Compulsion Overview:

Compulsion (1959) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by Richard Fleischer and produced by Richard D. Zanuck.

SYNOPSIS

A tough dramatization of the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case in which two college students kidnapped and killed a boy purely for kicks. Welles plays the defense attorney who knows the truth and hopes only to forestall the death sentence. An adaptation of reporter Meyer Levin's novel.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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BlogHub Articles:

The Leopold and Loeb case is the basis for “Compulsion”

By Stephen Reginald on Mar 5, 2021 From Classic Movie Man

The Leopold and Loeb case is the basis for “Compulsion” Compulsion (1959) is an American crime drama directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Orson Welles, Diane Varsi, Dean Stockwell, and Brandford Dillman. The film is based on a novel written by Meyer Levin, which was a fiction... Read full article


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Quotes from

Arthur Straus: The neighborhood is swarming with kidnappers and degenerates!


Arthur Straus: When we made the deal, you said you could take orders. You said you wanted me to command you.
Judd Steiner: I do - as long as you keep your part of the agreement.


Jonathan Wilk: If there is any way of destroying hatred and all that goes with it, it's not through evil and hatred and cruelty, but through charity, love, understanding.


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Facts about

The first film ever produced by Richard D. Zanuck.
This is the second of three Hollywood adaptations of the Leopold-Loeb murder. The first was Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, the third Tom Kalin's Swoon.
For some reason the appropriately gravelly voice of actor/wrestler Henry Kulky, nicknamed "Bomber" playing the part of a speakeasy waiter, is dubbed by another actor.
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Also directed by Richard Fleischer




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Also produced by Richard D. Zanuck




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Also released in 1959




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