THE GREAT IMPOSTER
US, 1960, Black and White.
Tony Curtis, Karl Malden, Edmond O'Brien, Arthur O'Connell, Gary Merrill, Raymond Massey.
Directed by Robert Mulligan.
The Great Imposter is a very entertaining and seemingly improbable film. Tony Curtis at his best portrays the practical joker and hoaxer Demara. Curtis receives very good support from Karl Malden, Edmond O'Brien and Raymond Massey amongst others. Demara was an expert at impersonating various styles of personality and getting away with it. His expertise and knowledge and humanity in the roles that he undertook was quite remarkable. The film portrays his story as well as asking the audience to puzzle over what they think of such a person. Directed by Robert Mulligan, who is noted for his humane touch for his comedies and dramas. Curtis had worked for him in The Rat Race in 1960. Other Mulligan films include Inside Daisy Clover, Love with the Proper Stranger, Up the Down Staircase, The Stalking Moon.
1. Did you like this film? Why? Was Demara a great imposter. or just a funny imposter, or an unfunny con-man? Why?
2. What was the film's attitude towards Demara's activities? How much did the film admire them, puzzle over them, satirise theme make us share his fantasies? Was the film consistent in its attitudes towards him? The very final sequence?
3. The contribution of the black and white photography the light music and the them, the episodic nature of the film, the flashback technique, the uncertainty of the ending?
4. How much was the film geared to Tony Curtis's style and charm? How much sympathy did the audience have for him? Did he sustain interest in his character and portray him consistently? Could the audience understand how a con-man like this worked? What the style of personality was? The why and the how of what he did?
5. what did the sequences of Demara as a boy contribute to our understanding? To entertainment? His school experiences the sweets for the boys getting injections?
6. His relationship to his parents - especially his father? Did this explain why he acted as he did? His relationship to Father Dev1in? Did this explain why? The importance of Father Dev1in's little sermons? The clues here e.g. Father Dev1in's wish to be a Trappist and its lack of fulfilment and the influence on Demara?
7. How enjoyable were the episodes in themselves - humoured pathos, the work of a hero, the sentiment involved, their plausibility?
8. What did all the episodes add up to? Trying to be an academic and enter the army, the skill in faking the documents and the suicide? The contribution of being a Trappist and the religious overtones of Demara's life? The experience in prison and with the prisoners? His ambitions in becoming a warder and the importance of his success? Demara's falling in love and the truth that he was unable to tell his girlfriend? The humour of the Captain and the dentistry? The more serious operations and his heroism? The way that he engineered his escape? His becoming a teacher?
9. How much self-interest was there in Demara’s activity? How much a searching for identity? Did he understand himself or his identity at all? How real was his attitude towards himself? How unreal? The fact that there was so much service and giving in his escapades? The fact that he was not a hard man but a good man? How is it possible for a human being to live so many facets of others' existence?
10. What is the value of a film like this? Does it help us understand people? How cheerful is it? How sad?
