Swoon

Theatrical Release Date: 1992 09 11 (USA)

UPC: 712267241729

Studio: Strand Home Video

Summary: Tom Kalin directed this cool and aloof black-and-white study of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case, a case told before in two previous films -- Rope and Compulsion. In 1924, in Chicago, Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb, two 18-year-olds, kidnapped and murdered the 13-year-old Bobby Franks, immediately killing him and then stuffing his naked body up a culvert. The motive for the crime was simply that they wanted to prove to themselves that they were smart enough to get away with it. The previous film versions downplayed Leopold and Loeb's homosexuality, but Kalin's version plays it up into a psychosexual motif. Loeb (Daniel Schlachet) is the calculating intellectual, while Leopold (Craig Chester), the amateur ornithologist, is the emotional and weak one. In love with Loeb, Leopold is willing to do anything for him, and when Leob uses the withholding of sex as a prompt, Leopold is even willing to commit murder to have his sexual desires satisfied by Loeb. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Director – Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actor – Independent Spirit Awards Best Cinematography – Independent Spirit Awards In Competition – Sundance Film Festival Best Cinematography – Sundance Film Festival

Features: Digitally remastered and supervised by director and cinematographer
Commentary track with director Tom Kalin, cinematographer Ellen Kuras, producer Christine Vachon, and actor Craig Chester
Photo gallery featuring never-before-seen photos from the film, real photos from the Loeb/Leopold murder case
Original theatrical trailer

Swoon

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 08/24/2004

Runtime: 95 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits [4:24]
2. 1923 [7:54]
3. 1924 [7:42]
4. Kidnapping [8:22]
5. Body [7:46]
6. Ransom [8:51]
7. Interrogation [6:12]
8. Confession [9:11]
9. Court [8:51]
10. Verdict [3:58]
11. Prison [16:00]
12. Closing Credits [3:49]

Brian J. Dillard

The term "cold exercise in style" may as well have been invented for this harbinger of the New Queer Cinema of the early '90s. As far as arty exercises go, though, Tom Kalin's debut feature remains an eminently watchable one. Filmed in high-contrast black-and-white and set to an uneasy orchestral score, Swoon is based on the original "trial of the century" -- the one that also inspired Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and Richard Fleischer's Compulsion. Yet by foregrounding what was, to varying degrees, merely homosexual subtext in those earlier films, Swoon refashions the material into an au courant examination of gay identity. Unlike Compulsion, a courtroom drama, and Rope, a taut set piece, Kalin's film delves further into the inner lives of the neurotic Leopold (Craig Chester) and the manipulative Loeb (Daniel Schlachet). Though it details key points in the murder and subsequent investigation, Kalin's script spends more time examining the twisted domesticity and psychological give-and-take of the squabbling murderers. An extended coda follows Loeb through his long prison sentence, lending a sense of scope and reflection to the proceedings, while stylized voice-overs give the entire proceedings the feel of an internal monologue. The script's political overtones may seem dated this far from the age of ACT UP, but they no more detract from the viewing experience than Hitchcock's camera showmanship does from the white-knuckle thrills of Rope. A product of its times, Swoon transcends them with careful craftsmanship and emotional acuity. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michael Becker  Actor 
Judith Boxley  Actor 
Emanuel Baetich  Actor 
Catarina Borelli  Actor 
David Cheever  Actor 
Richard Elovich  Actor 
Joseph Harding  Actor 
Heidi Kriz  Actor 
Julian Marynczak  Actor 
Adina Porter  Actor 
Elion Sacker  Actor 
Hobson Sturtevant  Actor 
Nashom Wooden  Actor 
Jim Crawford  Actor 
Phelim Dolan  Actor 
Carl M. George  Actor 
Pamela Koffler  Actor 
Christie MacFadyen  Actor 
Michael Nesline  Actor 
John Rowan  Actor 
Philip Stanton  Actor 
Trasharama  Actor 
Ray Wasik  Actor 
Lauren Zalaznick  Actor 
Ed Altman  Actor 
Zoe Bissell  Actor 
Dick Callaghan  Actor 
Robert Austin  Actor 
Barbara Bleier  Actor 
Barry Cassidy  Actor 
Paul Connor  Actor 
James Crafford  Actor 
Steven Flum  Actor 
Ken Howarth  Actor 
Ryan Landry  Actor 
Robert McKanna  Actor 
Robert Read  Actor 
Tanya Taylor  Actor 
Alex Vean  Actor 
Daniel Haughey  Actor 
James Cummings  Actor 
Robert Funes  Actor 
Douglas Leland  Actor 
John A. Mudd  Actor 
Jerome F. Richards  Actor 
Mark Simpson  Actor 
Elizabeth Towson  Actor 
Pepe Vives  Actor 
James Lyons  Actor 
Robert Beck  Actor 
Debra Goodman  Actor 
Anna Kohler  Actor 
Scott K. MacArthur  Actor 
Craig Paull  Actor 
Paul Rubin  Actor 
Peter Bowen  Actor 
Glenn Backes  Actor 
Gregg Bordowitz  Actor 
Brent Charleton  Actor 
Mike Diaz  Actor 
Lou Galiardo  Actor 
Andrea Kislan  Actor 
Barry Liebowitz  Actor 
Dana Nasrallah  Actor 
Carlos Rodriguez  Actor 
Natalie Stanford  Actor 
Stanley Taub  Actor 
Richard R. Upton  Actor 
Eric J. Wiggins III  Actor 
Paul Schmidt  Actor 
Robert Vazquez  Actor 
Burt Wright  Actor 
Robert Sullivan  Actor 
Isabela Araujo  Actor 
Dean C. Blanco  Actor 
Christopher Cangelosi  Actor 
Douglas Crimp  Actor 
Mona Foot  Actor 
Verne F. Hoyt  Actor 
Maddy Lederman  Actor 
Jean Claude Monfort  Actor 
Bobby Reed  Actor 
Emily Sherman  Actor 
Trash  Actor 
William Walters  Actor 
Nina Port  Actor 
Oscar Aleman  Actor 
Malcolm A. Beers, Jr.  Actor 
Jill Buchanan  Actor 
Addison Cook  Actor 
Patricia Fabricant  Actor 
Christopher Hoover  Actor 
Gary Lamadore  Actor 
John McGee  Actor 
Owen H. Ranft  Actor 
Richard Schechner  Actor 
Emmitt Thrower  Actor 
John Ventimiglia  Actor 
Todd Haynes  Actor 
James Bennett  Composer (Music Score) 
Tom Kalin  Director 
Tom Kalin  Screenwriter 
James Schamus  Executive Producer 
Lauren Zalaznick  Executive Producer 
Denny Vachlioti  Producer 
Christine Vachon  Producer 
Daniel Schlachet  Actor 
Craig Chester  Actor 
Ron Vawter  Actor 
Michael Kirby  Actor 
Michael Stumm  Actor 
Valda Z. Drabla  Actor 

Country: USA