Why the film automatically loses one star (*) . . .

I had to think about this for awhile, because the film was really and truly outstanding in every way but . . .

The damned waltzing. At least two of the scenes in STEPPENWOLF must have consumed 15 minutes of film time with nothing but Von Sydow and [Female] waltzing or dancing. Enough already! I can suffer up to about one minute of it — a maximum of twice in this film; no more! no more! have pity!

Look, if I want hours of dancing I'll watch Fred Astaire for chrissake.

The film would have gotten an 8 from me, but the waltzing at some point became not just tedious, it became a distraction.

We're dealing with extremely deep issues in this film, and there is absolutely no excuse to compromise it with agonizingly LONNNNNNNNNNG waltz sequences. In 30 seconds the director could have conveyed the atmosphere; in 15 minutes, I go away and start dinner. Teach him to dance and then get on with it tsk.

I'm going to attempt to edit it with VOB Blanker to see if I can't trim some of this crap out of an otherwise outstanding, provocative work. Short of that, I simply will not sit through a second viewing. It's maddening, but some very serious editing needs to take place to tighten its themes and render the abstractions with the intensity that they deserve.

mc