You Only Live Once DVD Review

29th May 2012

Fritz Lang’s 1937 noir You Only Live Once comes to DVD, with its stunning black and white photography restored to its full glory. Lang’s mastery of his form is on good display here — some shots are so beautiful that it’s tempting to just hit ‘pause’ and enjoy them a bit longer.

While the screenplay often fails the “show, don’t tell test”, this tale of born loser Taylor (Henry Fonda) and Joan (Sylvia Sydney), the woman who loves him, is gripping and beautifully put together. The opening scene may well be unbearably hokey, but the film quickly recovers and turns into a rollicking tale of love, failure, robbery, hope, murder and despair.

The spark between Fonda and Sydney never really ignites, but they’re both so attractive that their pairing never looks awkward. And they both play just the right shade of dumb to make Joan’s doe-eyed announcement that they haven’t got around to naming their infant son (“We just call him Baby”) seem like the absentmindedness of a couple hopelessly devoted to each other rather than just neglectful parenting. Fonda’s intensity, especially during the excruciating scene in which he gets himself put in the isolation ward, is mesmerising and carries over into the horribly tense prison stand-off scene. For her part, Sydney displays a steely streak at odds with her China doll face, which makes her transformation from charming secretary to ruthless outlaw all the more believable.

In the supporting roles, Barton MacLane and Jean Dixon are wonderful. MacLane plays Joan’s boss — a public defender of unimpeachable ethics and moral certitude who just happens to be in love with Joan — and Dixon plays Joan’s chain-smoking, wise-cracking older sister. Those two should have had their own film.

Extras include an audio interview with Lang from 1962 and production takes.