Nothing is worse then going to a movie and the sound is off, costumes do not fit the genera of the film, the picture is all, basically there is nothing good about it.
One example of this is Joseph Losey’s 1973 film version of Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 A Doll’s House. First, the actors themselves did not seem as though they even wanted to be there, which made me wonder if I wanted to sit and watch it! The lack of passion and enthusiasm made it very dry and hard to watch. Given the simplicity of the story line and setting, I find that it is hard to criticize anything other than that, but actors’ not being excited is a pretty big turn down if you ask me.
Another aspect of a movie that I thought was bad was Vivien Leigh’s acting the part of Blanche in Elia Kazan’s 1951 movie version of Tennessee Williams’ 1947 A Streetcar Named Desire. The movie as a whole was pretty good, but Leigh’s acting was so lame! It was almost as if she were trying too hard.
The other aspects of the movie were well done. The costumes were well planned and as stated before I think Marlon Brando’s performance as Stanley Kowalski was great. The sound effects and music were appropriately timed and not too overbearing.
One aspect that I disliked about Jack Clayton’s 1951 movie The Innocents, based on Henry James’s 1898 novella, The Turn of the Screw, was that it was very loud. It almost took away from the movie at certain points. On the other hand, the young actors, Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin, did a great job at being creepy as Miles and Flora. The setting was perfect for the story line, and in general it was really good.
In conclusion, a movie can be good with a few things going wrong, or it can just be all wrong! The biggest key would be to have dedicated and committed actors. Since they are the focus of the movie most of the time, it would help a lot, especially if the other aspects were also effective.