The Petrified Forest

Films/DVD Asylum

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It is hard for me to think of Humphrey Bogart as anything but the accomplised actor and star that he became. For me, his career began with Dark Victory, then developed in High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, and on and on. In short, the year 1939, a great year for film.
Hence, this 1936 film was something of an eyeopening experience for me. The film's nominal star is Bette Davis. I learn that Davis was nine years younger than Bogart, and by the time this film was released, had many more substantial films under her belt. This film shows an actress with more maturity and experience than Bogart.
I learn on the special features that this was Bogart's make or break film. Prior to TPF, he had labored in lesser films, and toiled on Broadway. He left Broadway for Hollywood for one more chance at a film career. Fortunately, Bogart played the crime character Duke Mantee on Broadway, and the film's other lead, Leslie Howard (of Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind Fame) demanded that Bogart play Mantee in the film version, else he was off the project. As appreciation, Bogard apparently named his second child Leslie.
Bogart's performance in TPF catapalted his film career. The film stars Davis as a daughter of a small dive restaurant/gas station in the Western desert. Leslie Howard plays a suave English type roaming the desert "finding himself." He stumbles in the diner to find, and later fall in love with, Davis. Bogart plays Mantee, an escaped criminal, who stops at the diner, awaiting his dame.
The film is like a play in the sense that there is only one real set of any consequence, the diner. 90% of the film takes place there. It is film that exists for the dialog, as there is precious little action, despite the frequent appearance of guns. As such, there is much opportunity for the main actors to stretch and command some screen time.
It is also a good comparison to observe Bogart early in his career, still finding his wings. Davis is the usually great Davis, relaxed in whatever role she is given. Leslie Howard plays the idealistic loner, and does so with charm. I learn in the extras that Bogart was channeling Dillinger for this role. As I was watching the film, I kept feeling that Bogart's performance was like a characature of someone in how he walked, talked ("tanks" instead of "thanks"), and his scruffy hair (real), only I could not place my finger on the subject. The Dillinger makes perfect sense.
In this respect, Bogart was still in need of experience. For while his later roles (Marlowe, for example) were all Bogart, I kept feeling that he was not Bogart here, but someone else. In spite of this, there is no question that he had an innate ability to command a scene. But I found the ease and fluid style of Davis and Howard was in marked contrast to the slightly stiff Bogart.
The extras are good for a change. Interviews with film professors and historians, as well as critic Andrew Sarris provide an historical context for the film. They discuss mostly Bogart and what this role meant to his career, and that this was the film that moved the film gangster from being of foreign born to being domestic, preceding the period of the film noir villian carried by Cagney and Robinson.
The film does not contain what I felt to be melodrama between Howard and Davis. While I have no doubt that falling in love with the Bette Davis as she appears in film may not be too difficult, Howard seems to fall for her too fast, and then his "solution" for providing her freedom is too over the top, in my opinion.
This is the type of film that you see if you are interested in Davis, Howard, and particularly Bogart, and are interested, or not familiar with Bogart at the beginning of his film career. I would also recommend the film for fans of the spoken word. Those requiring action and intrigue look elsewhere.

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The Cable Cooker

Topic - The Petrified Forest - jamesgarvin 15:11:54 11/02/06 (3)

Re: The Petrified Forest - rico 06:06:12 11/03/06 (0)

I'm a huge Bogart fan in spite of his limitations. You bring out his - tinear 16:46:25 11/02/06 (1)

Bogart was a personality NOT an actor with great talent...there is a huge difference... - TWB 10:48:54 11/03/06 (0)

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