I watched this movie knowing nothing of the background to the story and found the film to be overlong , frustrating and a serious disappointment that I was tempted to turn off even near the end. I am of the John Ford , Orson Welles school of thought as regards movies and this one just wasn't entertaining enough or engrossing at crucial moments. When it did threaten to wind up a bit of tension, it dragged it out so long that the effect was certainly lost on me. I think it did OK in rustling up the period in which it is set and that is across quite a long duration, but the films ticks functional boxes without ever scaling the heights. I am not going to argue with those on this forum who want to dissect the finer points of film making but , an average cinema goer wouldn't do that anyway . I was so disappointed in this film that I made a point of logging on here today to write this review and I don't do that for just any old dud film. Thats the only compliment I can bestow . Great City, great era, poor , poor movie .