The Petrified Forest

:"This article is about the film The Petrified Forest. For the National Park in Arizona where the film is set see, Petrified Forest National Park."Infobox Film | name = The Petrified Forest


caption = "The Petrified Forest" poster
director = Archie Mayo
producer = Hal B. Wallis (executive producer uncredited)
writer = Robert E. Sherwood (play)
Charles Kenyon
Delmer Daves
starring =Leslie Howard
Bette Davis
Genevieve Tobin
Dick Foran
Humphrey Bogart
music =
cinematography = Sol Polito
editing =
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = February 6, 1936 (U.S. release)
runtime = 83 min
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0028096

"The Petrified Forest" (1936) is a predecessor to film noir, with an original screenplay by Delmer Daves and Charles Kenyon derived from the play by Robert E. Sherwood. The movie stars Leslie Howard as Alan Squier, Bette Davis as Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple, and Humphrey Bogart in his career breakthrough role as Duke Mantee. "The Petrified Forest" was also performed on live television in 1955 with Bogart, Henry Fonda, and Lauren Bacall.

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 Gabby, and her grandfather (Charley Grapewin), "an old man who was missed by Billy the Kid."

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 desert in Arizona. 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."

Casting

While Bogart was successful in the Broadway role of Mantee, he was not 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'd said that he wouldn't 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 made Bogart a Hollywood star. Bogart remained grateful to Howard throughout his life — and named his daughter after him.

Remake

"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 Museum of Television and Radio in New York City and Los Angeles.

Trivia

* The set includes saguaro cacti, which do not grow in the Petrified Forest Desert.
* 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".
* Bogart protrayal of Mantee mimicked the notorious and recently deceased bank robber John Dillinger.

References

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External links

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