past—his legendary legendary association with Lenin, his sustained and prophetic criticism of Stalin, his importance as political thinker and orator are alluded to only briefly.—Biographer Foster Hirsch in Joseph Losey (1980). [8]
Reviewer Vincent Canby registered dismay at the rejection of this “very fine film” by critics. He reminds readers that The Assassination of Trotsky is not a genuine biopic, but “a movie about an event.” As such, “one doesn't come away from the theater full of someone else's ideas about Trotsky's place in Bolsheviks history, or about the ferment he caused among the Left Opposition of the 1930s and 1940s.” [9]
Canby considers the integration of passages from Trotsky’s professional and personal papers into the dialogue to be particularly evocative. A Shakespearian theme may be detected in Losey’s treatment, in “the peculiar bond between the victim and his assassin.” [10]
Making the general observation that Losey’s oeuvre lacks “thematic continuity,” critic Roger Greenspun at the New York Times praises The Assassination of Trotsky for its “audacity and imaginative density.” Greenspun notes that there are numerous devices in the film “not to be excused, ” among these the inclusion of “nostalgic Wordsworthian” excerpts from Trotsky’s personal journals inserted into the script.
The reviewer adds that the makeup artists transformed the actors with “extraordinary accuracy” to resemble the historical figures they portray. Greenspun adds that “none seems more accurate than Valentina Cortese as Natalia Sedova, Trotsky's wife. Her role is comparatively small, but I think it is the loveliest performance in the movie.” [11]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Disconcertingly, any summary of the bizarre circumstances of Trotsky's death – the old man, once a prime mover in great events, screened from the world behind walls and watch towers until his confrontation with his impenetrable executioner – reads like a parody of a Losey movie...the characters in Trotsky seem to belong to no specific place or time: their relationships are founded on no shared code or natural necessity, but on the absurd chances of war and on blind collisions arising from their attempts to heave obsessions into actions that will move and change the world outside." [12]
Retrospective appraisal
Critic Dan Callahan at Senses of Cinema registers this assessment: “The Assassination of Trotsky is an almost uniquely unappealing movie. The camerawork is uncertain and modish, and Richard Burton is ludicrously miscast as the Russian exile. Losey seems to be trying to mask his indifference to the subject by retreating into a numb loftiness.” [13]
Calling the film “a cold, unpleasant work,” arts editor David Walsh at the World Socialist Web Site disparages Losey’s characterization of the historical Trotsky: “Richard Burton is directed to play Trotsky as a pedantic, self-important and irritable windbag.”</ref>
In contrast to his critique of Burton’s performance, critic Foster Hirsch confers fulsome praise on actor Alain Delon, in the role depicting Stalinist assassin Ramón Mercader (under his alias Frank Jacson in the film version):
As the assassin, Alain Delon gives what is probably his finest performance, cold-eyed, wary, a figure of insinuating nervous energy. And yet, as he ingratiates himself with Trotsky, he becomes, in fleeting moments, an appealing character. We can understand Trotsky’s attraction to him. [14]
The Assassination of Trotsky was included as one of the choices in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time . [15]
Joseph Walton Losey III was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s, he moved to Europe where he made the remainder of his films, mostly in the United Kingdom. Among the most critically and commercially successful were the films with screenplays by Harold Pinter: The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971).
Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río was a Spanish communist and NKVD secret agent who assassinated the revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in August 1940. Mercader was imprisoned for 19 years and 8 months in Mexico for murdering Trotsky with an ice axe.
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was a French actor, film producer, screenwriter, singer, and businessman. Acknowledged as a cultural and cinematic leading man of the 20th century, Delon emerged as one of the foremost European actors of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and became an international sex symbol. He is regarded as one of the most well-known figures of the French cultural landscape. His style, looks, and roles, which made him an international icon, earned him enduring popularity.
Accident is a 1967 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Written by Harold Pinter, it is an adaptation of the 1965 novel Accident by Nicholas Mosley. It is the second of three Losey–Pinter collaborations; the others being The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971). At the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Accident won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury award. It also won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.
Valentina Elena Cortese Rossi di Coenzo, sometimes credited as Valentina Cortesa, was an Italian film and theatre actress. Her screen career spanned over 100 productions across over five decades, from 1941 until 1993. Cortese won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, for her performance in the film Day for Night (1973). In 2013, she received the French Order of Arts and Letters.
M is a 1951 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey. It is a remake of Fritz Lang's 1931 German film of the same title about a child murderer. This version shifts the location of action from Berlin to Los Angeles and changes the killer's name from Hans Beckert to Martin W. Harrow. Both versions of M were produced by Seymour Nebenzal, whose son, Harold, was associate producer of the 1951 version.
Le Samouraï is a 1967 neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier. A Franco-Italian production, it depicts the intersecting paths of a professional hitman (Delon) trying to find out who hired him for a job and then tried to have him killed, and the Parisian commissaire (Périer) trying to catch him.
Monsieur Klein is a 1976 mystery drama film directed by Joseph Losey, produced by and starring Alain Delon in the title role. Set in occupied France, the Kafkaesque narrative follows an apparently Gentile Parisian art dealer who is seemingly mistaken for a Jewish man of the same name and targeted in the Holocaust, unable to prove his identity.
The Big Night is a 1951 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey, that features John Drew Barrymore, Preston Foster and Joan Lorring. The feature is based on a script written by Joseph Losey and Stanley Ellin, based on Ellin's 1948 novel Dreadful Summit. Hugo Butler and Ring Lardner, Jr. also contributed to the screenplay, but were uncredited when the film was first released owing to his Hollywood Ten conviction.
Modesty Blaise is a 1966 British spy-fi comedy film directed by Joseph Losey, produced by Joseph Janni, and loosely based on the popular comic strip Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell, who co-wrote the original story upon which Evan Jones and Harold Pinter based their screenplay. It stars Monica Vitti as "Modesty", opposite Terence Stamp as Willie Garvin and Dirk Bogarde as her nemesis Gabriel. The cast also includes Harry Andrews, Michael Craig, Alexander Knox, Rossella Falk, Clive Revill, and Tina Aumont. The film's music was composed by Johnny Dankworth and the theme song, Modesty, sung by pop duo David and Jonathan. It was Vitti's first English-speaking role.
Boom! is a 1968 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noël Coward. It was adapted by Tennessee Williams from his own play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
The Boy with Green Hair is a 1948 American fantasy-drama film in Technicolor directed by Joseph Losey in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Dean Stockwell as Peter, a young war orphan who is subject to ridicule after his hair mysteriously turns green, and is based on the 1946 short story of the same name by Betsy Beaton. Co-stars include Pat O'Brien, Robert Ryan, and Barbara Hale.
The Go-Between is a 1971 British historical drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Its screenplay by Harold Pinter is an adaptation of the 1953 novel The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley. The film stars Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave and Dominic Guard.
The Criminal is a 1960 British neo-noir crime film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Jill Bennett, and Margit Saad. Baker plays Johnny Bannion, a recently-paroled gangster who is sent back to prison after robbing a racetrack, with both the authorities and the criminal underworld looking for the money.
A Doll's House is a 1973 drama film directed by Joseph Losey, based on the 1879 play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. It stars Jane Fonda in the role of Nora Helmer and David Warner as her domineering husband, Torvald.
Eva, released in the United Kingdom as Eve, and in the United States as The Devil’s Woman a 1962 Italian-French co-production drama film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, and Virna Lisi. Its screenplay is adapted from James Hadley Chase's 1945 novel Eve.
Figures in a Landscape is a 1970 British film directed by Joseph Losey and written by star Robert Shaw, based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Barry England.
Imbarco a mezzanotte is a 1952 Italian drama film directed by Joseph Losey and featuring Paul Muni.
The Gypsy and the Gentleman is a 1958 British costume drama film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Melina Mercouri and Keith Michell.
The Chosen is a 2016 Spanish-Mexican thriller drama film written and directed by Antonio Chavarrías. The film stars Hannah Murray, Alfonso Herrera, Julian Sands and Henry Goodman. The movie was filmed in Coyoacán, Mexico and Barcelona, Spain, and its release was scheduled for the first part of 2016. The film is based on the murder of Leon Trotsky in 1940.
