IceboxMovies
A box perched on a dolly is rolling down a hill in the cemetery. A woman watches as it comes to a complete stop and then tumbles to the ground, lying only a dozen feet away from her. The box is shaking. There is something alive inside. Because of what we as an audience have seen elsewhere in the film, we have an idea of what is trapped inside the box- and we yearn for the woman to hustle up, run over and open it. Instead, she hesitates before slowly advancing forward, preparing to open the box with caution. The suspense of waiting is unbearable.Murder a la Mod was Brian De Palma's first thriller, his first cinematic experiment, and his first full-length feature film. History has always told us that De Palma's first films were his comedic collaborations with Robert De Niro (Greetings; The Wedding Party; Hi, Mom!), and that he didn't truly begin paying homage to Hitchcock until Sisters in 1973. If I haven't convinced readers otherwise, then I will consider this review a failure. I want nothing more than to make sure that De Palma's very first full-length feature stands alongside the rest of his gleeful, gorgeous, under-appreciated gems. You want deranged serial killers chasing after vulnerable, half-naked babes? You got it. You want a voyeuristic camera that never seems to give anybody a moment's peace? Here it is. You want to see an incident from every point of view? It's all in Murder a la Mod. To put it simply, this is the film that started it all.Like a select number of De Palma films afterward, Murder a la Mod is purely an exercise in style. De Palma doesn't worry about whether or not you follow the plot, whether or not you take the writing and acting seriously, or whether or not you even care at all what happens to the characters. We spend the 80-minute running time getting to know people like Christopher the porno filmmaker (Jared Martin); his dumb blonde actress Karen (Margo Norton), who is falling in love with him; her lady friend Tracy (Andra Akers), who will also play an important role in the events to follow; the nosy producer Max Wiley (Murder a la Mod producer Ken Burrows), who keeps hounding Christopher to have his movie finished on time; and you know what? All of them are cardboard. We couldn't care less about who gets killed, who survives, who gains anything, who loses, etc. The only amusing character in the entire film is a skinny young man named Otto, who, when he's not busy playing a fashion photographer in Christopher's latest movie, delights in playing "tricks" on various crew members. Armed with two types of icepicks- a "trick" pick and a "real" pick- his tactic is to use the first (harmless) type of pick on his victims and then smear them with ketchup blood. Whether or not he ever even uses the real pick is a mystery.But that's quite enough of the plot. I wouldn't dream of spoiling the film's surprises; and how Tracy ends up in conversation with a queer little old bank clerk (John Quinn) who has her handcuffed to a briefcase, I will leave for you to find out. Let's just say that between 3:32 PM and 3:42 PM, something atrocious happens to one of the characters, and De Palma then proceeds to show us the event not from one perspective, but four perspectives. This plot device is familiar to anyone who remembers Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), but De Palma famously makes it his own in this film; he later recycled this device most famously in Snake Eyes (1998) and Femme Fatale (2002). One by one, we see different variations on the incident involving the rolling box, and later there is a battle of fists in the cemetery that, for some reason, reminded me of the axe duel in the dummy warehouse in Kubrick's Killer's Kiss (1955). Midway through the film, there is also a frenzied moment when De Palma's cameraman, Jack Harrell, races to keep up with a character who is rushing up the stairs, onto the roof, and then back down the stairs again- all in one take. We can't help, either, but take pleasure in watching Jared Martin, Margo Norton, Andra Akers and Ken Burrows as they helplessly try to turn Chris, Karen, Tracy and Max Wiley into believable characters without giving overly hammy performances.And at the heart of it all we have the daffy, diabolical trickster Otto, played by none other than the Olivier of De Palma cinema: the great William Finley. It was thought for a long time that Finley owned the sole copy of Murder a la Mod right up until the year 2006, when the film was bought and redistributed onto DVD by- who else?- the cult classics home entertainment company Something Weird Video. The new DVD transfer is not entirely satisfying, as it lacks subtitles (it is difficult to hear what characters are saying in a few spots) and a Widescreen ratio, so therefore we end up getting only a fullscreen transfer and- I suspect- not the whole picture. Not that it's the end of the world; Murder a la Mod should be seen regardless of its current state. "It's everywhere! Why can't you see?" sings Finley in the film's title song. He's singing about the nature of the murder, of course, but I would like to think that he's also singing about the influence on De Palma's subsequent career by what resulted from Murder a la Mod. Everything that De Palma was, and is, came from this film. What's more, none of the characters exit the film without first being subjected to one of De Palma's cruel cosmic jokes. Even Otto makes a horrifying discovery of his own.
tieman64
"To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; the act turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as a camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminal murder - a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time." ― Susan SontagBrian De Palma's first thriller, "Murder a la Mod" opens with screen tests, the familiar hash marks of a camera viewfinder imprinted over two nervous young women. We then watch as the duo are coerced into removing their clothes by an unseen speaker, a scene which recalls the voyeuristic violence of similar sequences in subsequent De Palma films (and Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom").A fairly simple plot then unfolds: Karen, a naive young woman, desperately wants to help Christopher, an "artist" who is working the porno beat in an attempt to raise enough money to divorce his wife. When Karen sees her best friend Tracy pull some jewels out of a bank, she hatches a plan to finance Christopher's freedom. All too grateful, Christopher beds Karen on his porn set. Moments later the girl is killed with an ice pick. In the eye, naturally.The rest of the film replays the events surrounding this murder from each character's perspective. De Palma handles the story with customary flair (split screens, slow motion, lots of dazzling camera work etc), but at times he's hampered by inexperience and the film's low budget.7/10 - Worth one viewing.
Zorynarecords2
I'm so glad that Something Weird Video has issued this lost low budget film. This is Brian De Palma's first Solo attempt at feature film making. The Wedding Party was made earlier with two other fresh faced film students Cynthia Munroe and Willford Leach. Murder is Depalma's first flight on his own. He does a great job considering what he had to work with. There are some flaws with the picture; but it's very engaging and easy to watch.The b/w photography is as a plus, The acting is so so, with the exectpition of William Finley who steals the show despite having his lines dubbed in! Finley also writes and sings the Title Song, which isn't bad if you like 1960's garage rock!! The film is very dated. In fact it's dated 1967 on the title screen. It wasn't released until the following year; in a single New York theater!! Until Something Weird's DVD issue this film was next to impossible to see.I find Murder A La Mod interesting because it foreshadows his entire career. Many themes Mr. Depalma uses in later films are already in motion: His obsession with Hitchcock is touched upon with a wildly unpredictable shower scene! Voyeurism Peep Art and Porno Making are all integrated as they will be in his subsequent films: Greetings(1968), Hi Mom(1969) and Sisters(1973). Jennifer Salt looks fabulous in her film debut as a girl having trouble taking it all off. She does a great job, I wish she had a bigger part.Some other De Palma hallmarks present are: the speed ed up frame, the Hitchcock like editing in the murder scenes, misogyny, New York grubbiness and exploitation. It feels like the work of someone just fooling around without having any undue pressure placed upon them. The film is very disturbing and the violence is very graphic for 1967. The first murder takes place right after the opening credits!!! We then follow the Second murder through a series of takes that show the same thing from different angles. Just like Stanley Kubrick's racetrack robbery in The Killing(1956). Not to mention a whole slew of 1990's imitators who shall remain nameless. There are all kinds of holes in the plot, but the whole thing is so surreal that it works anyway. The Killer Male lead is the biggest problem with the film in my opinion. I wouldn't say that it is a great film; but sure is interesting and very worth while for the Brian De Palma or 1960 exploitation Drive-In fan. I give it a 6 out of 10
