Compulsion

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Fleischer directs. William C. Mellor behind the camera. Lionel Newman scores. William Reynolds cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $1.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 267 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 4Directed by Richard Fleischer, shot by William C. Mellor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Lionel Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor William Reynolds shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman and Orson Welles carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "THEIRS WAS THE PERFECT CRIME they thought! They were too sure...too smart...too careful to leave a clue -- but they did! and it exploded -- The shocking story of two teenagers out for kicks...looking for thrills...and finding them!".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0052700 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 13 themes, including "death penalty", "based on novel or book", "police", "philosophy".

The technical file

Cinematography

William C. Mellor

Original score

Lionel Newman

Editing

William Reynolds

Runtime

103 min · 1h 43m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$1,345,000

Box office

$1,800,000

Return

134% of budget

Original language

EN

IMDB

Compulsion (1959) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

100% 🍅 Fresh

IMDB rating

7.4/10 · 7,811 votes

MPAA

Approved

Also by

Richard Fleischer

• 
  Call from Space

  1989 · ★ 8.5
• 
  Memo for Joe

  1944 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Crack in the Mirror

  1960 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Narrow Margin

  1952 · ★ 7.3
• 
  10 Rillington Place

  1971 · ★ 7.3
• 
  Tora! Tora! Tora!

  1970 · ★ 7.2

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Compulsion

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2015-08-10
  ★ 7/10

  Lets go watch them slaughter the sheep! Compulsion is directed by Richard Fleischer and adapted to screenplay by Richard Murphy from the novel written by Meyer Levin. It stars Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, Orson Welles and Diane Varsi. Music is by Lionel Newman and cinematography by William C. Mellor. Based upon the real life Leopold and Loeb murder trial of the 1920s, Compulsion finds Artie Strauss (Dillman) and Judd Steiner (Stockwell) as two well to do young men attempting to commit the perfect crime - murder! But it wasn't so perfect after all and they soon find themselves on trial for their own lives. Enter famed attorney Jonathan Wilk (Welles), who fights to keep them from the death penalty. Healthily rated in some quarters, it's a film that actually does divide opinions, which when all is considered is unsurprising given the capital punishment core of the story. The story builds superbly, brilliantly photographed and paced by cinematographer and director, and performed with imposing skills by Dillman and Stockwell. Then the crux of the film arrives in the form of Welles, who late in the play has the unenviable job of turning the piece into a soapbox anti capital punishment advertisement. It's also a performance from Welles that has drawn major pros and cons in critical circles. Whatever your thoughts on capital punishment, Welles makes a telling acting mark. The sound mix could have been fine tuned, as Welles is prone to mumble during his speeches, but it remains gripping on court room drama terms, even if there's a little deflation - a feeling of anti-climax - after the build up had been so good. Not really capturing the notoriety of the real case, it's nonetheless a compelling piece and well worth seeking out. 7/10

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2026-09-15
  ★ 7/10

  It's not quite clear whether "Artie" (Bradford Dillman) and "Judd" (Dean Stockwell) are actually friends or whether the latter is merely an acolyte for his colleague at a law school where accumulated wealth and privilege have left both with quite a superiority complex. "Artie" is bored and determined to make his presence felt by committing the ultimate crime, and so together with his obedient friend they set about committing the heinous kidnapping and murder of the wealthy young "Paulie". In theory this is the perfect crime, except - "Judd" left his glasses at the scene of the crime and reporter "Sid" (Martin Miller) cottons on swiftly that they did not belong to the slain girl. It also turns out that local policeman "Johnson" (Robert F. Simon) is no slouch either and with enormous pressure bearing down on him from Chicago's great and good he sets in train a process that he hopes will ensnare his two suspects - hoist by their own petard style. Of course, getting a conviction requires a courtroom and it's there that DA "Horn" (Edward G. Marshall) thinks he can already start measuring the boys for noses. He hadn't bargained on their families employing the maverick and acerbic "Wilk" (Orson Welles) to try and save their lives, though. Can he convince a jury and a judge that these two teenagers ought not to hang? This is actually quite an intriguing drama, not because the crime - loosely based on real events - is so horrible, but because the closing statement from "Wilk" is so powerful. It's quite clear that he has a degree of disdain for these spoilt little rich men, but as you listen to his speech unfold and the camerawork focuses not just on him but on the jurors and the judge, we begin to become drawn in in quite an uncompromising, counterintuitive, fashion. What we might well have had done to the pair upon conviction becomes far less obvious, justifiable or even desired and just by spending those fifteen minutes broadening the conversation the character of "Wilk" demands answers to questions about the entire principle of the death penalty and whom, if anyone at all, it serves. Those scenes show Welles at his best, but also allow Marshall to play strongly too and with both building well on the foundations laid by a really quite effective pairing of Dillman and Stockwell this offers quite a different and provocative take on a crime noir.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• DA

  Darryl F. Zanuck Productions

• 

  20th Century Fox

  US

Key crew

• NovelMeyer Levin
• EditorWilliam Reynolds
• ProducerRichard D. Zanuck

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• death penalty
• based on novel or book
• police
• philosophy
• child murder
• based on true story
• lawyer
• courtroom
• glasses
• arrogance
• suspenseful
• superiority
• gay interest

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1959-04-01