The Innocent

The elements of a good yarn were assembled. Would the Russians figure out what the Americans were up to? Would Scott and Rossellini live happily ever after? How would they dispose of the corpse of Rossellini's recently deceased husband? How would they handle the return to present day Berlin, where the lovers reunite against the backdrop of the Berlin Wall coming down?

NUDITY REPORT

Isabella Rossellini shows a breast during a sex scene.

Unfortunately, the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

DVD info from Amazon

I really wanted to like this film, and Rossellini portrayed a girl any of us would have fallen in love with, but the film just didn't work. Part of the problem was that Scott's character was plain as milk toast and as exciting as watching paint dry. Hopkins could have saved the day with a more entertaining portrayal, but he was merely workmanlike.

The Critics Vote ...

Super-panel consensus: two and a half stars. Ebert 3/4, Berardinelli 2/4.

Rotten Tomatoes summary. 33% positive.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.2/10

Gross: about a half million dollars in the USA.

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C-. Could have been very good, but somehow wasn't.