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.