Die Nacht kennt keine Schatten (1957)

Die Nacht kennt keine Schatten: Directed by Robert Mulligan. With Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Adam Williams. True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball.

“I still remember seeing this as a Little League-age kid in the theater as our family was vacationing in Florida.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen I saw it again, some 40 years later, parts of the film were still very familiar, a testimony to how powerful some of these scenes were. I never forgot them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis was a based-on-a-true-life account of major league baseball player Jimmy Piersall, a very talented player who suffered a nervous breakdown. The enormous pressure to succeed that was driven into him by his never-satisfied father was pictured as the cause which made him snap.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnthony Perkins, who plays Piersall, and Karl Madlen, who portrays his dad, are both excellent, riveting characters. Some say this was Maldenu0026#39;s best performance ever. Perkins was no slouch, either. This is the classic sports story of an overzealous parent living his or her dreams through their child.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe baseball segment of this film ended about halfway through. From that point, after Perkins breaks down at the park, climbing the backstop fence in a horrifying scene, the film actually gets even more interesting with everyone in the film contributing although the cast, after Perkins and Malden, is a pretty much an unknown-name one.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe only unrealistic part of the film, typical of sports films until the 1980s, was seeing an actor play a ballplayer when he u0026quot;throws like a girl,u0026quot; as the old expression went. The younger actor playing Piersall as a kid was no better than Perkins in this regard. Neither had a clue how to a throw a ball. It looks corny nowadays.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOh, well. That wasnu0026#39;t the focus of the story, anyway. As powerful as this film was, it apparently didnu0026#39;t have much of an effect as pushy parents in sports still exist and probably always will, taking the fun out of sports for a number of kids.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s still a memorable film and worth your time today, especially if you have never seen it.”