Goodnight, Yet Another Review, Good Luck.

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2015)

It would be difficult for serious viewers not to get excitedly caught up in this work. The American news and social commentator Edward R. Murrow was absolutely spot on with his predictions for the future of Television. He was right, not just regards news broadcasting but across the full programming spectrum! And sadly, seems the perpetuation of its ethical downfall lies in the gullibility of viewing audiences who have become equal partners in crime - allowing themselves to be dragged down into the sludge alongside the programmers, writers, producers and sponsors.
Many younger viewers won't even realize they are being compromised daily by the 'less is more' mentality of modern entertainments. I wonder if this important work might help some to question the ethics of a society where so-called grown-ups 'play' 'M and R' rated 'games' ad nauseum and TV News is dished out by matinée style pretty boys and girls - sandwiched between specially programmed promos, product placements, and a barrage of handpicked commercials. Murrow was seeing the giant CBS Corporation dump important social and ethical programs for easy revenue shovelled in with endless re-runs of mindless TV series. Other attempts at serious social comment like David Suskind's "East Side West Side" series was dropped by CBS for upsetting some overly powerful sponsors (but hey, surely I understand that sponsors are more important than the truth...well, aren't they?)
Only a couple of minor technical bits interrupted my enjoyment of this serious endeavor...the prolific use of super blow up zoom type lenses to give that 'fly-on-the-wall' feel, at times detracted from the 'look of the fifties' (as these lenses weren't even available in this era - tending to give the film a more 'resent' look). Not that I object at all to the use of modern technology in movies set in the past - it's just that in certain situations, when overused, it can have the effect of giving the subject a somewhat pretentious look. Joyously, most images were steady - some may have even been shot on tripods! This same style of photography was used to give "The Downhill Racer" its 'documentary' feel back in the late 60's. A couple of shots appeared to have been compromised by some editing decisions (possibly telling us they had nothing else to replace them with)
And OK... we know more people smoked in the health ignorant 40's and 50's but these shows look very much like they are playing the same game as did the major studios of the times, by taking money from cigarette companies to bankroll their projects. This has a tendency to look somewhat more than simple 'realism', to being a tad suspect. Another modern, over-written and endless TV series "Mad Men", bears this same 'suss'look.
Clooney shows no fear in some of his more intelligent projects and this is certainly one to be commended. Perhaps he is a little too in awe of his title character - to the extent of maybe manipulating his audience's emotions but, the equally manipulative bullying tactics of Communist witch hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy also had to be highlighted - with this being done to strong effect by the use of archival footage. Anyone with a serious interest in the overzealous political pursuits of the day should see this one.