DVD Review: Forbidden Hwd., Vol. 3's Best Films
A Look at Midnight Mary, Heroes For Sale, Wild Boys of the Road
In Midnight Mary from 1933, director William "Wild Bill" Wellman brings a decidedly wooly Warner Bros. tone to this manic MGM gangster-and-moll tale.
Loretta Young Stars As Mobster's Reluctant Moll
In the lead is the jaw-droppingly beautiful Loretta Young. With her huge, expressive eyes, classically high cheekbones and an almost aristocratic bearing, the then-19-year-old would seem miscast. She is not. In fact, Young is terrific as Mary Martin, who attempts to break free from the crude hood Leo (the menacing, effective Ricardo Cortez) who has been her sugar daddy for years.
As Mary awaits a verdict at her murder trial, her story is told in a series of flashbacks. We see her orphaned at 9, followed by a false conviction for shoplifting, then reform school and the descent into a questionable life with Leo.
Franchot Tone Co-Stars
When she meets the urbane lawyer/society swell Tom Mannering, played by Franchot Tone, Mary seems to have found a way out. Or has she?
The cast includes Andy Devine and Una Merkel in comic relief, and rotund Robert Greig, so good in many 30s pictures, provides one of his patented roles as Tone's ironic, courtly butler.
But this is Loretta Young's picture, and she really comes alive in scenes when playing against her angelic looks as a tough-talkin' broad -- even if, at one point, she exaggerates the street-smart act to drive away the lovestruck Tone for his own good.
This is an excellent early talkie -- a fast-paced, sexy, slick piece of entertainment, featuring a great use of wipes to underscore the picture's episodic flavor.
Silent Film Star Richard Barthelmess Plays Morphine Addict
Perhaps the second-best film in the set is Heroes For Sale, a Warners entry from 1933. Silent film star Richard Barthelmess has the lead in a truly schizophrenic film that tries to cover too much ground, from drug addiction and domestic melodrama to class struggle, anti-communist hysteria and the 20th century-born argument of automation v. humanity.
Oh, there's a love story, too.
Barthelmess is Tom Holmes, a gravely-wounded World War I vet cheated of a well-deserved medal for heroism. He returns from the war secretly addicted to morphine. In a telling moment, director William Wellman has Tom, working in a bank, behind the bars of a teller's cage. He looks like a prisoner, which he is -- of morphine addiction. It's a nice visual that reflects Tom's interior struggle.
Character Actor Robert Barratt Hilarious as "Red"-turned-Capitalist
You think the movie will be about that struggle. Instead, Tom gets cured, then drifts into a job at a laundry service. He meets and marries Ruth -- lovely Loretta Young again -- and soon is getting ahead, thanks to his own smarts and business savvy.
Robert Barratt is hilarious as a self-righteous communist whose invention makes both himself and Tom rich. (Barratt's conversion from ardent "Red" to callous capitalist is hilarious.)
Warners stalwart Aline MacMahon is on hand as Mary, who runs the boardinghouse where Tom and Ruth fall in love.
The story takes many twists and turns, with Tom's life in nearly constant upheaval.
Called upon to express a vast range of emotions rivaling that of James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life, Barthelmess is superb. It's amazing he only made one more noteworthy film -- 1939's Only Angels Have Wings -- before quitting the movies in 1942. (He lived until 1963.)
Wild Boys of the Road a Revealing Look at Great Depression
Perhaps the best picture in this TCM collection is Wild Boys of the Road. This 1933 First National (Warners) release -- a favorite of director Martin Scorsese -- may be one of the best movies ever made about the Depression, and has somber, direct echoes to the effects of today's financial meltdown.
Despite a nearly no-name cast and a mere 67-minute running time, this movie about homeless teenagers remains a powerful statement on poverty, hopelessness, the juvenile justice system, social safety nets, federal and municipal indifference and self-sacrifice.
Frankie Darro was just 16 when he played Eddie, who runs away from home so his struggling parents won't have to support him. (Frankie sells his beloved jalopy to a junk dealer for $22 and gives the money to his surprised, down-on-his-luck father. The exchange between father and son is unforgettably moving.)
Wellman's Real-Life Wife Co-Stars as Tomboy Hobo
Dorothy Coonan -- William Wellman's real-life (fourth) wife -- plays Sally, a tomboy of the road whose jaunty cap and clothing recalls the heroine of another Wellman film. (In 1928's fine silent drama Beggars of Life, Louise Brooks plays a comparable role, right down to the cap. Wellman must have had a thing for girl-hoboes disguised as boys.)
The teenagers ride the rails back and forth across the country, fighting rapists, looking for work, food, for anything to keep them going. In heavy-handed symbolism, they end up in a New York City garbage dump.
It's a remarkably unflinching look at life in the Depression -- shot just as such events were actually happening in America.
Director Unafraid to Portray Affection Between Men
Wellman poured his heart into this film, and it shows in every frame. The platonic love expressed between Eddie and his best friend Tommy (Edwin Phillips) when Tommy loses a leg in a train yard accident is heartbreaking and rare for 1930s cinema. Wellman deserves high praise for being unafraid to show genuine affection between young men; many filmmakers would hesitate to do this, lest it be taken as something other than pure friendship.
The movie hits home when, near the end, Tommy tells a sympathetic judge, "You read in the papers about giving people help. The banks get it. The soldiers get it. The breweries get it. They're always yelling about giving it to the farmers. What about us? We're kids."
In Part 3, a look at the two Wellman documentaries included in the package, plus the wealth of special features that round out this very comprehensive pre-Code movie package.
DVD cover, Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 3
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