Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Spikeopath You Only Live Once is directed by Fritz Lang and written by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne. It stars Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon and William Gargan. Music is by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Leon Shamroy. He has been pounding on the door of that execution chamber since the day he was born. One of Fritz Lang's first American productions is a cracker-jack proto- noir, a leading light (darkly shaded of course) in the sub-genre of fugitive lovers on the lam pictures. Story leans on the legend of Bonnie and Clyde and finds Fonda as three times jailbird Eddie Taylor. After strings are pulled and promises made, Eddie gets released into the arms of his adoring gal, Jo Graham (Sidney). Determined to go straight and settle down with Jo, Eddie finds a society not ready to forgive and forget, worst still, he's old comrades in criminal arms have cooked something up and it's not going to be good news for Eddie. Cue the Romeo & Juliet factor as two lovers love each other so much they will stop at nothing to be together and to try and make the other one happy. Lang brings his expressionistic bent to the tragi noir tale, drifting fogs, mists and spider web shadows across key scenes. Canted angles feature, reflections in a psychological eye also play their part, while the protection of animals theme – and the continuing frog motif - further strengthens the otherworldly – cum - nightmarish aura that so often permeated Lang's movies. The action scenes are deftly marshalled by the director, with a smoke grenade led robbery and a prison escape particularly worthy of luring you to the end of your seat. Lang also gets fine performances from his lead actors, Sidney is not done too many favours by the screenplay, where she is saddled with one of those compliant love interest roles, but she brings a quality to her scenes with Fonda that earns respect. Fonda is great in what is a two- fold role, shifting skilfully between a tender lover to an embittered man, he's a triumphant fulcrum for all the various strands that Lang is weaving together. It has been argued that it's a film that's too morally grey, but as film noir lovers will tell you, this is no bad thing, especially when Lang marries up his superb visuals with alienation, fatalism and pessimism. Historically important to film noir and Lang fans, You Only Live Once is an ambiguous gem. 9/10

jimakros this is one those movies where you can go terribly wrong,because of the director and the stars.I mean,how bad can a movie be with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney?.Well,it can be awful,when the story doesn't make any sense at all.Its just totally ridiculous from beginning to end.Fonda plays an ex-convict who does one stupid thing after another,and whose life is miserable beyond belief, because of some divine bad luck.There's no point going over the story,its hard to understand what this movie wants to say,seemingly that some people are born to be criminals and end up badly.Which is load of crap of course.I was so disappointed to see two wonderful stars in this horrible movie.

Boba_Fett1138 Fritz Lang is a director with an immensely big reputation, which has everything to do with his movies "Metropolis" and "M" but in all truth and honesty, most of his other movies were were merely average ones. This one included. It's a good movie but nothing about this movie makes it a special one or a must-see really.It has a decent enough story but definitely not a solid or credible one. The movie is being a bit melodramatic and forced with all of its events and emotions but then again, this really wasn't that uncommon for an 1930's movie. I liked some of the places the movie was taken its story but then the movie would do something stupid and silly again, which took me out of the movie and prevented me from connecting to its characters and everything that is going on with them.The movie ultimately tries to present itself as a love story, with only one big crime and dramatic twist to it. The combination of all these elements does work out well enough and also original. It still makes "You Only Live Once" definitely a good watch and for its time it also really isn't a bad attempt. The story works sort of renewing and original and also the twists and turns in it make this far from the typical genre attempt, from about that same time period this movie got made in.It takes some good approach with its directing and cinematography, which at times make you forget you are watching an '30's movie here. The movie can feel quite modern and raw at times, also because it's not a movie that is constantly busy with trying to wrap things up needly and create an happy ending for all of its main characters.The movie features a young Henry Fonda, with still lots of hair. It's one of his earliest movie roles and funny thing about him is that he never really played secondary characters but always had been the main lead, ever since the start of his acting career. And why not. He definitely had the right required skills and also looks for it and he also was quite good in this movie. Even though the story gets melodramatic at times, the actors still aren't overacting and keep things as real as possible. It's the reason why "You Only Live Once" still works out good and effectively, for most part.A good movie to watch but at the same time also one you could easily do without ever seeing.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

RResende This is from a time in which Fritz Lang still wanted (or thought he could) to go on making American films as he was doing them in Germany. We have a theme with social concerns, a useless attack on the morality of the system and prejudice. It's vapid, and it's superficial. Lang was good with manipulating images, with creating powerful scenery that could, by itself, pass a mood, usually an oppressive mood, maybe an advance of what nazism would become and symbolize to western civilization.But here he has to submit to his new environment. In this moment in cinema history the differences Lang might have found were probably in the kind of effective control he lost over the choices in his films. This is an American film, more than an auteur film, and watching this means understanding this fact. The outcome, in this case, is a total mess, i think. There are only a few things worth watching, but even those can be found much better integrated, and thus much more powerful, in other films: one of those things is when we feel Lang was able to create visually. Here we have two particularly interesting moments: one is when Fonda is in a cage waiting for his execution moment to come. The cage is designed for the light to go through and produce the light we see. This is enhanced by the upper position Lang gives to his camera, as he liked to do, in order to give us the sensation of some outer/superior force controlling what's beneath. The other moment is the fog with vultures walking undefined in the prison escape scene. As with the cage, it's a moment of tension and importance in the unimportant plot. I suppose Lang, not being able to cover the whole film with his vision at least tried to hold these moments. These clips are worthwhile, but i've seen them in better contexts.the other thing worth watching is Fonda. Before Marlon Brando, he is one of the few who understood what was necessary for an actor to do in order to make a film work. He is very contained, but he walks, talks, and expresses in a way which is made for the camera, for the film. It's a pleasure to watch him but again, there are better sources for us to understand his qualities My opinion: 1/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com