The Petrified Forest: Difference between revisions
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This 1930s drama is set in the [[Petrified Forest National Park|Petrified Forest]] area in northern [[Arizona]]. Hitchhiker Alan Squier, who sees himself as a failed writer, wanders into a roadside diner. The diner is run by Jason Maple ([[Porter Hall]]), his daughter Gabrielle (Gabby), and her grandfather ([[Charley Grapewin]]), "an old man who was missed by Billy the Kid." |
This 1930s drama is set in the [[Petrified Forest National Park|Petrified Forest]] area in northern [[Arizona]]. Hitchhiker Alan Squier, who sees himself as a failed writer, wanders into a roadside diner. The diner is run by Jason Maple ([[Porter Hall]]), his daughter Gabrielle (Gabby), and her grandfather ([[Charley Grapewin]]), "an old man who was missed by Billy the Kid." |
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Boze is obsessed with his collede football days. He played for the University of |
Boze is obsessed with his collede football days. He played for the University of Gay |
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Gabby's mother was a French war bride who fell in love with Gabby's father when he was a young, handsome, uniformed American serviceman. They married and moved to the remote Petrified Forest. Gabby's mother found her husband a "dull defeated man" and moved back to France when Gabby was a young child. She now sends Gabby poetry. Gabby dreams about visiting [[Bourges]] to study art. Gabby shows Alan her paintings and reads him a favorite [[François Villon|Villon]] poem. Alan finds Gabby's eagerness and optimism touching and refreshing. |
Gabby's mother was a French war bride who fell in love with Gabby's father when he was a young, handsome, uniformed American serviceman. They married and moved to the remote Petrified Forest. Gabby's mother found her husband a "dull defeated man" and moved back to France when Gabby was a young child. She now sends Gabby poetry. Gabby dreams about visiting [[Bourges]] to study art. Gabby shows Alan her paintings and reads him a favorite [[François Villon|Villon]] poem. Alan finds Gabby's eagerness and optimism touching and refreshing. |
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Revision as of 16:16, 17 April 2010
| The Petrified Forest | |
|---|---|
 The Petrified Forest poster | |
| Directed by | Archie Mayo |
| Written by | Robert E. Sherwood (play) Charles Kenyon Delmer Daves |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis (executive producer uncredited) |
| Starring | Leslie Howard Bette Davis Humphrey Bogart Genevieve Tobin Dick Foran |
| Cinematography | Sol Polito |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date | February 6, 1936 (U.S. release) |
Running time | 83 min |
| Language | English |
The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film. A predecessor to film noir, it is adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 play of the same name.[1] The screenplay is by Delmer Daves and Charles Kenyon; it stars Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart in his career breakthrough role as Duke Mantee. The script has been performed numerous times, including on stage, radio, and television.
Plot
This 1930s drama is set in the Petrified Forest area in northern Arizona. Hitchhiker Alan Squier, who sees himself as a failed writer, wanders into a roadside diner. The diner is run by Jason Maple (Porter Hall), his daughter Gabrielle (Gabby), and her grandfather (Charley Grapewin), "an old man who was missed by Billy the Kid."
Boze is obsessed with his collede football days. He played for the University of Gay .
Gabby's mother was a French war bride who fell in love with Gabby's father when he was a young, handsome, uniformed American serviceman. They married and moved to the remote Petrified Forest. Gabby's mother found her husband a "dull defeated man" and moved back to France when Gabby was a young child. She now sends Gabby poetry. Gabby dreams about visiting Bourges to study art. Gabby shows Alan her paintings and reads him a favorite Villon poem. Alan finds Gabby's eagerness and optimism touching and refreshing.
Duke Mantee, "world famous killer" and his gang appear, and hold everyone hostage. When Gabby is out of the room, Alan signs over an insurance policy on his life to Gabby. He asks Duke to shoot him. "It couldn't make any difference to you, Duke. After all, if they catch you, they can hang you only once..." And to another character, he explains: "Living, I'm worth nothing to her. Dead — I can buy her the tallest cathedrals, and golden vineyards, and dancing in the streets."
Cast
- Leslie Howard ... Alan Squier
- Bette Davis ... Gabrielle Maple
- Humphrey Bogart ... Duke Mantee
- Genevieve Tobin ... Mrs. Chisholm
- Dick Foran ... Boze Hertzlinger
- Joe Sawyer ... Jackie (billed as Joseph Sawyer)
- Porter Hall ... Jason Maple
- Charley Grapewin ... Gramp Maple
- Paul Harvey ... Mr. Chisholm
- Eddie Acuff ... Lineman
- Adrian Morris ... Ruby
- Nina Campana ... Paula
- Slim Thompson ... Slim
- John Alexander ... Joseph
Though Bogart was successful in the Broadway role of Mantee, he was not originally cast in the film version. Warner Brothers planned to use Edward G. Robinson, who was under contract to Warners. Legend has it that Leslie Howard lobbied Jack Warner to hire Bogart after the struggling actor called him from New York to remind him that he had said that he would not appear in a movie version without Bogart as Mantee. According to Robert Sklar, studio politics and Robinson's reluctance to take another gangster role resulted in Bogart being cast (Sklar, 1992, pp. 60–62). The film brought Bogart much recognition for which he remained grateful to Howard throughout his life — eventually naming his daughter after Howard.
Bogart's portrayal of Mantee mimicked the notorious and recently deceased bank robber John Dillinger, whom Bogart resembled.[citation needed]
A dozen years afterward, Robinson played a remarkably similar role in Key Largo (1948) — a noted gangster momentarily holding a disparate group of people in a Floridian hotel hostage - while the hero of that movie was played by Bogart.
The movie set includes saguaro cacti, which do not grow in the Petrified Forest Desert.
Adaptations
In addition to its Broadway and film productions, The Petrified Forest was performed on live television in 1955 with Bogart, Henry Fonda, and Lauren Bacall, and CBS's radio Lux Radio Theater also in 1937 with (Herbert Marshall, Margaret Sullivan, Donald Meek)[2] and 1945 with (Ronald Coleman, Susan Hayward, Lawrence Tierney).[3][4]
1940 radio version
The Petrified Forest was adapted as a radio play on the January 7, 1940 broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater, starring Joan Bennett, Tyrone Power and Humphrey Bogart.
1955 live televised version
The Petrified Forest was remade in 1955 on live television as an installment of Producer's Showcase, a weekly dramatic anthology, featuring a now top-billed Bogart as Mantee, Henry Fonda in Leslie Howard's role, and Bogart's wife Lauren Bacall playing Bette Davis' part. Jack Klugman, Richard Jaeckel, and Jack Warden had supporting roles. Unlike many live television dramas of the 1950s, this one still exists and remains archived for viewing at The Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.
The cast list was as follows:
Humphrey Bogart ... Duke Mantee
Henry Fonda ... Alan Squier
Lauren Bacall ... Gaby
Dick Elliott ... Commander
Richard Gaines ... Mr. Chisholm
Paul Hartman ... Jason Maple
Richard Jaeckel ... Ruby
Jack Klugman ... Jackie
Steven Ritch ... Lineman (billed as Steve Ritch)
Natalie Schafer ... Mrs. Chisholm
Joseph Sweeney ... Gramps
Jack Warden ... Boze
Legacy
- Bogart also played a strikingly similar part himself even later in The Desperate Hours (1955), in which his gangster holds a suburban family hostage; at the time, Bogart referred to this character as "Duke Mantee grown up."
- The interplay between Leslie Howard and Bette Davis is parodied in the 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon She Was an Acrobat's Daughter.
- The hitchhiking scene with Leslie Howard was parodied by comedian Chris Elliott in The Traveling Poet, a short film produced by Brad Hall for television's Late Night with David Letterman.
- The novel Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates opens with a 1955 amateur-theater production of The Petrified Forest, which is the same year as the live TV performance.
References
- Sklar, Robert (1992). City Boys: Cagney, Bogart, Garfield. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04795-2.
- ^ The Petrified Forest page, Internet Broadway Database, undated. Accessed May 21, 2009.
- ^
"Cecil B. Demille @ Classic Move Favorites - Lux Radio Theater episode list". Retrieved 2009-02-20.
"THE PETRIFIED FOREST" 11-22-37 :59:50 Herbert Marshall, Margaret Sullivan, Donald Meek
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"February 2009". WAMU. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
Lux Radio Theater 04/23/45 The Petrified Forest w/Ronald Coleman & Susan Hayward (Lux)(CBS)(54:33)
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Haendiges, Jerry. "Lux Radio Theater .. episodic log". The Vintage Radio Place. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
THE PETRIFIED FOREST 151 11-22-37 :59:50 Herbert Marshall, Margaret Sullivan, Eduardo Gienille, Donald Meek
THE PETRIFIED FOREST 481 04-23-45 :60:00 Ronald Colman, Susan Hayward, Lawrence Tierney. Host: Thomas Mitchell{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help); line feed character in|quote=at position 124 (help)
External links
