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Who
reads plays by Robert Sherwood anymore? Or watches movies
starring a young Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis?
A good deal of people, I am sure! And if they don’t,
they oughtta!
About the only thing corny about the film is that use of
period slang, a mix of tough-guy talk and early-century
cuteness.
Otherwise THE PETRIFIED FOREST is a heavyweight. One
thing a viewer cannot miss is Sherwood’s themes.
Modern man stranded in a lonely world that is reverting
to savagery. Intellectuals being cursed by endless
self-reflection. American individualism, the hallmark of
settlers of North America since the Puritans,
disappearing. The worship of big-name criminals. These
topics surface again and again, and the director, Archie
L. Mayo, manages to keep the focus on the action: ideas
do not overshadow plot.
The man mostly likely to be named protagonist is Alan
Squier, played by British actor Leslie Howard. He’s
hiking along the vast Arizona desert as the action
begins, cars passing him in the dust. Meanwhile the
exposition shows us a forsaken service station and diner
in far-out-of-the-way Black Mesa. Gabrielle (Bette Davis)
waits tables here for her father, the owner, and a young,
brash gas attendant Boze (Dick Foran) tries hard to make
her fall in love with him. In short order, the hiker
shows up. He’s a writer, a novelist manqué, a man
made cynical by the world but refreshed by the innocence
of a pretty waitress who reads Francois Villon and craves
to visit France, where her mother traveled after
abandoning the family.
Though it takes awhile for action to start, we get plenty
of it when Duke Mantee and his gang arrive at the
isolated café. We have heard foreshadowing radio reports
that Mantee has escaped, so when he appears, he is larger
than life. Gaby’s grandpa – a talky geezer who
supplies much comic relief – has talked about being
one of the first to settle the territory 56 years before.
Billy the Kid was an acquaintance of his, and we
understand Americans’ fascination with infamous
names. We don’t know if Mantee’s character will
escape, or get gunned down like the outlaw William
Bonney, but Mantee does keep our attention while he stirs
our repulsion.
What’s at the heart of the story is human courage.
Alan Squier has the courage – called insanity by
fellow characters – to make a large sacrifice for
Gabrielle, who he has met only hours before. And Duke
Mantee, though he hides behind his guns for much of the
movie, shows a kind of courage at the climax. It’s
good to have convictions, Sherwood is preaching to us,
but it’s better to act upon them. The catalyst for
all this bravery is human love and decency.
Bogart scored a large success for the Mantee role. He and
Howard were reprising the same roles from Broadway
(Sherwood’s play garnered the 1935 Pulitzer Prize),
and Bogart sealed his reputation with a naturalistic
performance as a tough but still likable gangster.
Bette Davis is excellent as well. The beauty of youth is
upon her here, and the performance is believable and
strong – as good or better than actor of her time.
Howard is a natural as the disillusioned writer. He’s
a sort of washed up, world-weary youngster – in his
mid-thirties, as he states that he was just too young to
have fought in the Great War. (Another theme here: the
war was something glorious to have fought in, and those
too young missed out on the opportunity to become real
men…) Like Davis, Howard knew when to understate his
character, and the result is a noble if misguided
drifter.
The screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves is
talky, but at least the writers have preserved Robert
Emmet Sherwood’s magnificent and satirical ideas.
Between the World Wars was a tough time, and the coverage
of ideas in THE PETRIFIED FOREST explains clearly the
political and social controversies of the day.
So it’s a darn good watch for two reasons – the
playwright’s agenda and the actors’ top-notch
performances.
83 minutes, Black and White, not rating, though a modern
PG, probably.
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