Robert E. Sherwood’s popular stage play, The Petrified Forest, was made into a prestige movie in 1936 by Warner’s reliable helmer, Archie Mayo.
It was based on a crafty, occasionally sharp screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves (who later would become a director on his own right).
The Petrified Forest | |
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Leslie Howard plays Alan Squier, a British poet-intellectual, who wanders into the Arizona desert service station-restaurant-café, owned by Jason Maple (Porter Hall).
Alan is held in suspicion by the owner, and other regular customers. But he immediately attracts the attention of Gabrielle (Bette Davis), Jason’s sensitive, starry-eyed daughter. Gabrielle reads poems by Francois Villon and dreams of moving to France. She never wants to get married, because she wants “to be free.”
Davis, Howard and Bogart
Meanwhile, Boze Hertzlinger (Dick Foran), Gabrielle’s gas-jockey boyfriend, grows jealous of Alan, but the poor Brit has no intention to settle down. Indeed, he talks the wealthy tourists, the Chisholm (Paul Harvey and Genevieve Tobin), to give him a ride out of the desperate place and start a new life somewhere–anywhere. But it’s not in his cards.
Later that same day, Alan, Gabrielle, Jason, Boze, and the Chisholm are held hostages at a gunpoint by Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart), a notorious killer who had escaped prison, and arrives at the place with his gang.
Alan seems indifferent to the danger, toasting Duke as “the last great apostle of rugged individualism.” Sensing an opportunity to finally give his life meaning, Alan takes Duke aside, begging the outlaw to kill him so that Gabrielle would be able travel to Paris on the money provided by Alan’s insurance policy.
However, Duke announces he intends to keep the Chisholms as a shield in order to make his own escape. When Alan tries to stop him, he gets shot down. “So long, pal,” growls Duke fatalistically, moments before finding his own death, “I’ll be seein’ ya soon.”
Alan dies in Gabrielle’s arms, relieved by knowing that she will be able to escape her shabby existence.
Sherwood based the Duke Mantee character on John Dillinger, the notorious criminal and “Public Enemy #1, who in 1934 was gunned down.
On Broadway, Sherwood’s play The Petrified Forest had co-starred Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart in his first major theatrical role.
Bogart won the stage role because of physical resemblance to Dillinger, and later on, for his portrayal, he studied footage of the gangster’s manners and gestures.
Initially, Warner intended to cast Edward G. Robinson in Duke’s role, but Leslie Howard threatened to drop out if the role is not assigned to Bogart.
Ultimately, the film version did not succeed in catapulting Bogart to major stardom but served as a turning point, a break, in his otherwise slow-moving screen career.
Years later, Bogart was able to express his gratitude to Howard by naming his daughter (with wife-actress Lauren Bacall) Leslie Bogart.
One year after The Petrified Forest, Bogart and Leslie Howard again co-starred in The Stand-In.
As a movie, The Petrified Forest betrays its theatrical origins (it’s still a play), though Sherwood’s more philosophical themes (the role of poetry in everyday life, the myth of rugged individualism, issues of immortality and artists dying before their time) have been slackened in the screen version.
But the movie served as a good acting vehicle for the three leads: Howard, Davis, and especially Bogart, who rendered what is considered his breakthrough performance. All three would achieve greater heights of skill and popularity in their future Hollywood movies.
Literary References:
Bette Davis’ Gabrielle, longing for expanded horizons, reads poems by Francois Villon, France’s best known Middle Ages poet. She also recites one of his poems to Leslie Howard’s wandering hobo “intellectual.”
Recycling: Radio
There have been various radio versions. The play was performed on CBS’s Lux Radio Theater in 1937, with Herbert Marshall, Margaret Sullavan, and Donald Meek; and again on the same channel in 1945, with Ronald Coleman, Susan Hayward, and Lawrence Tierney. Another radio version with Joan Bennett, Tyrone Power, and Bogart himself aired on The Screen Guild Theater in 1940.
TV Revival: Bogart, Bacall, Fonda
Bogart made his first and only TV appearance, playing Duke Mantee in a revival of The Petrified Forest, recreating a role he had played opposite Bette David in Warner’s 1936 version. The telecast, which took place on May 30, 1955, got a lot of publicity due to the casting. Lauren Bacall, Bogart’s wife, played the Davis’ part, and Henry Fonda the Leslie Howard role.
Cast
Leslie Howard as Alan Squier
Bette Davis as Gabrielle Maple
Humphrey Bogart as Duke Mantee
Genevieve Tobin as Mrs. Chisholm
Dick Foran as Boze Hertzlinger
Joseph Sawyer as Jackie
Porter Hall as Jason Maple
Charley Grapewin as Gramp Maple
Paul Harvey as Mr. Chisholm
Adrian Morris as Ruby
Slim Thompson as Slim
Credits:
Warner Bros.
Directed by Archie Mayo
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves, based on Robert E. Sherwood’s 1935 play.
Music by Bernhard Kaun
Cinematography: Sol Polito
Edited by: Owen Marks
Release date February 6, 1936
Running time: 82 minutes
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