Dramatic License Expired

I recently watched Boomerang!, a 1947 Elia Kazan film that's sort of an early version of Law And Order--we see a murder investigation, then prosecution (though there is a twist). Being from Kazan, we get both Lee J. Cobb and Arthur Kennedy before they starred in Death Of A Salesman on Broadway.

The film was well-respected, but I don't think it quite works today. I'm not sure what Kazan thought in later years, but I wouldn't be surprised if he agreed. I know he didn't like another film he made that year that won the Oscar--Gentleman's Agreement.

Boomerang! shares a problem with many films of the decade or two after the War. It takes on a tough subject, and tries to deal with it in a realistic manner, but, in a boomerang move, because standards of acting and writing have changed so much, it all comes across now as artificial and even hokey.

For all I know, Kazan was proud that his early films seemed dated. He might even claim it was his work, on Broadway and in Hollywood, that changed the standards.