Lewis' Monk is one of the most important works in Western Gothic literature, as influential as Frankenstein though much less well known these days. This version seems embarrassed by the supernatural elements and tries to downplay them as much as possible. The material is famously gruesome and drenched in gothic atmosphere so it really needed a director who'd take a febrile and shocking approach, but Moll instead makes things slow and restrained.
There are brief flashes of inspiration where Moll uses some interesting silent movie techniques of superimposition and irising, but he doesn't seem to have much confidence in them because they're only used about five times throughout the film. The film's strengths are Cassell who fits the part perfectly and gives an impressively intense performance, and some nice photography of the Spanish landscape, but overall the film is bland and fails to hold the attention. I see Buñuel attempted an adaptation in the 1960s, but the project stalled and he went on to make Simon of the Desert instead which has the same basic theme of a holy man being tempted by Satan in a desert.
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ChrisReynolds
Lewis' Monk is one of the most important works in Western Gothic literature, as influential as Frankenstein though much less well known these days. This version seems embarrassed by the supernatural elements and tries to downplay them as much as possible. The material is famously gruesome and drenched in gothic atmosphere so it really needed a director who'd take a febrile and shocking approach, but Moll instead makes things slow and restrained.There are brief flashes of inspiration where Moll uses some interesting silent movie techniques of superimposition and irising, but he doesn't seem to have much confidence in them because they're only used about five times throughout the film. The film's strengths are Cassell who fits the part perfectly and gives an impressively intense performance, and some nice photography of the Spanish landscape, but overall the film is bland and fails to hold the attention. I see Buñuel attempted an adaptation in the 1960s, but the project stalled and he went on to make Simon of the Desert instead which has the same basic theme of a holy man being tempted by Satan in a desert.