GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

James Hitchcock "The Man with the Golden Arm" is a rare example of a film deliberately made in defiance of the Production Code. The film rights to Nelson Algren's novel were first acquired by John Garfield in 1949, but Joseph Breen, the head of the Production Code Authority, informed him that the story's subject-matter, dealing with drug dealing and drug addiction, would be unacceptable. Otto Preminger, who acquired the rights after Garfield's death, was determined to make the film in the teeth of Breen's opposition, believing that this was a story which should be told. (Ironically, the plot of the film as eventually made is very different from that of the novel. Preminger initially hired Algren as screenwriter, but Algren was fired after the two quarrelled and Preminger brought in a new writer, Walter Newman. Algren so hated the changes Newman made that he virtually disowned the finished movie).The central character is Frankie Machine. (That appears to be his genuine surname, not a nickname). As the film opens, Frankie has recently been released from prison. Before going inside he was a dealer in illegal poker games and a drug addict. In prison he has got rid of his drug habit and learned to play the drums, and is hoping to earn a legitimate living as a drummer in a band, but finds that going straight is not as easy as he thought. The film tells the story of how Frankie slips back into his old job as a dealer and his old drug habit and of how he struggles to get clean again.The film also deals with Frankie's complicated love-life. His wife Zosh has supposedly been crippled ever since being injured in a car crash some years ago; in fact she has recovered from her injuries and can now walk again, but she pretends to be wheelchair-bound in order to play upon Frankie's guilt feelings about the accident. (He was driving at the time). Zosh realises that Frankie does not love her and that it is only guilt which prevents him from leaving her. The real love of Frankie's life is his ex-girlfriend Molly, who is unhappily married to an alcoholic husband.When the film was released in 1955 the Production Code Authority, objecting to its drug-related theme, predictably refused to grant it a seal of approval, despite Preminger's argument that it condemned rather than condoned drug use. At one time such a refusal would have been the kiss of death for any American film, but in this case many cinema chains defied the PCA and agreed to screen it. Perhaps equally predictably, the controversy had precisely the opposite effect to the one the PCA were hoping for, and the film turned out to be a box-office success.Its success, however, was not solely due the controversy, because it contains elements which are excellent in their own right, including the acting. Kim Novak as Molly is perhaps a bit bland, although she looks stunning, but Frank Sinatra gives one of his best performances as the tormented Frankie, desperate to escape from the world of drugs and crime yet seemingly trapped in it. He won a well-deserved the Oscar nomination for "Best Actor". The other great performance comes from Eleanor Parker as the equally tormented Zosh, whose strange name and accent suggest that she is a foreign immigrant. In some ways she is a selfish and despicable character, but in others a pitiable one. She is desperately in love with Frankie, but so terrified of losing him to a younger, more attractive woman that her love has turned to obsession and her whole system of values has become distorted. Her return to health after her injury, which should be a cause for joy and celebration, becomes instead something she feels constrained to hide from the world.Another excellent feature is the jazz-based musical score, for which Elmer Bernstein also received an Oscar nomination. Preminger tells the story of using the expressionistic film noir style which was popular for crime dramas in the fifties. The film is remembered as one of the first serious treatments of a then-taboo subject, but it also deserves to be remembered as a fine human drama. 8/10

grantss Frankie Machine is a drug addict. He has just been released from jail and wants to straighten out his life. However, his life is a perpetual struggle against his addictions and his past.One of the first, if not THE first, movies to cover the subject of drug addiction. Great, engaging, thrilling story, well-directed by Otto Preminger. The more you get into the movie, the more the lead character seeks trapped and running out of options - the claustrophobia is palpable. Solid performance in the lead role by Frank Sinatra. He brings all the street-cred he can muster to the role. Good supporting performances too.

clanciai I haven't seen this film since 1971, but then it made e such an impression, that it stuck for life, and I felt no need to see it again, as the memory of it was sharp enough. Just for curiosity, I decided to renew its acquaintance after 44 years just to see what would happen, - and the impact was repeated and as good as new. This is probably the best junkie film ever made, in its naturalistic and actually horrific realism, with Frank Sinatra (100 years just the other day) in his best performance in the lead as the junkie with a crippled wife in a wheel- chair (Eleanor Parker, splendid acting on her part too,) and Kim Novak as the saving angel - it stands clear from the beginning that only she can save him, and she does, in also one of her best performances, actually better than in "Vertigo". The triumph however is the direction combined with the music by Elmer Bernstein. It's asphalt jungle music all the way, hard and merciless in its ruthlessly importuning rough disharmonics and nightmare style (with a few exceptions for a change), and Sinatra is even convincing as a failed drummer. Otto Preminger stands for the direction, one of many original films of his, and they are many, but this black-and-white social documentary naturalistic gutter nightmare is perhaps the one most sticking out - you recognize much of this half slum humdrum environment as he returns to it in "Porgy and Bess" three years later. In brief, it's a triumph of a film, completely naked in shocking social realism with as perfectly convincing and natural performances as in any Italian neo-realistic masterpiece. It was a perfectly enjoyable nightmare to see it again after 44 years to observe it had lost nothing of its timeless actuality - this could happen to you.

werefox08 This movie has dated.....and dated badly. The fact that the whole movie is made in the studio doesn't help. (Frank Sinatra did not like working on location). It has the feel of an old "Play of the Week" about it. The thing that sinks this from the very beginning is the terrible acting of Frank Sinatra. I got the feeling he was really trying----but you can act----or you cant act. Frank Sinatra was a great singer. But..he could not act. Kim Novak is very good in this, cautionary tale about drug addiction. In its day....The Man With The Golden Arm caused quite a stir....indeed it was one of the very first films to tackle this subject. The Lost Weekend starring Ray Milland, made a few years earlier is about alcoholism. It is vastly superior to this movie.