Humphrey Bogart - Film by Film Thread

Last night Turner Classic Movie played "The Petrified Forest" 1936. It struck me one of the things that I like about Humphrey Bogart is the tone of his voice & his delivery of lines. Especially in his 'tough guy' roles.

"Sit down Pal" "Shut up sister"

 

" Let's all be quiet, and listen to the radio."

 

The Desperate Hours - Rated

Well, having now watched this again, I have to say that I have significantly revised my opininon of it, and in fact feel almost ashamed at my earlier comments. It's a much better film than I remembered. I probably was disappointed with it originally because I was only interedted in Bogart and maybe found the pacing a bit slow. But I realise now that Frederic March played his role brilliantly, as in fact did a number of other members of the supporting caste. The pacing is just right, teh direction taut, the b&w photography lush. What's not to like?! The film is also much more thematically interesting than I previously realised.

So, I am learning from this thead, at least...

*** SPOILER ****

What I didn't pick up, plot-wise, first time round, was that although the family are ostensibly trapped inside the house with the criminals, in fact it is the criminaks themselves who are trapped, and whose fate is certain. What might happen to the family members is open to question, at the start - we don't know for sure if they'll live or die. But wse (surely) do know what will happen to the criminals, right?

*** END OF SPOLIER ***

You could, in fact, write a pretty interesting essay on class, criminalitry, etc. based on this film. There are also very intriguing family-related contrasts and parallels going on: e.g. the relationship between Bogart's character and his brother, versus that between Frederich March's characetr and his son - both 'fatehr figures' struggling with complex issues around respect, authority, being a role model etc.

All in all, this is an excellent film. So, returning to my spurious rating system, having revisited the film for the first time in maybe 10 years:

'The Desperate Hours' - Suggested 5-Star Movie Rating: 4

'The Desperate Hours' - Suggested 5-Star Bogart Performance Rating: 4

 

Finished my rewatch of The Desperate Hours myself last night.

Man, it was better than I remembered ! Love that VistaVision too. I've had a rectangular screen (32") in my life for over 4 years now, and I still can't take it for granted ! Likely go to my grave asking " what took them so long ? "
The fact that we had square screens in our homes for as long as we did, was ridiculous.

 

My favorite version of Petrified Forest was on the Lux Radio Theater, and stars Ronald Colman in the lead. Lawrence Tierney plays Bogart's role. But more interesting to me is Susan Hayward, who I greatly prefer as Gabrielle. She's just perfect as is Colman. Too bad, Bogey, who did lots of radio, didn't play the radio part. Tierney's fine, but I'd have thought Bogart, Colman and Hayward as ideal.

 

Agree on both counts. I constantly revel in the glory of having a widescreen TV to watch movies on.

And yes, this is a great film.

 

I just hope we're not the last generation to appreciate these films. My 28-29 year-old son couldn't have cared less about sharing it with me. I've tried to explain he'd love Bogie, but no...

 

Interesting that it's the same house from "Leave it to Beaver"....

 

Yes, it's a worry. When I was in my twenties, that's when I really started to get into Bogart movies etc. But these days I guess that era seems like ancient history to kids that age. My daughter is 22 and won't even consider watching anything in B&W.

I got my 5 year old son a Laurel & Hardy DVD. He loved it. My wife came into the room while we were watching 'The Music Box', and my son said, "Mummy! You have to see this. It's in black and white, but it's funny!"

 

My sons were raised in a black and white film household. They have seen Hitchcock, Capra, Ford, and others and of course Bogart's films, at least the cream (according to Dad).

It's just important to know history, and just as I've encouraged them to read classic books, and authors such as Dickens, Chesterton, Twain, knowing the classic films is culturally enriching.

 

That's exactly it. You have to start them very young with the B&W. My buddy's kids have grown up with it and they accept it and enjoy it. None of their friends do.

Bogart could do no wrong in my book. I'll be back.

 

Laubable. Not always easy to achieve, though. I remember the chief source of movies was TV, which showed classics at Xmas (and other times) and gave us all an education - whether we like it or not! Same deal with the dawn of the VCR age - all those cassettes of movies suddenly circulating. Now, things are so diffused and fragmented, there are no longer such channels...

 

And now, it is our mildly onerous duty to turn to:

'The Left Hand of God', 1955, 20th Century Fox

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, written by Alfred Hayes.

Stars Humphrey Bogart, Gene Tierney, Lee J Cobb, Agnes Moorehead, EG Marshall

87 minutes, Colour

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048291/


Here's (part of) Wikipedia’s plot summary (mild spoiler, although how this film could be 'spoiled' I cannot say):

"Jim Carmody (Humphrey Bogart) is an American pilot in World War II. After crashing his plane in China, he was rescued by a local warlord, General Yang (Lee J. Cobb), and became his trusted adviser. However, after one of the
general's soldiers kills a priest, Father O'Shea, Jim decides to desert."

What can be said about this film? It's probably my least favourite Bogart movie, a dry, turgid, and ultimately depressing hour and a half in which every scene, even those lasting only a few moments, seems to drag on for Centuries. Bogart plays a priest (or a man posing as a priest) and is probably the least convincing clergyman since that Pope who colluded with the Nazis. The fact that his real name is James Carmody, which everyone pronounces so as to sound like 'Comedy', speaks volumes. That said, Bogart is more plausible as a priest than Lee J Cobb is as a Chinese warlord.

Bogart is Bogart, even in bad movies, but this one really tries the viewer's patience. He has a few good exchanges with EG Marshall:

Marshall: "Don't rely too heavily on that clerical collar, Father"
Bogart "Would you like me to take it off?"

Gene Tierney is lovely, and was suffering many troubles during the filming, but it has to be said that her scenes with Bogart have no spark whatsoever. Apparently Bogart was very kind and understanding, showing great patience with her, etc. He should have showed less patience with the idiots who got him involved in this irredeemable exercise in dreariness. Seeing Bogart with - and even on - horses and donkeys can't help bring to mind 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre', a comparison which does this remarkably poor film no favours.

Here's a summation from Terrance Pettigrew's 'Bogart File':

"As we leave Bogart and his moist, bloodhound eyes contemplating the future, which presumably includes a steady job and marriage to the characterless Miss Scott [Tierney], we come to the inescapable conclusion that he would have been much better off with Lee J Cobb any day."

Pettigrew notes that Bogart's doleful expression closely matches that of his donkey, and I'd add the visage of the afflicted viewer of this film to that comparison.

Awful. Should be 'Exhibit A' in any argument that Hollywood often wasted its greatest assets, particularly its very greatest asset, Humphrey Bogart.

Filmed in Cinemascope, this may as well have been filmed at the bottom of Loch Ness. A waste of time. Oh dear. I doubt I'll watch this again for a very long time.


Inevitably, my half-assed star rating system reflects the feeble nature of this 'entertainment':

'The Left Hand of God' - Suggested 5-Star Movie Rating: 1.5

'The Left Hand of God' - Suggested 5-Star Bogart Performance Rating: 2.5

 

Any interest in this thread? Thinking of abandoning it, if nobody's interested...

 

Somehow I've missed this one.

 

I love plenty of Bogey's films, but Desperate Hours is the only one we've focused on so far that I've seen. Keep 'em coming!

 

Never cared for the Left Hand of God. Dramatically, it doesn't hang together. One of his weakest movies afer he became famous. I'm not sure I could rate it higher than a two.

 

Maybe somebody remembers the name of the film in which Bogart played the part of an army officer coming home right after WWII. I remember seeing it only once on late nite TV back in the late sixties.

 

And he can't catch a break on his factory job, losing a promotion to a non-American, so he joins a hate group ? " Black Legion," 1937.

 

probably Dead Reckoning. I've got it on dvd but it's been a while since I've watched it. A second tier film noir.

 

I think you're right, and I'm wrong.

 

I think WWII ended a little later than 1937.

I'll look up a synopsis of Dead Reckoning to see if it jogs my memory any.

 

I'm an idiot.

 

Yes, definitely 'Dead Reckoning'. We'll get to it. NOt a great film, but has some interesting aspects.