I Am a Camera – 1955 | 98 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Disappointingly nostalgic film adaptation of John VanDruten’s award-winning stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s celebrated ’30s‘Berlin Stories’. The sanitised script from short-story writer John Collier isan episodic screwball comedy that completely misses the sordid charm and divinelydecadent underbelly of pre-war German society the end result is sadlybowdlerised and lacking any sense of decadent. The direction of Henry Corneliusand camerawork of Guy Green is similarly stiff and gives a stagey feel to theproduction. American actress Julie Harris makes a determinedly amoral SallyBowles and especially shines in the spirited sequences. Laurence Harvey’s lackof range is exposed as a lifeless Isherwood.

Christopher Isherwood (Laurence Harvey), a strugglingEnglish writer in 1930’s Germany, observes the rise of anti-Semitism and theNazi regime but rather than objecting, likens himself to a camera. His closefriend Fritz Wendel (Anton Diffring) introduces the young writer to some ofBerlin’s more seedy nightspots, where Chris encounters amoral Windermere club singerSally Bowles (Julie Harris). Afterwards, the effervescent yet homeless songstressand the naive writer move in together- their time together is both exhilaratingand irksome. Both are broke and down on their luck until making the acquaintanceof American playboy Clive (Ron Randell), who affords both the opportunity to mixwith high society, but as quickly as he arrives, he departs. With the rise ofthe Nazi party, Chris finally feels inspired to write.