Director: Richard Fleischer.
Set in 1924 Chicago, Compulsion is a fictionalized retelling of the Leopold and Loeb case. Artie(Bradford Dillman) and Judd (Dean Stockwell) are two wealthy law students who consider themselves intellectually superior and decide to commit the “perfect crime.” They kidnap and murder a young boy as a philosophical experiment in superiority and thrill‑seeking. Their plan unravels when Judd accidentally leaves his glasses at the crime scene—an oversight that becomes the key piece of evidence leading to their arrest.
The trial becomes the film’s centerpiece, with Orson Welles—playing a fictionalized version of Clarence Darrow—delivering a passionate argument against the death penalty. His defense focuses on the boys’ psychological immaturity, moral corruption, and emotional deformity rather than pure evil.
Remade as “Swoon” by Tom Kalin in 1992.
Leopold & Loeb were used as the basis for the
lovers in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” (see above).
Leopold and Loeb were lovers, and both Richard Murphy’s screenplay and Richard Fleischer’s direction infuse the film with a palpable queer subtext. It’s there in the lingering looks, the physical closeness, the emotional dependency, and especially in Judd’s jealousy whenever Artie shows interest in women. Dillman’s Artie is dominant, charismatic, and manipulative; Stockwell’s Judd is submissive, wounded, and yearning. Stockwell, in particular, gives one of his most haunting performances.
Cinematography:
William C. Mellor
TCF
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