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Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 22, 2020 17:04:32 GMT
Bogart (and y'all know Bogart can do no wrong with  ) .... what is with the way he holds his arms and hands ? It looks like he had casts on until recently and the elbows are not quite working yet. I admit to smiling a bit inappropriately over Duke's exaggerated tough guy growls and snarls... never noticed this in any of his earlier OR later gangster performances. Still a forever film ... recently discovered quirks and all. 
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Post by mikef6 on Nov 22, 2020 17:39:52 GMT
Did you notice that Duke Mantee's gang was integrated? After Bogart, the only other players brought to the film from the Broadway production were the gang member and rich guy's chauffeur, African-American actors Slim Thompson and John Alexander.  |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 22, 2020 18:58:56 GMT
mikef6 There was an interesting dynamic going on between those two men  !
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Post by wmcclain on Nov 23, 2020 12:19:48 GMT
The Petrified Forest (1936), directed by Archie Mayo. When gentlemanly but disillusioned writer Leslie Howard hikes into an isolated desert diner, he encounters young Bette Davis, wasting away and dreaming of moving to France to be an artist. Transient love blooms like a desert flower, until destiny arrives in the form of desperado Humphrey Bogart and his gang. There will be blood. I've never seen a bad performance from Leslie Howard and here he is excellent as the amused, failed intellectual who has given up on civilization, secretly wanting to die and admiring the savages taking over the world. The young woman is his redemption, a hope that she can live as he has failed to do. Bogart is the savage with rough charm of his own. He calls ladies "Ma'am" when stealing their jewelry and won't let Gramps have a drink when told it is bad for him. And he too is in love. Sticking to his girl is what dooms him. And he knows it. Adapted from a stage play, it runs pretty well on screen, talky of course and more or less bound to the diner. Howard and Bogart did the stage version and Howard refused to do the film without him. It became Bogart's breakout role. His walk -- like a trousered ape -- and the way he hangs his hands are eccentric; he said he modeled it on films of Dillinger. Howard and Davis starred in Of Human Bondage (1934) two years earlier. She's still young enough to be on the edge of pretty, before she developed her "exotic" looks. Howard died when his plane was shot down in 1943, a great loss. Unusually for the 1930s we have two black actors in good roles: one is the officious and semi-comical chauffeur, but the other is a serious member of the crime gang. Filmed entirely on a soundstage, apart from a couple of desert terrain shots. Available on Blu-ray. The old heavy-grained film source will not win any eye-candy awards, but this is an upgrade over the previous DVD: more detail, better black levels and less compression ringing. 
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Post by london777 on Nov 23, 2020 13:34:59 GMT
Howard died when his plane was shot down in 1943, a great loss. I am astounded this incident has never been made into a movie. It's a natural. Leslie Howard, spies, Churchill, Nazis, and a "Casablanca"-type ambiance. I wish I still had my old Olivetti, I could knock out a screen-play in two hours. 
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Post by BATouttaheck on Nov 23, 2020 15:36:50 GMT
His walk -- like a trousered ape -- and the way he hangs his hands are eccentric; he said he modeled it on films of Dillinger.Still looked kinda silly, this time 
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Post by marianne48 on Nov 23, 2020 15:48:04 GMT
Mr. Howard reportedly refused to appear in the film unless his friend Mr. Bogart was cast as well. In gratitude, Bogart would later name his daughter Leslie after the late actor.
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Post by mattgarth on Nov 23, 2020 16:12:16 GMT
Favorite line:
"This is Duke Mantee -- the world-famous killer."
His hands were at that angle because he had spent half of his life in handcuffs.
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Post by marshamae on Nov 23, 2020 16:20:43 GMT
Glad to see the appreciation for Leslie Howard ,one of my favorite actors. His British dry wit, sure, but see him in Stand in as Atterberry Dodds trying to keep a film studio afloat,. See Scarlet Pimpernel and Pimpernel Smith , two versions of the great dual personality, fop and swashbuckler. He is hysterically funny and intelligently heroic, not all swagger but real grit and determination.
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Post by marshamae on Nov 24, 2020 1:16:34 GMT
I am watching this now. I am reminded that it is far from my favorite Bette Davis performance. I wish it had been played by someone less hysterical, more natural. I realize she was trying to impress Squiers, she was more laid back in her scenes with Dick Foran. It would have been a nice part for Natalie Wood, maybe.
In the whole long scene with Squiers we are supposed to like her, empathize with her, approve of her dreams. At the end of their scene , as he leaves with the couple in their car, I just do not want to root for her.
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Nov 24, 2020 5:40:53 GMT
I watched this one last week.
I guess I can understand and appreciate that the story is trying to compare and contrast the characters of Howard's fatalist poet and Bogart's gangster at the end of his rope. They are both said to be relics of the old world, which ties in with their individual destinies at the end of the story. I just don't think it was presented in an entertaining enough manner which I could appreciate. Perhaps with time and experience that may come with aging - or may not - I might come to appreciate the film more later on.
I found Bette Davis's voice to be too high-pitched and shouty, which irritated me.
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Post by teleadm on Nov 24, 2020 18:49:58 GMT
 One can't but be impressed by the acting in movies, with that many, hopefully important, persons behind the camera, especially in intimate scenes.
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Post by marshamae on Nov 24, 2020 20:39:56 GMT
It’s amazing isnt it that they can achieve any sense of intimacy with all that going on. Thanks for sharing this. It good to keep this in perspective.
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