The Damned

Most of the previous reviews noted the link in this sumptuous piece of high camp with Hamlet, but only one noted the secondary English title was a direct reference to Wagner's Twilight of the Gods. Presenting the rise of Nazism as a camp Wagnerian Soap Opera was what Visconti was after, I think. He succeeds brilliantly. Yes, it is distasteful in it's perversions, but Nazism was pretty distasteful in it's reality, and perverted too. I am not gay, but the Night of the Long Knives is one of the most memorable bits of cinematography I have seen- a cross dressing SA thug by the Wannansee having a premonition of doom at the hands of the SS- go figure! Thulin and Rampling are superb, Bogarde believable (in an utterly unbelievable role), and Berger chews the carpet in a way that gives overacting a good name. Not to be missed.