"REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE"
Sir- When your film critic writes of his "unwilling sympathy" and says that the film’s suggestion of a delinquent society is "perhaps ... not so wrong
either," I feel that he must have misgivings about his curt review of Rebel Without a Cause. I was surprised and disappointed that he should dismiss so briefly not only the acting of the late James Dean, but also the many other virtues of this absorbing film. The faults that "Jno." spent his entire article describing were surely overshadowed by a thought-provoking story (much more than just a thriller), and by its disturbingly real central character. Such an intensely personal study has been seen all too seldom on the cinema screen. I consider that James Dean gave the most sympathetic and convincing portrayal of a modern adolescent and his problems that. I have seen in any movie. The worth of Rebel Without a Cause has been recognised by overseas reviewers, writing in more serious vein, incidentally, than does "Jno." in his article. British Film Institute critics in recent issues of their quarterly Sight and Sound, refer to the "undeniable power" of this "valid emotional drama of high purpose .. ." Cannot "Jno." see the film again and reconsider his verdict? I do ask him to apvrove it.
L.R.
S.
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560824.2.12.10
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 890, 24 August 1956, Page 5
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217"REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE" New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 890, 24 August 1956, Page 5
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