John Ford Retrospective - The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)

THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936)

Starring:  Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, Claude Gillingwater, Arthur Byron, O.P. Heggie, Harry Carey, Francis Ford, John McGuire, Francis McDonald, Douglas Wood, John Carradine, Joyce Kay, Fred Kohler Jr., Ernest Whitman, Paul Fix, Frank Shannon, Frank McGlynn Sr., Leila McIntyre, Etta McDaniel, J.M. Kerrigan, Arthur Loft, Paul McVey, Maurice Murphy

Writer:  Nunnally Johnson

Cinematography:  Bert Glennon

Editor:  Jack Murray

B&W, 1h 36m.  1.37:1 presentation.

Released on:  February 12, 1936 by Twentieth Century Fox.

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set.

The Prisoner of Shark Island gets my vote for must underrated John Ford movie that has pretty much been cancelled by the general population at large.  It's a wonderfully told character study / history lesson / prison break film / wrong man story that happens to be a product of its time in regards to racial stereotypes.  Check that.  It's probably a bit ahead of its time, as there are a couple of black characters who have significant roles in the film, and are treated and portrayed far better than in most studio films of the time, but is definitely far behind our times, in that in general the African-American actors, while not all bug-eyed and subservient, are still painted with the same askance-looking brush as in other cinematic documents of its era.

Which is too bad, because other than that, quite frankly, this is a great film.

Warner Baxter, the second ever best actor Oscar winner for 1929's In Old Arizona, plays Dr. Samuel Mudd, a country doctor in rural Maryland who unwittingly aids a fugitive John Wilkes Booth (Francis McDonald), by setting his leg and giving him directions after the infamous former actor has gone on the run for shooting president Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.).  When two Union soldiers (John McGuire and Fred Kohler Jr.) find one of Booth's discarded boots on the Mudd property, the well-meaning doctor is taken away from his wife Peggy (Gloria Stuart) and daughter Martha (Joyce Kay), and father-in-law, former Confederate colonel Jeremiah Milford Dyer (Claude Gillingwater), quickly paraded through a kangaroo court by Secretary General Erickson (Arthur Byron) along with other various "conspirators" - both innocent and guilty among them - and sentenced to do time at Devil's Island, in the Dry Tortugas off Key West in Florida.

Upon arriving at the prison, Mudd is treated with disdain and hatred by staff and prisoners alike, including Sgt. Rankin (John Carradine), who goes out of his way to make Mudd's life a living hell.  His only friend is his former neighbour, Buck Milford (Ernest Whitman), who has attached himself to the prison as one of their multitude of black guards, and helps correspond with Mudd's wife in an attempt to help him escape the prison.  The attempt fails, however, and Mudd is thrown in solitary along with Buck.

The good doctor's luck changes when an epidemic of yellow fever sweeps the island, rendering most of the staff and prisoners either very sick or very dead.  When the prison doctor, MacIntyre (O.P. Heggie), comes down with the sickness, it's up to Mudd, along with the prison commandant (Harry Carey) and Corporal O'Toole (Francis Ford), to save the people on the island.  Will such a good deed go unnoticed, or will it finally bring recognition and a pardon from president Andrew Johnson?  

There's so much to like about this movie.  Firstly, let's talk about how well it's shot.  For Lincoln's assassination, we follow Booth through the inner rooms of the theatre, the sound of the actors performing dropping in and out of the soundtrack depending on Booth's position in relation to them.  Brings a nice realism and tenseness to a scene that's frankly been done to death over the years.  Ford also shoots the demise of the former president beautifully.  At the moment the president passes, a muslin curtain is pulled before between the actor and the camera, which then racks focus towards the curtain, a figurative representation of the dimming of the light of the late statesman.  

The use of odd angles and unusual setups help make the court scenes, short as they are, stand out for their oppression and judgment.  Then when we get to the prison, the light and shadows work wonders to convey the atmosphere of loneliness and terror.  When we think of John Ford's work, we usually think of the Technicolor westerns of the 1950s, but his black and white work from the 1930s and 1940s is just as gorgeous, and I feel works more towards telling the story rather than just being picturesque.  

The acting is top-notch, with the exception perhaps of the little girl who plays Dr. Mudd's daughter.  Then again, most child actors of the time grate on me, so your mileage may vary.  Aside from the aforementioned social attitudes that are very much of their time, I really can't think of anything negative to say about this one.  The Prisoner of Shark Island is an underrated gem that deserves more recognition in the Ford pantheon.

Nine misjudged medics out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Steamboat Round The Bend (1935)

STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND (1935)

Starring:  Will Rogers, Anne Shirley, Irvin S. Cobb, Eugene Pallette, John McGuire, Berton Churchill, Francis Ford, Stepin Fetchit, Roger Imhof, Raymond Hatton, Hobart Bosworth

Writers:  Dudley Nichols, Lamar Trotti (based on the novel "Steamboat 'round the Bend" by Ben Lucien Burman)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Music:  Samuel Kaylin

Editor:  Alfred DeGaetano

B&W, 1h 22m.  1.37:1 presentation.

Released on:  September 6, 1935 by Twentieth Century Fox.

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set.

Definitely a lesser Ford film, in both recognition and artistry, and yet there's something about it that makes it a pretty enjoyable show.

Will Rogers, in the penultimate role of his career before his untimely demise in a plane crash in August of 1935 (the film was released six weeks after his death), stars in the last of his three rural Americana joints for John Ford.  Here, the comedian and social humorist plays Dr. John Pearly, owner and captain of the Claremont Queen, a run down shell of a vessel that, like its owner, has seen better days.  Dr. John's nephew Duke (John McGuire), has been wrongfully accused of killing a man, and takes shelter along with his love, the incredibly named Fleety Belle (Anne Shirley) on the vessel.  After being caught, Duke languishes in jail under the watchful yet sympathetic eye of Sheriff Rufe Jeffers (Eugene Pallette), while Dr. John takes on a couple of comedic assistants (Jonah, played by Stepin Fetchit, and Efe, played by Francis Ford) on the boat to help him and Fleety Belle out, all the while searching out the self-proclaimed prophet New Moses (Berton Churchill), the only man who can prove Duke's innocence.  All the while in a race down the Mississippi against rival Captain Eli (Irvin S. Cobb, author of a previous Ford/Rogers venture, Judge Priest).

While there are visually few obvious Fordian touches to be seen, his hand is felt in the direction of the comedic scenes.  While not nearly on a par with Bringing Up Baby, this film has plenty of chuckles to be proud of.  The physical comedy is top tier, as when Francis Ford mistakenly drinks a bottle of turpentine while painting the boat.  Another great moment was when, during a scene in which Dr. John is putting together a museum of historical figures on the boat, Efe brings a mannequin of Elizabeth I to Dr. John, bends it over doggy-style, and asks, "Where do you want this ... virgin queen?"  That one got past the censors!

I've always been a fan of the classic Hollywood character actors, and we've got a few of them in this one, including Hobart Bosworth as a chaplain on the hanging block, Roger Imhof as Fleety Belle's pa, and the aforementioned Eugene Pallette -- distinctly recognizable with his bullfrog voice -- and Francis Ford, the director's brother, who gets a plumb part here as Efe.  I feel the need to mention Berton Churchill here, however.  Churchill was almost always cast as the villain of any given piece, or if alternatively as a stoic authority figure.  So it's a nice change seeing him in a heroic role as a half-crazy self-proclaimed prophet who throws himself wholeheartedly into the madcap proceedings.  The scenes when everybody uses jugs of liquor to power the steamship had me in stitches.

There's not much more to be said about Steamboat Round The Bend.  Did Ford really fill up a river with four steamboats and just let them go at it?  Definitely looks impressive for sure, especially in these days of everything being CGI.  The ending was a little too quick and pat, like many films of the era, but all told, it's only slightly more than an hour, filled with laughs, and worth watching if you're into this kind of thing.

Seven speedy steamboats out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - The Informer (1935)

THE INFORMER (1935)

Starring:  Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Una O'Connor, J.M. Kerrigan, Joe Sawyer, Neil Fitzgerald, Donald Meek, D'Arcy Corrigan, Leo McCabe, Steve Pendleton, Francis Ford, May Boley, Grizelda Hervey, Denis O'Dea

Writer:  Dudley Nichols (based on the novel "The Informer" by Liam O'Flaherty)

Cinematography:  Joseph H. August

Music:  Max Steiner

Editor:  George Hively

B&W, 1h 31m.  1.37:1 presentation.

Released on:  May 8, 1935 by RKO Radio Pictures.

My experience:  John Ford Film Collection DVD box set.

When you think of a John Ford movie what's the first thing that comes to mind?  Probably an epic wide vista shot of Monument Valley, perhaps some horses riding through it; or alternatively, an image of John Wayne might be the first thing that pops into your mind.

For me, the shadow-and-fog expressionism of The Informer is what my mind immediately gravitates towards when thinking of John Ford.  Before his Technicolor westerns of the 1940s and 1950s, John Ford was a master of the Germanic expressionist style first pioneered by Murnau and Pabst, among others.  This is an amazingly shot film that won four Oscars (Ford for director, Victor McLaglen for actor, Dudley Nichols for screenplay and George Hively for editing), and nominated for two more (best picture and Max Steinern for the musical score).  Surprisingly, the cinematography by Joseph H. August wasn't nominated.

The story is fairly simple.  The Informer takes places in one night in 1922 Dublin, during the Troubles.  McLaglen plays Gypo Nolan, our protagonist for this film.  Gypo is a hulking brute of a man and a bit of a dullard, who has been down on his luck and never knowing where his next meal is coming from.  A former member of the IRA, he has been cast out of the group by Commandant Dan Gallagher (Preston Foster) for letting a captured British soldier go free.  As Gypo puts it at one point, "the British think I'm with the Irish and the Irish think I'm with the British.  The long and short of it is, I'm walkin' around without a dog to lick my trousers!"  

Gypo's old friend Frankie McPhillip (Wallace Ford) is wanted by the Black & Tans - the Royal Irish Constabulary in Dublin - with a 20 pound reward for his whereabouts.  He sneaks back into town to visit his mother (Una O'Connor) and sister Mary (Heather Angel) and meets up with Gypo to make sure the house isn't still being surveilled.  Later Gypo meets up with his girlfriend Katie (Margot Grahame) and dreams of getting out of their situation and taking a boat to America, which costs 10 pounds each.  He remembers the bounty on his friend's head and sells him out to the Black & Tans for said price.  

The rest of the film follows Gypo through the night, as he recklessly spends his blood money, being urged on and followed around by Terry (J.M. Kerrigan).  Meanwhile, Gallagher, who is courting Mary, and his seconds-in-command Barty Mulholland (Joe Sawyer) and Tommy Connor (Neil Fitzgerald) begin to suspect Gypo of the betrayal, after they bring him in for questioning and he fingers the innocent tailor Mulligan (Donald Meek) of the crime.  After causing a scene and spending half of his money at a thinly veiled whorehouse run by Madame Betty (May Boley), he is brought to a kangaroo court in order to be sentenced, by "Judge" Flynn (Francis Ford), with witnesses including a blind man (D'Arcy Corrigan) to whom he gave money outside the station and Mary herself.  Steve Pendleton plays a young soldier who draws the short stick to pull the trigger on him.  Famous Irish singer/actor Denis O'Dea plays a street singer in the film also.

The cinematography, as mentioned before, is just stunning.  The chiaroscuro expressionism of thick fog and sets often lit by a single streetlight combine to not only make an incredibly beautiful visual mark on the film, but an accurate representation of the alcoholic Gypo's constantly muddled state of mind.  The film moves very quickly; while not specifically a real-time feature, it does take place in one night, and the stakes are ever present.  Max Steiner's score is simple and iconic.

McLaglen does a wonderful job of playing Gypo.  He pulls off the double take of self-pity and bluster very nicely.  Some people have criticized his performance for being a little too big but people like that are basically a human id; they have no sense of what their thoughts and actions are accountable for, except for in the immediate sense of the word; they are, for whatever reason, children in an adult body.  The bigness of his performance works for me.  In fact this film is filled with nicely subtle performances that contrast McLaglen's performance quite well.  

One thing I need to criticise about The Informer is the obviousness of repeatedly superimposing the poster of the bounty on McPhillip's head overtop of Gypo thinking, which happens about a half dozen times over the first 45 minutes of the film.  It gets to be a bit much, honestly.  

John Ford won an Oscar for this film, making use of a near-negligible budget to create a stylized expressionistic work of art.  The themes, in and of themselves, are fairly simplistic, but what a gorgeous look it has.  The Informer has tumbled a bit from its regard as a classic, but I still think it's a great example of 1930s filmmaking, and of what classic studio film directors could do when given a challenge.

Eight idiotic informers out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - The Whole Town's Talking (1935)

THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (1935)

Starring:  Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl, James Donlan, Arthur Byron, Wallace Ford, Donald Meek, Etienne Girardot, Edward Brophy, Paul Harvey

Writers:  Jo Swerling & Robert Riskin (based on the story "Jail Breaker" by W.R. Burnett

Cinematography:  Joseph H. August

Editor:  Viola Lawrence

B&W, 1h 33m.  1.37:1 presentation

Released on:  February 21, 1935 by Columbia Pictures.

My experience:  John Ford: The Columbia Films Collection DVD box set

I've always loved me a good screwball comedy, and The Whole Town's Talking ranks up there with the best of the bunch.  While there are no distinctly Fordian touches that stand out, Ford shows a deft touch with the screwball genre, and I'm just sorry he never truly returned to the format.

Edward G. Robinson, playing against type, portrays Arthur Ferguson Jones, a milquetoast office corporate drone working in an office overseen by the persnickety Seaver (Etienne Girardot), alongside wisecracking dame Wilhelmina Clark (Jean Arthur).  It comes to the attention of people in the office that Jones looks an awful lot like the notorious Killer Mannion, whose picture has made the front page of the newspaper.  The mix-up is further confounded by Hoyt (Donald Meek), a nosy type who calls the cops on Jones after seeing him and Miss Clark dining in a restaurant.  The cops make a shambles of the whole situation, assuming Jones is Mannion without doing their due diligence, including using one of the gangster's professional nemeses, Slugs Martin (Edward Brophy), as a witness.  Meanwhile the equally innocent Miss Clark has fun with the situation whilst being interrogated by Detectives Boyle (Arthur Hohl) and Howe (James Donlan).  District Attorney Spencer (Arthur Byron) is ready to have Jones indicted for murder when it is announced that the real Mannion has just robbed a bank while they were putting all their eggs in Jones' basket.  

Jones is released and becomes the new favourite of his boss, JG Carpenter (Paul Harvey), who sets him up writing a column for his friend Healy (Wallace Ford), who runs a newspaper.  Things get interesting, however, when Jones returns home to find the real Mannion in his apartment.  How will the timid office worker deal with the newest unreal situation in his rapidly changing life?

While visually nothing about The Whole Town's Talking stands out as a John Ford film, his mark is all over it, albeit in a comedic way.  Ford never wastes an opportunity to poke fun at the hypocrisy and ineptitude of those in positions of authority, and the police get it good in this one.  None of them are portrayed as corrupt per se (with the possible exception of the D.A.), but they all, in the best tradition of the screwball comedy, jump to conclusions regarding Jones without doing the slightest bit of research into either the man or the situation.  The pace of the film is also handled deftly by Ford, at least until the third act when the action picks up and the comedy slows down.

Can I just say how much I loved the look of the film?  I've always been extremely partial to the art deco designs of the early 1930s, and this movie has it in spades.  There's something about the look and feel of a 1930s screwball comedy, from Nothing Sacred to The Awful Truth or Bringing Up Baby that just pleases me immensely, and this one is no different.  It's beautifully shot and lit by longtime Ford cinematographer Joseph H. August, and technically, I had fun trying to figure out how the two characters played by Robinson were able to occupy the same space.  Some rear projection was involved, as well as doubles, and it's a fun little game to play while watching the movie.

Robinson is fantastic in his dual role.  He is cemented in our culture as a gangster, which is so far away from what he was in real life, so it's nice to see him play against type -- and against himself.  He seems to really be having fun, and I as a viewer did as well.  Jean Arthur takes on the first of the roles that made her a screwball megastar in the late 1930s and early 1940s; she's great in this, and will only get better from here.  Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, Easy Living, You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Devil and Miss Jones, The Talk of the Town, and The More the Merrier were all films she made over the next eight years, after which she semi-retired from acting.  It's too bad that she's not more well-known today, because she had incredible timing and delivery.

The film also includes a number of character actors playing bit parts, some with speaking roles, some in blink and you'll miss em parts.  These actors include Ford stock company members J. Farrell MacDonald, Francis Ford, and other actors more closely related to the gangster genre, like Robert Emmett O'Connor, Joe Sawyer, Harry Tenbrook, and Lucille Ball as a bank employee herded into the basement.

The Whole Town's Talking is a wonderful way to pass a rainy hour and a half, full of gutbusting laughs and action.  Highly recommended.

Eight demonic doppelgangers out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Judge Priest (1934)

JUDGE PRIEST (1934)

Starring:  Will Rogers, Tom Brown, Anita Louise, Henry B. Walthall, David Landau, Rochelle Hudson, Roger Imhof, Frank Melton, Charley Grapewin, Berton Churchill, Brenda Fowler, Francis Ford, Hattie McDaniel, Stepin Fetchit

Writers:  Dudley Nicholas & Lamar Trotti (based on character of "Judge Priest" by Irvin S. Cobb)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Music:  Cyril J. Mockridge

Editor:  Paul Weatherwax

B&W, 1h 20m.  1.37: 1 presentation.

Released on:  Sept. 15, 1934 by Fox Film Corporation.

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set

Judge Priest begins with the title character behind the judge's desk, in the midst of reading a newspaper.  He looks up, startled, clears his throat, and exclaims, "Ahem ... this court is called to order".  And then the opening credits start.

This irreverent opening alerts the viewer to what the tone of the film will be, a combination of sentimental honesty and detached irony.  It's a difficult line to tread, and while it's not always successful, Judge Priest succeeds more than it misses.

Will Rogers, in the second of his three collaborations with John Ford, plays the title character, a down-homey old judge up for re-election in a small Kentucky town.  His opponent, former state senator Horace Maydew (Berton Churchill), is a pompous bombast who contracts directly with Judge Priest's homespun restraint.  Judge Priest's tolerance of his rival is further strained by the fact that his sister, Mrs. Caroline Priest (Brenda Fowler) insists that his nephew Rome (Tom Brown) take his place in "proper" society by dating Senator Maydew's daughter Virginia (Rochelle Hudson).  This despite the fact that the boy is heads over tails in love with next door neighbour Ellie May Gillespie (Anita Louise), who is ostensibly from the wrong side of the tracks, even though she lives next door to Judge Priest and never appears with a hair out of place.  

Local barber Flem Talley (Frank Melton) is also a suitor for Ellie May, who definitely seems to prefer Rome.  But while Aunt Caroline wholly disapproves of her nephew taking up with "that girl", his pursuit of his longtime neighbour and crush is encouraged by Judge Priest and his maid, Aunt Disley (Hattie McDaniel), who never miss an opportunity to get the two together.  In one scene, the judge imitates the speaking mannerisms of his friend Jeff Poindexter (Stepin Fetchit), in order to get Flem Talley to cut short a date with Ellie May.  

Some great character actors, many part of the John Ford Stock Company, make up much of the remainder of the townspeople.  They include Henry B. Walthall as Reverend Ashby Brand, David Landau as soft-spoken handyman Bob Gillis, Roger Imhof as Billy Gaynor, the town's voluble windbag and drunkard, and Ford's own brother Francis Ford as Juror No. 12, whose main goal in life seems to be to spit chaws of tobacco as far as he can.

Let's get the criticisms out of the way.  Judge Priest is not for everybody, not in this day and age.  The inclusion of Stepin Fetchit's act and Hattie McDaniel singing gospel songs and bugging her eyes out does not age well at all.  The world we live in is plenty unaccepting of people in today's time; one can only imagine the amount of casual, unremarked-upon racism that occurred 90 years ago.  Actually, you can get a taste of it here.  Stepin Fetchit's lazy, sleepy way of talking and walking is pretty much the caricature of the "shiftless black person" passed down throughout history, and all the maids showing nothing but delight in their jobs make them one-note characters.

And yet ... and yet.  Ford takes these tropes and subverts them.  Yes, McDaniel has to sing a couple of gospel songs with some atrocious lyrics, but she is also the key catalyst in uniting Rome and Ellie May.  As well, there is also a touching scene where she and Rogers duet on a song that at first seems improvised but you realize it's a ritual in their household.  The judge, unlike most people in the town, treats Aunt Dilsey with kindness and respect, and there's a genuine connection between the two, which is fairly uncommon in films of the 1930s.  

Stepin Fetchit's character is a bit more troublesome.  It's incredibly difficult to watch, and unacceptable as entertainment today, but he plays the fool very well, and I mean that in a Shakespearean way.  What comes out of his mouth is incredibly inane, and the way he performs it is grotesque, and yet Jeff Poindexter, if he lived in 1600s England, would have been considered a philosopher fool.  As for Lincoln Perry, the actor behind the character of Stepin Fetchit, he has been reviled by the black community in the last half century due to his acting being very "minstrel show."  But as a black actor in a time when they were on screen for as little as possible, his drawing things out and making himself the centre of attention (and make no mistake, regardless of what you think it's impossible to take your eyes of him when he's onscreen) are brilliant in their subversiveness.  The fact that he mostly -- not completely -- vocally drops this facade during his one scene with Hattie McDaniel -- is a nod to the performative aspect of the Stepin Fetchit character.

I don't feel qualified to delve into the issue of race relations much more than that, but suffice it to say that John Ford has always had a love hate relationship with small town societies.  The groupings together of peoples, the rituals of churchgoing and socials, you can tell he appreciates, but at the same time he finds them annoying as hell and is more than willing to take the piss out of them.  The fact that there's a social hierarchy in a small Kentucky town is a sticking point, and many of the people who are considered part of the "virtuous class" -- the churchgoers, the officeholders, the town leaders -- are shown to be anything but.

So after this little detour into social deconstruction, what do I actually think of the film itself?  Firstly, Will Rogers is great in it.  I love his sarcastic yet sensitive persona; it's very much John Ford projected onto the screen, if not slightly softened for public consumption!  if he hadn't tragically died in a plane accident in 1935, I'm sure he and Ford would have continued to collaborate on many more films.  As alternative history, it's interesting to imagine how Ford's career, and cinema in general, may have progressed had Rogers not died.  Would John Wayne have become such a big star if Ford had focused on Will Rogers social satires and not John Wayne westerns?  Food for thought.  

So.  Rogers was great, the characters actors portraying the townspeople -- especially Walthall, Landau and Churchill -- are fantastic, and the film moves quickly.  On the downside, there's all the casual racism, the plot is feather-light, and for the master, it's very visually flat.  So truthfully, your mileage may vary with this one.  

Six jovial jurors out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - The World Moves On (1934)

THE WORLD MOVES ON (1934)

Starring:  Madeleine Carroll, Franchot Tone, Reginald Denny, Sig Ruman, Louise Dresser, Raul Roulien, Stepin Fetchit, Lumsden Hare, Dudley Digges, Frank Melton, Brenda Fowler, Russell Simpson, Walter McGrail, Marcelle Corday, Charles Bastin, Barry Norton, George Irving, Ferdinand Schumann-Heink, Georgette Rhodes, Claude King, Ivan F. Simpson, Frank Moran

Writer:  Reginald Berkeley

Music:  Arthur Lange (co-ordinator)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Editor:  Paul Weatherwax

B&W, 1h 44m.  1.37:1 presentation.

Released on:  June 27, 1934 by Fox Film Corporation.

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set

The World Moves On is rated fairly low in the John Ford pantheon, and for the life of me I can't quite figure out why.  Check that - I do have an idea.  Supposedly the studio head at Fox (Darryl F. Zanuck) was annoyed at Ford's predilection for going off the screenplay and shooting whatever he felt - a valid concern for a major studio in the midst of the Great Depression, as celluloid has never been cheap.  In a fit of pique, he decided to shoot the screenplay -- and only the screenplay.  Then he handed the film off to the studio and left all his footage in their hands, essential telling them to do what they want with it.  My theory is that because Ford wasn't a fan of the material and shot his footage without the usual Fordian flair, its value is somehow diminished.

I propose a revision to this general reception of the film.  I propose that The World Moves On succeeds -- not because of John Ford, but rather despite him.  Zanuck, along with the film's producer Winfield R. Sheehan, took what Ford had given them, and enhanced the film with battle scenes from the 1932 French film Les Croix de Bois (English title: Wooden Crosses), as well as using then-current newsreel footage towards the end of the film.  Perhaps it's because I'm a student of 20th century history, but I felt that the usage of the newsreels, as well as the battle scenes, gave it a feeling of timeliness and importance that it otherwise might not have had.

The first fifteen minutes of the film consists of a prologue of sorts, set in 1825 New Orleans.  The Girard family is gathered at the estate for the reading of a will by a notary (Russell Simpson) regarding the future of the Girard-Warburton cotton family business.  The forward-looking, recently deceased patriarch and his wife (Brenda Fowler) decree that business and family come before everything else in life, and to that end, wish to stake their claim to the four top territories of that time: the United States, Great Britain, France and Prussia.  Older brother Carlos (Raul Roulien) gets France, middle brother John (Frank Melton) gets Germany, and youngest brother Richard (Franchot Tone) gets the USA, while business partner Gabriel Warburton (Lumsden Hare) and his pretty young wife (Madeleine Carroll) head back to Manchester, England.  An attraction between Richard and Mrs. Warburton develops, helped along by Richard fighting a duel against a man (Walter McGrail) who has insulted the lady's honour.  Before anything further can develop, everyone is thrown to the four corners of the earth to propagate the Girard-Warburton family business.

Cut to 1914 and the family is together in New Orleans for one of their every-decade reunions.  Charles Girard (George Irving) and his wife (Marcelle Corday) want their son Richard (Franchot Tone, again) to take more of an interest in the business.  From Germany comes Baron von Gerhardt (Sig Ruman), whose family has changed their name from Girard to von Gerhardt after being titled.  He and Baroness von Gerhardt (Louise Dresser), along with their children Erik (Reginald Denny) and Fritz (Ferdinand Schumann-Heink), join their kin from France, Henri Girard (Raul Roulien, again) and his son, ten-year old Jacques (Charles Bastin, played later as a young man by Barry Norton).  From Manchester comes Sir John Warburton (Lumsden Hare, again) and his daughter Mary (Madeleine Carroll, again), along with the factory manager, Mr. Manning (Dudley Digges).  

It is assumed by the family that Erik and Mary will eventually wed as a matter of course, but Mary and Richard feel a strong pull towards each other, feeling as if they had some sort of connection in the past.  No duels here, but after the whole family takes the trip to France for Fritz's marriage to Jeanne (Georgette Rhodes), World War I breaks out, which is even worse.  Richard joins the French Foreign Legion along with Henri, Fritz becomes a U-boat commander, and Erik is an officer in the interrogation unit of the German army.  Mary, meanwhile, becomes head of the factory in Manchester.  This is interspersed with scenes involving Stepin Fetchit as Dixie, a racist caricature that seems very out of place today.  As with many scenes involving black performers back then, his scenes are just dropped in there, to be easily removed from reels going to the Southern USA.

We follow the movements of the family members throughout the war, but the film doesn't stop there.  It takes into account the effect the war has on both the family dynamic and society as a whole, leading all the way through the Crash of 1929 and beyond.

Trivia note:  this was the first film to be given the Production Code seal of approval -- so of course a scene with Madeleine Carroll and Franchot Tone sitting on a bed smooching surprised me a little bit.  Guess they were still getting their bearings at the Hays office early on!

Even though Ford essentially phoned this one in, there are a few nice touches cinematically.  There's a shot of Mary looking through a window in Lille, France, after watching Richard join the Foreign Legion.  The camera is fixated on her face behind the window, while a reflection of the soldiers marching by parades across the glass.  It's essentially an alternative version of a similar image in Four Sons, in which a face is superimposed on a shot of soldiers marching, but no less powerful for it.  Another shot towards the end of The World Moves On has a troop of soldiers returning home after the war, as superimposition is used in this case to have a line of double-exposed soldiers marching up the slanted roof of a church, as if off to heaven.

I was originally going to praise Ford for his depiction of the battle scenes, but after finding out that scenes from the aforementioned French film were used, I can't really do that.  I can, however, praise the director (Raymond Bernard), cinematographer (Jules Kruger) and editor (Lucienne Grumberg) of Les Croix de Bois.  The frenetic, often hand-held camera work and chaotic editing really bring home the reality of war, in a way that so many movies of that time were either unable or unwilling to do.  It was, quite frankly, a brilliant choice by Zanuck and Sheehan to interpolate scenes from the French war film into the Hollywood studio film.

As for the newsreel footage at the end: after Mary chastises the men of the family for chasing after war profits, in a very memorable speech, we are shown what is happening in the world today, i.e. 1934.  And it is quite chilling.  Armies mobilizing, Hitler and Mussolini saluting marching troops passing; from a 21st century lens, knowing that indeed the world would again descend into horrifying chaos by the end of the decade, it's eerily prescient stuff.  Zanuck's films often leaned towards the side of pacifism, and his choices here are no different.  One of the few things that grates on me (notwithstanding the whole Stepin Fetchit nonsense) is the final shot of the film, in which a shot of Jesus on the cross is front and centre in front of a light source radiating out in all directions.  Way too heavy-handed for me. 

The acting is solid if not spectacular.  But this is one of those films that brings to mind the saying "they had faces then."  Look at how Carroll and Tone are lit in their scenes and revel in the joy that is classic Hollywood key lighting.  Is it realistic?  Hell, no!  Does it set the mood?  Absolutely.  Unlike many people, I don't have any issue with the length of the film.  I actually think it could be a bit longer, as it sort of skims through the postwar period.  One more thing I'd like to mention is the production design by William S. Darling and costume design by Rita Kaufman.  Elegant when need be, decrepit in other places, it again firmly directs the tone and atmosphere of the production.

I suppose I'm one of the few, but I can't find much wrong with The World Moves On.  While not one hundred percent a John Ford film, it stands as a high quality, personal epic of the sort that Hollywood truly specialized in during its heyday.  Definite recommendation for a lesser-seen gem.

Nine brotherly businessmen out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - The Lost Patrol (1934)

THE LOST PATROL (1934)

Starring:  Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny, J.M. Kerrigan, Billy Bevan, Alan Hale, Brandon Hurst, Douglas Walton, Sammy Stein, Howard Wilson, Paul Hanson

Writers:  Dudley Nichols, Garrett Fort (based on the story "Patrol" by Philip MacDonald)

Music:  Max Steiner

Cinematography:  Harold Wenstrom

Editor:  Paul Weatherwax

B&W, 1h 13m.  1.37:1 presentation.

Released on:  February 16, 1934 by RKO Radio Pictures.

My experience:  John Ford Film Collection DVD box set

This is the movie that sort of set the standard for all the exotic action film quickies that were especially prevalent in theatres of the 1930s.  It's a very good example of what talented people can accomplish on a miniscule budget.  

John Ford directed this film for RKO, and did so much with so little.  No major stars, unless you included character actors Victor McLaglen and Boris Karloff, one set and a whole lot of sand dunes.  Filmed in the Algodones Dunes in southeastern California and Yuma, Arizona, it is set during the 1917 Mesopotamian campaign in what is now known as Iraq.  Victor McLaglen plays The Sergeant (we never do learn his name), whose squadron finds themselves stranded in the harsh Mesopotamian desert after their lieutenant is killed during an ambush.  With scant supplies they make their way to a little oasis to dig in and fight against an always unseen enemy, hoping someone from the British Army will find them before it is too late.

That's pretty much the gist of the story; the quick-running one hour and seventeen minutes is less concerned with plot than it is with characterization and personalities; how the stresses and traumas of war affect different people in different ways.  There is Sanders (Boris Karloff), an uptight religious zealot type who gets nuttier as the movie goes on; Morelli (Wallace Ford), a circus performer who acts as a sort of calm ballast to the other enlisted men; and George Brown (Reginald Denny), an apparently lazy toff who comes through when push comes to shove.  Other members of the squadron include Quincannon (J.M. Kerrigan), a lifer in the army who has gotten into his fair share of troubles over the years; Herbert Hale (Billy Bevan), a fellow lifer and comic foil for Quincannon; and Matlow Cook (Alan Hale), Corporal Bell (Brandon Hurst), young recruit Pearson (Douglas Walton), Abelson (Sammy Stein), a boxer; and Jock MacKay (Paul Hanson).  Howard Wilson appears in a small role as an aviator who unsuccessfully attempts to rescue the ever-dwindling group of soldiers.

This is a very good movie, with only a few things that really stood out as hindrances to my viewing experience.  The first one is Boris Karloff's performance as Sanders.  It is definitely memorable; I still recalled his performance from my first viewing of The Lost Patrol almost 20 years ago.  But it just seemed so histrionic and over-acted that it took me out of the picture.  The Sergeant seems to be a very observant man always looking out for his men; how could the rabid intensity and irascibility of Sanders go unnoticed by such a professional soldier?  The second had to do with the racism of the film.  Now while I try to watch older films as if I were viewing it through the lens of the world in which it was made, it's still a jolt to hear people casually throwing about not just derogatory terms but entire attitudes of generalization for ethnic others.  Check the quotes section of IMDB for a taste of what to expect.  

Those qualms aside, this is an engrossing movie that never overstays its short 73 minute run time.  As mentioned in some of my other reviews, John Ford specialized in the cameraderie of men, and this is a splendid example of the way men communicate under stress, some folding to the pressure, others rising to the occasion.  There's also the factor of the unseen enemy.  We see our squadron getting picked off one by one, but have no idea where the shooting is coming from, other than a general idea.  This lack of a specific target keeps both the soldiers and the viewer on their guard, not knowing when or where the next attack will come from.  

Ford stages his battle scenes in spurts of frenetic action, then leaves us to catch up with the results.  His cinematography is gorgeous, capturing the beauty and deadliness of the harsh arid terrain of the sand dunes.  His use of shadows and light is effective as always, as the oasis of palm trees, water and shelter in the form of an abandoned mosque quickly turns claustrophobic and oppressive.  The musical score by Max Steiner is up there with the master composer's best work, not necessarily as a memorable theme like Gone With The Wind, but as a throughline for the filmmaker's intent, both militarily glorious and subdued and reflective.  Not a surprise he got a nomination for best score (in the first year of the category's existence).

While parts of it can be difficult to watch, especially to modern viewers, The Lost Patrol is a solid, entertaining piece of film work that flies by.  A must-see for fans of classic films, and more than worth the while for anybody willing to put aside 73 minutes to see the type of film they just don't make anymore.

Eight stranded squadrons out of ten.