Review of Sweet Smell of Success

Lurid, sleazy and venal, "Sweet Smell of Success" fits the criteria for film noir and then some. Journalism is the source of shady dealings and machinations here, with not a single character within that field shown as being either worthy of praise or beyond reproach. Alexander Mackendrick unveils the New York press elite without averting from their reprehensibility, ensuring that his film pervades cynicism and sardonicism, with every frame exuding rancour, vitriol and scorn for the characters and their indefensible actions. Mackendrick presents us with repellent characters and situations without gangsters, molls or murders, and heightened considerably by James Wong Howe's superbly off-kilter cinematography, this conversion of antediluvian noir themes in a dramatic context yields results. "Sweet Smell of Success" utilises its Times Square setting magnificently, capturing the impure, corrupt atmosphere to the point it becomes a character in itself. It is a film that feels contaminated by its own scenery, and such intensity and acridity is also felt in the potent delivery of the concussive, grammatical dialogue. Each spoken word boasts a battering aural impact, the sharp wit, inflexions and whip-smart literacy of the film's verbal exchanges are as pungent and vital as its big city backdrop.

Despite its failure at the box-office due to fans of Tony Curtis recoiling at the sight of their idol playing a scheming "cookie full of arsenic", "Sweet Smell of Success" went on to be recognised as an indubitable classic of post-war American cinema, perfectly epitomising the slimy side of Manhattan. At its core, the thrilling tug-of-war between an upstart press agent and the bullying columnist he relies on for publicity has the feel of a tautly plotted power play cut from the Broadway cloth, but the apropos jazz-heavy score, contorted camera angles and shadowy aesthetic combine to create a dramatic energy dependent on relationships and tension to appear more cinematic and expansive. From the hysteria of the sidewalks and its scabrous, satirical complexity, "Sweet Smell of Success" revels in its own bleakness and cruelty whilst registering as utterly engaging and immersive.