Some gangsters come to a roadside bar located in the Arizona desert and taken to found there as hostages. Among them, a young poet (Leslie Howard) and the owner's daughter the establishment (Bette Davis) will soon strike up a friendship and exchange concerns. While the end may not be as everyone expects ...
The film, based on Robert Sherwood's work, it worked not only for its fidelity to the play, but by the chemistry of the three actors: Bogart with Howard and the latter with Bette Davis.
The film does not lose its original essence, and keeps everything as it was conceived for the theater, but with performances worthy of the best films: the feeling claustrophobic, perfectly suited to the narrative. And as happens in other movies, cinema than theater because with the help of the foreground we see those feelings and expressions on the actors.
The film has a connection with reality: John Dillingen, a famous gangster, had escaped from prison, giving the production an air soon Bogart could see, it based its character in the criminal fled: he studied the way they look, walk, move ... and thus was created Duke Mantee.
His struggle to play this role (which was brought face on stage) got the expected result.
The Petrified Forest was a 180 degree turn in the carrer of Humphrey Bogart, finally launched. In 1936, he was 37 years and a career quite loose on their backs, nothing memorable films. That yes, he had a burning desire to be a protagonist, and despite having succeeded on Broadway, film eluded him and had been relegated to secondary roles that have gone unnoticed. We can conclude that before this film, his career was in danger of sinking.
Leslie Howard had the rights to the work for film adaptation, which was a plus for Bogart, as Jack Warner wanted Edward G. Robinson will play the role of Duke. Leslie said the film would do if Humphrey was also, of otherwise he would also disappear from production. In gratitude, the second daughter Leslie Bogart was named in honor of Leslie Howard.
"If I fail now, never will. It's my last chance." That's what Humphrey Bogart said to a friend when the study assured him three weeks of work and a return trip to California in a bunk on a train or bus. Hal B.
Wallis, head of production at Warner Brothers, not skipped even one frame, was impressed by the performance of Humphrey Bogart: tormented and threatening, reflects the darkness and coldness and distance in his movements, giving the character an overwhelming presence and accuracy.
A few days into filming, there was talk that something extraordinary would happen, and that the movie would be a resounding success.
The shooting of the film was extended two weeks longer than expected, up to five, with a consequent increase in cost initially set. However, after the film premiered, the response was so great that Warner and Wallis rejoiced. All critics, from the scholars to the more populist, to the public, praised the film and the performances.
Unlike other gangster films in The Petrified Forest the action takes place in a lonely cafe Vivaldi lost in a desert. West is a great place for the claim, for adventure ... a site full of symbolism: a society petrified, intellectuals (represented by Leslie Howard) who see that society has become fossilized stone.
"I'm planning to be buried in the petrified forest. I had an idea that might interest you: is the graveyard of civilization what is beneath us ... a world of outmoded ideas. The desert is full of dead . That's my place. "
The gangster genre was booming at that time, which very well could see Archie Mayo: "There is too much light. I need Give me light shadows!" , he created very well that almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the coffee.
also Jack Warner and Hall B. Wallis failed to see the boom and were surrounded by the directors, screenwriters, actors, designers and ideals that give the genre know the right touch to convert these films into blockbusters authentically.
In the 50 took out a television adaptation of this movie, with Humphrey Bogart (playing the same role in the film) Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda.
A curious and you see very clearly in this film is that the gangster characters you see in the peículas of the 30 in the Warner Brothers anticipate what would be the protagonists of films noir of the 40 (in any other study), and to portray a villain that is not purely evil.
can conclude that The Petrified Forest is the ultimate example of pre-cinema black.
to the next entry hearts.
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