TomJH

I have to catch up with Criss Cross again some time. It's a film that I really can't remember EXCEPT for the last scene, a classic moment in film noir bleakness that has always stayed with me.

Bogart was still a major star in 1955, having just been up for the Oscar that spring for the previous year's Caine Mutiny. The very fact that he was paid $50 thousand dollars for his television appearance speaks volumes as to the desirability to have him re-create the Duke Mantee role. As far as Bogart's aging was concerned, quite frankly, considering his already craggy features, any aging he did was not as obvious, to me, as it was with Cagney (or Cooper or Gable or Flynn or many other major stars of the '30s and '40s).

PLAY IT AGAIN, BOGIE Which is exactly what the film tough guy did, on May 30, 1955, when he re-recreated the role that had first brought him renown on stage and in films, that of gangster-on-the-lam Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest. This was in a presentation of a much esteemed television series, Producer's Showcase. Directed by Delbert Mann (the same year he would also direct Marty on the big screen, bringing him an Oscar) this would unite Humphrey Bogart for the last acting occasion with wife Lauren Bacall, playing the role of Gabby. Also in the cast, Henry Fonda as Alan Squire, taking over the role of the dreamy idealist originally played on both stage and screen by Leslie Howard. Sentimental as Bogie may have been about the Mantee role, he wasn't so sentimental as to not demand $50,000 to play a more aged version of the gangster which, at the time, was the highest fee ever paid to an actor for a television performance. The television drama, presented live and in colour, got decidedly mixed reviews. Many commented how tired Bogart appeared (he would be dead of cancer within two years), he spending much of the production in a chair, trying to make the best of his characterization in snarling closeups. There was also talk of Bacall being too sophisticated for the role of an inexperienced girl desiring to leave the arid desert surroundings that have always been her home, and Fonda's mid-western American twang failing to capture the same dreamy eyed quality in playwright Robert Sherwood's dialogue that had distinguished Leslie Howard's interpretation almost 20 years before. Bogart himself considered the television version to be inferior to the film. For a long while the TV version of Petrified Forest was considered to be possibly lost. A kinescope of it was found in the '70s, albeit in black and white and with no soundtrack. It was Lauren Bacall who found a 16mm black and white version with sound in her own private collection. No colour versions of the broadcast are known to exist today. Here's a link to the 1955 TV presentation, but, a warning, this version is pretty visually brutal: https://archive.org/details/ProducersShowcase-ThePetrifiedForest Here's snippets of a 1955 review: Bacall, Bogart and Fonda star in TV show May 29, 1955: Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda take a break from rehearsal of ?Petrified Forest? for a photo session with Times staff photographer Frank Q. Brown. Times columnist Walter Ames reported on the show: ?Petrified Forest? is the title of tomorrow?s color show for the KRCA (4) 5 p.m. Producer?s Showcase and Lauren Bacall, who costars in the thriller with hubby Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda, says she?s ?petrified? too. ?I?m going through what is known as ?controlled hysteria,? ? she told me last week. ?This vehicle is old hat to Bogey because he has done it on the stage on the screen. But it has me scared stiff.? Actually Lauren seemed to be enjoying herself. She went into rehearsals a week ahead of the rest of the cast in order to have her lines letter perfect. She did admit, however, that she took the assignment opposite Bogart to prove something to herself?she wanted to see how she would do in a dramatic show on live television. Following the live television broadcast of ?Petrified Forest,? Walter Ames reported in the June 1, 1955, Los Angeles Times: Someone goofed on Monday night?s 90-minute color showing of ?The Petrified Forest? on NBC. For most of the performance, it was top-rate television. Humphrey Bogart was nice and menacing as the killer, Duke Mantee. Lauren Bacall was luscious as the feminine interest. Henry Fonda convinced me he wanted to die for idealistic purposes. But the sound man or property man or whoever handed Bogart and his henchmen their weapons spoiled the whole thing. Duke and his boys were supposed to be tommy-gunning their way to freedom. But I?ve heard better sound effects coming from the neighborhood youngsters with their make-believe weapons. The sounds weren?t even good imitations of cap pistols. My nephew JImmy Stround?s Davy Crockett gun does a better job of firing than Bogart?s machine gun. It was too bad. The show could have gone down as an excellent drama. The suspense was heavy. But then the pistols pooped out. A different, but similar, photo by Frank Q. Brown was published with Ames? May 29, 1955, Times story. Bogart starred in the original 1936 Broadway production and film version of ?Petrified Forest.?

The New York Times: March 31, 1986 OBITUARY James Cagney Is Dead at 86; Master of Pugnacious Grace By PETER B. FLINT James Cagney, the cocky and pugnacious film star who set the standard for gangster roles in ''The Public Enemy'' and won an Academy Award for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in ''Yankee Doodle Dandy,'' died yesterday at his Dutchess County farm in upstate New York. He was 86 years old. Mr. Cagney had been hospitalized earlier this month at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. But his wife of 64 years, known as Willie, took him back to the familiar surroundings of his home just over a week ago. Mr. Cagney had an explosive energy and a two-fisted vitality that made him one of the great film personalities of Hollywood's golden age. An actor who could evoke pathos or humor, he invested scores of roles with a hungry intensity, punctuated by breathless slang, curling lips and spontaneous humor. A former vaudevillian and, in his youth, a formidable street fighter, the 5-foot-8 1/2-inch, chunky, red-haired actor intuitively choreographed his motions with a body language that projected the image of an eager, bouncy terrier. His walk was jaunty and his manner defiant. But along with his belligerence he displayed a comic zest in inventive, sometimes outrageous actions. He could play a hoofer as adeptly as a gangster, and whether brutish or impish, he molded a character that personified an urban Irish-American of irrepressible spirit. Mr. Cagney's streetwise mannerisms were a favored subject for caricature by stand-up comedians. But the actor's self-image was essentially that of a song-and-dance man. He became the screen's top mobster in 1931 in ''The Public Enemy,'' which included a bench-mark scene. Angered by his girlfriend's yearnings for respectability, he suddenly squashed half a grapefruit into Mae Clarke's incredulous face. Audiences were at first stunned, then intrigued by his brash performance, and he won instant stardom. He followed ''The Public Enemy'' with a popular series of gangster movies interspersed with musicals and, in 62 films over three decades, he went on to prove his versatility in a wide range of roles, later mostly within the law and including many military men, all played with conviction. Some of the movies were inferior, but he was consistently praised by reviewers, who often described a movie as ''all'' or ''essentially'' Cagney. His favorite role was in ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), a patriotic wartime tribute to George M. Cohan, the showman, actor and songwriter. The performance won Mr. Cagney an Academy Award. Four years earlier, the New York Film Critics Circle voted him best actor for his portrayal of an eventually repentant killer in ''Angels With Dirty Faces.'' Reviewing ''Yankee Doodle Dandy,'' Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: ''Mr. Cagney excels, both in characterization and jubilant song and dance'' with a ''buoyant'' performance ''that glows with energy.'' Will Rogers remarked of Mr. Cagney, ''Every time I see him work, it looks to me like a bunch of firecrackers going off all at once.'' The actor's ''irresistible charm'' was cited by the author Kenneth Tynan, who wrote in 1952 that ''Cagney, even with a submachine gun hot in hand and corpses piling at his ankles, can still persuade many people that it was not his fault.'' Lauding the ''idiosyncratic verve that marks almost any Cagney film,'' Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote in 1973 that Mr. Cagney was ''one of the most intelligent and graceful actors ever to be disguised as a Hollywood star.'' President Reagan paid tribute to Mr. Cagney yesterday, saying: ''Nancy and I have lost a dear friend of many years today and America has lost one of her finest artists.'' Exhibitors voted the actor one of the top 10 box-office money makers in the late 1930's and early 40's. After a series of disputes with Warner Brothers in which he charged he was overworked and underpaid, he became the studio's highest-paid star in 1938, earning $234,000. The next year he was listed as one of the 10 biggest-salaried Americans, with, the Treasury Department said, an income of $368,333. Cagney the screen hoodlum contrasted sharply with Cagney the man. Offscreen, he was amiable, self-effacing and reflective, a confirmed family man who enjoyed a close circle of friends and avoided the Hollywood party and nightclub circuit. He did not smoke and rarely drank liquor. He was much admired by colleagues, from directors to stagehands. In 1974, he became the first actor to receive the Life Achievement Award of the American Film Institute for major contributions to films and for timeless artistry. Among his other honors were a citation for career achievement awarded by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in 1980 and the Medal of Freedom, the Government's highest civilian award, in 1984. Looked With Disdain On Method Acting The actor was self-taught and a keen observer who varied his roles with mannerisms and eccentricities of men he had known. He did all his own, sometimes brutal, fight scenes, learned judo and occasionally used Yiddish humor he had learned in his youth. He was not impressed by adulation, believing, ''One shouldn't aspire to stardom -one should aspire to doing the job well.'' He dismissed Method acting with disdain. ''You don't psych yourself up for these things, you do them,'' he said. ''I'm acting for the audience, not for myself, and I do it as directly as I can.'' He made these observations in his 1976 autobiography, ''Cagney by Cagney.'' He said he wrote it because of errors in unauthorized biographies. His early characterizations included a dynamic vaudeville director speeding his cast from theater to theater and singing and tap-dancing with Ruby Keeler as Shanghai Lil in ''Footlight Parade'' (1933), the comic Bottom in Shakespeare's ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1935), a wharf-rat turned gang leader in ''Frisco Kid'' (1935), a scenarist in a Hollywood spoof, ''Boy Meets Girl'' (1938), a blinded boxer in ''City for Conquest'' (1940) and a naive dentist in ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941). Other roles included a newsman turned counterspy in ''Blood on the Sun'' (1945), a master espionage agent in ''13 Rue Madeleine'' (1947), a barroom philosopher in William Saroyan's ''Time of Your Life'' (1948), a psychopathic murderer with a mother fixation in ''White Heat'' (1949) and a political demagogue in ''A Lion Is in the Streets'' (1953). He also played the hoodlum husband of the singer Ruth Etting, played by Doris Day, in ''Love Me or Leave Me'' (1955); a quirky Navy captain in ''Mister Roberts'' (1955); Lon Chaney, the long-suffering silent-film star, in ''Man of a Thousand Faces'' (1957); an Irish rebel obsessed with violence in ''Shake Hands With the Devil'' (1959) and the celebrated Adm. William F. Halsey in ''The Gallant Hours'' (1960). In 1961, Mr. Cagney starred in Billy Wilder's ''One, Two, Three,'' a razor-sharp satire of East-West relations. Then, though at the top of his talent, he announced his retirement from the screen. The actor was born and raised in Manhattan, but he was smitten with country living while on a childhood visit to the then pastoral Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Accordingly, he retired with his wife to their farm near Millbrook in Dutchess County, New York, and raised Morgan horses. In 1936 he had also bought a farm in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where the Cagneys spent as much time as possible between films. For two decades, the actor received many offers to return to the movies, including many from major directors, but he steadfastly refused them. However, in 1981 Mr. Cagney ended his retirement. He had been increasingly troubled by several ailments, and his doctors advised him to be more active. Out of Retirement In Forman's 'Ragtime' The director Milos Forman persuaded him to play a cameo role in the movie ''Ragtime,'' based on the best-selling novel by E. L. Doctorow. The actor played a combative turn-of-the-century New York City police chief, prompting Vincent Canby of The Times to write that the Cagney ''manner and the humor are undiminished.'' The actor, the critic said, ''does a lot with very little.'' In his early 80's Mr. Cagney suffered from diabetes and the effects of several strokes, and he mostly used a wheelchair. Nonetheless, he made his first made-for-television movie in 1984, playing the protagonist, a crotchety but generous former boxing champion, in ''Terrible Joe Moran.'' Despite the actor's infirmities, John J. O'Connor of The Times reported that ''the old Cagney magic comes through.'' James Francis Cagney Jr. was born July 17, 1899, on Manhattan's Lower East Side and grew up there and in the Yorkville section. His father was of Irish descent, a bartender and, briefly, a saloon owner who died in a flu epidemic in 1918. His mother, the former Carolyn Nelson, who was of Norwegian stock, was the mainstay of the family of five children. Yorkville was then a street-brawling neighborhood, and Jimmy became a champion battler. As a catcher for a Yorkville amateur baseball team, he played a game in 1919 at Sing Sing prison, where five former schoolmates were serving terms. Eight years later, one was executed in the electric chair. The Cagneys were poor, and from the age of 14 Jimmy worked simultaneously as an office boy for The New York Sun, stacking books at a library and doing odd jobs at the Lenox Hill Settlement House. On Sundays, he sold tickets for the Hudson River Day Line. After graduation from Stuyvesant High School, he enlisted in the Student Army Training Corps at Columbia University. But, with money needed at home, he dropped out, worked as a waiter and wrapped packages at Wanamaker's Department Store. Needing more money, he drifted into vaudeville as a dancer at 19. He had to fake it at first, studying professionals, stealing their steps and modifying them to mold his own style. Unexpectedly, the street tough's first role was a ''chorus girl'' in a female-impersonation act. In 1920 Mr. Cagney started in the chorus of a Broadway musical, ''Pitter Patter,'' and graduated to specialty dancer. A co-player was Frances Willard (Willie) Vernon, whom he married in 1922. Two decades later they adopted two children, James Jr., who died in 1984, and Cathleen. The actor toured in vaudeville with his wife and occasionally performed in short-lived Broadway shows. Through the 1920's, often out of work and money, he attended every cast call he could, occasionally being dismissed, he recalled, ''because I had exaggerated my abilities.'' But in 1930 he played a cowardly killer in a melodrama, ''Penny Arcade,'' with Joan Blondell gamely offering comedy relief as his girlfriend. Warner Brothers took the two to Hollywood to film the play as ''Sinners' Holiday.'' They both won contracts and co-starred together in half a dozen movies over the next several years. 'Direct Gutter Quality' In Gangster Role After playing supporting roles in three movies, Mr. Cagney got the second lead in ''The Public Enemy.'' However the keen-eyed director, William Wellman, insisted that the actor switch roles with the scheduled lead, Edward Woods, because Mr. Cagney could project what Mr. Wellman termed the ''direct gutter quality'' of the tougher of the two street chums who turn to crime. The picture was a commercial blockbuster that opened an era of realistic gangster movies. Many of the actor's other early movies for Warner were made cheaply and quickly, within a few weeks, with the crews sometimes working 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. ''Talent was not nurtured, it was consumed,'' Mr. Cagney observed. ''We did our job. If anyone was practicing art, I never saw it.'' Many of his directors, he wrote, were ''pedestrian workmen, mechanics,'' some of whom ''couldn't direct you to a cheap delicatessen.'' But the young performers, led by Mr. Cagney, varied the formula scripts with clever improvisations and made the lean melodramas effective and entertaining. The actor's affectionate jabs on actresses' chins were gestures his father had used. In ''The St. Louis Kid,'' weary of punching, he slammed antagonists with his forehead. In ''Angels With Dirty Faces'' he imitated a hoodlum neighbor in Yorkville, hitching up his trousers, twisting his neck, snapping his fingers and bringing his hands together in a soft smack. The Cagney clan was tightly knit. The actor's brother William was his business manager. They produced some Cagney films independently, and their sister Jeanne, who died in 1984, acted in several Cagney movies. Politically, the actor was a longtime New Deal Democrat who, in later years, became a conservative because of what he perceived as a moral confusion threatening Americans' values. In 1940 he was accused of Communist sympathies by a Los Angeles politician before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He appeared before the committee, which exonerated him. The issue arose from contributions he had made and his fund-raising activities for many causes, including providing food for striking California farm workers and an ambulance for the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War. The actor did not generally speak out on public issues, except one, ecology. In 1958 he made radio appeals for preserving the nation's resources. ''Outside of my family,'' he said, ''the prime concern of my life has been nature and its order, and how we have been savagely altering that order.'' In World War II, Mr. Cagney was chairman of the actors' group of the National Victory Committee, appearing in many benefits to sell War Bonds and in long tours to entertain the Armed Forces in this country and overseas. At the time, he was also president of the Screen Actors Guild. In retirement, Mr. Cagney read widely, wrote verse, painted, played classical guitar, satisfied his longtime zest for sailing and farming and limbered up by dancing a chorus or two to ragtime music. ''Absorption in things other than self,'' he observed, ''is the secret of a happy life.'' Plans for funeral services were not immediately announced.

Thanks for the correction, clore. Duly noted, Criss Cross is a Universal. As I said, it's been a while since I saw it. There's a brief writeup of Manhandled on this thread that I did on October 8th. The film has a strong performance from Duryea, in my opinion, and one particular scene set in a back alley that stands out. Now this film IS a Paramount.

Once, when asked who his favourite actress had been as a co-star, Dan Duryea replied, "?Joan Bennett . . . she was a true professional and so easy to work with in the two films we made with Eddie Robinson: The Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street ? and I found her very attractive and before you ask, Hedda, no, I did not have an ?affair? with her or any other of my co-stars ? for one very good reason: I was very happily married and never broke my vows.?

Thanks for the information, clore. That's news to me, as I'm sure it probably is for most others. Here's a shot of a Dapper Dan, along with a sexy Yvonne de Carlo, from Paramount's Criss Cross: It's been a few years since I saw this one but memory tells me that it was a pretty good film noir effort.

Not much doubt about that. Dan got the lead in a few features in the '50s (as well as 1946's Black Angel) though they tended to be "B" productions. He never graduated to the leading man status that Widmark would enjoy for while in major productions, particularly during the '50s.

Thanks, lavenderblue. It was Fly's suggestion of Duryea being cast as Tommy Udo that triggered it, of course, because Dan would have been a good Udo, as well. But Duryea and Widmark really would have been a great screen team, I suspect. Heck, they even look like the same guy, to a fair degree!

You've got good taste, lady. It must be our natural charm. But don't ever cross one of us, see?

>Just when I thought it was safe to go back outside, Slimy Dan is back in town That's right, and I brought a friend with me, too: 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>Dan Duryea as Tommy Udo??? Difficult to envision anyone better than Widmark. Duryea would have been an interesting second pick, though. Come to think of it, what a great pair they would have made on screen together, slimeball Duryea and psycho Widmark. We missed out on some delicious bad boy times there.

Thanks to clore's recommendation, I was finally able to catch up with a Dan Duryea film I had never seen before, Underworld Story. Perfect casting for Duryea, as a hard boiled big city reporter forced to make a living at his craft in a small town, looking for a big headline. This film was released in 1950, the year before Wilder cast Kirk Douglas as Chuck Tatum in Ace in the Hole in a similar situation. While the Wilder film is definitely more hard hitting and bitter, this little newspaper drama, involving murder, a coverup and hoodlums, is admirable, as well. The casting of Duryea is key to the film's success, I feel. The viewer never knows on which side, good or bad, his character will finally end up. If an actor like Jimmy Stewart had been cast as a cynical reporter who really didn't care if a woman charged with murder was innocent or not, just so long as he got the headlines, the viewer would know that sooner or later he would come over to the right side. With Duryea, however, that just isn't the case. Rat that he is, Duryea makes a deal with a defense lawyer to pocket half the proceeds raised by a town defense fund for a black maid charged with murder (of which the audience knows she is innocent). And you just don't know if he will remain a rat or not, Duryea's ability to playing a sleaze as well as an anti-hero working so wonderfully well here. At one point Gale Storm as the small town newspaper publisher asks him if he has robbed any graves lately. "No future in it," Duryea laconically replies, without batting an eye. Howard Da Silva also scores well in this film in a colourful performance as a gang boss who just can't stop smiling and laughing, particularly if he has a potential victim squirming in front of him. Soon after this film's release, Da Silva would be a victim himself - of the HUAC blacklist, as well as the film's director Cy Endfield. At that, this film can be seen to be speaking about McCarthyism, as it does deal with mob justice, as the town turns against the innocent accused, as well as the one newspaper standing up for her. The one aspect of Underworld Story that I found a bit mystifying, particularly for a film made in 1950, was, as clore pointed out, the casting of Caucasian Mary Anderson as the black maid. The irony, of course, is that this same actress' younger brother was character actor James Anderson, known to most today as the viciously racist Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Behind the Scenes: Little Caesar. Eddie G. with director Mervy LeRoy. Robinson and Bogart, along with Wayne Morris and Bette Davis, in a radio broadcast of Kid Galahad

The Rob Ford case is a fascinating illustration of the loyalty that a hard core constituency of voters will have to a populist politician. He has survived outragious behaviour and scandals that would have long ago killed the career of other politicians. It will be interesting to see the next poll to come out to see if Ford's admission that he lied to the people for the last six months about drug use, blaming the media (calling them "maggots" at one point), will impact his popularity. His latest approval rating about a week ago actually went up 4 or 5 percent among Toronto voters, though the majority still think he should either step down or, at least, take a leave of absence to get help for his addiction or addictions (booze, for sure, quite possibly crack, as well). Ford's modus operandi when confronted by a scandal has always been the same, and he remains consistent with this latest incident. It's always initially DENY, DENY, DENY the allegation, and blame the messenger. Then, when he's cornered and exposed as a liar, he becomes contrite and apologies, saying it will never happen again. With the latest incident, in which the Toronto police chief had a press conference stating that a video of Ford smoking a drug (crack?) does exist, after months of Ford saying there was no video and he didn't smoke crack, Ford and his brother (a Toronto City councillor) are now attacking that police chief for being poiltical, and asking him to step down while the TO police force continue to investigate the mayor. Incredibly, through all this, his base of voters (nicknamed "Ford Nation") remain loyal, with comments like "Nobody's perfect," indicating they they will vote for him again in the October, 2014 mayoralty election. And with the division that can take place in the vote opposed to Ford, especially if a lot of left wing candidates enter the field (Ford is a fiscal conservative) it is far from inconceivable that if he is still around then, that he could, indeed, get re-elected. As I said, it's fascinating stuff, in a horror show kind of way since it makes Toronto a laughing stock, especially since there is no legal mechanism to get rid of Ford as long as he is not convicted of a crime. (They don't seem to think the video is enough evidence by itself since it's a challenge to prove what he's actually smoking, I suppose). A lot of Ford's voter support comes from people who care about their pocketbook rather than the moral character of their city's representative. Some of them will continue to vote for a politician who they feel is saying them money through taxes (or lack of them) and really don't care about much else that he does. Ford is a man in personal crisis and in deep denial that he has any addiction issues. His "Ford Nation" that say they continue to support him only succeed in enabling an addict. That also applies to his very politically aggressive councillor brother (Doug) who also minimizes the mayor's drinking problem, saying he just shouldn't do it in public to excess. Thinking of other populist politicians, of course, always makes me think of Huey Long ( aka Willie Stark in All the King's Men), among others.

I can't see fans of either Cagney or Robinson not expressing disappointment with both of their post-WWII careers. Thank goodness one had a White Heat and the other a Key Largo to remind people how great they still could be as performers. Still, there are only a handful of other films for them to point to then, aren't there? Bogart fans would not have any such reservations, however, because any of a number of career highlights still awaited Bogie after the war. Cagney changed as a performer. He grew increasingly middle aged and paunchy. The little boy charm and sex appeal he had for some female fans surely vanished as he aged. His energy, always a great hallmark of the best of his work, came less frequently. Bogart, a laid back, more subtle actor, aged, as well, of course, but it wasn't as obvious as with a high energy actor. That, combined with the fact that Bogie still got some really good script material on occasion, makes his post-WWII career a really interesting period, even if he did have a fair share of mediocre film ventures as a part of the mix.

>I still say that out of the 3 actors here, Cagney had the least successful post WWII career. I'm not so certain about that statement because, as mrroberts stated, Robinson's career was so handicapped by HUAC during the '50s, and afterward he was scrambling for character support roles. Cagney's career was a mixed bag after Yankee Doodle Dandy. White Heat, however, was such a stunning achievement (with the actor's performance as Cody Jarrett one of the legends of cinema) that I suppose fans tend to be a bit forgiving about the rest of his later films, of which I agree only a handful are worth mentioning.

There's no doubt that Cagney returned to Warner Bros. in 1949 because of the money. Cagney Productions own 1948 project, an adaption of Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, lost a million dollars at the box office. In signing again with his old studio the actor was guaranteed $250,000 per film for three movies over the next three years. Interestingly, according to the book Cagney, by Patrick McGilligan, Jack Warner was initially opposed to bringing Cagney back to the studio because of the arguments that they always had. It was script writers Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had written the White Heat screenplay with Cagney in mind, that insisted and pushed for it, with Warner finally relenting when he considered the box office possibilities. White Heat would be a box office hit, of course, though at the time of its 1949 release it was eviscerated by many morality and religious groups, with most film critics also falling into line with them, lambasting the film for its violence. As a result, White Heat was overlooked when the Academy Award nominations were announced in early 1950. More than a few people since have wondered about Cagney's failure to get a nod at Oscar time. As the years have passed, however, the film has gained a strong cult following among both critics and fans. As its popularity grew, however, Cagney grew increasingly more critical of it, in his autobiography making disparing comments about the screenplay, even though at the time of its production there were apparently no signs of discontent with him about it and he was excited by its possibilities. He also got along well with screenwriters Goff and Roberts, with whom he would work again a decade later in Shake Hands with the Devil. Cagney, of course, was an actor renowned for extra bits of business that he would contribute to a scene, or the overall intensity to which he would ratchet up a moment. He was not an actor would believed in playing it safe, always ready to test the extreme to which he could take a scene. The famous scene in which Cody Jarrett sat on his mother's lap was not in the original screenplay. Cagney later took credit for the idea, but, so, too, did director Raoul Walsh. In any event, it is a highly effective moment, and, as I stated previously in this thread, I think it must be Walsh that should receive credit for filming that daring moment in medium shot. A long shot of a middle aged paunchy man sitting on his aged mother's lap would have been too much for an audience to accept, I feel. A definite contribution of Cagney's, though, was the ending of the scene in which Cody and girlfriend Verna (Virginia Mayo) are having a dialogue exchange about Ma Jarrett getting some strawberries, with Verna's sarcastic crack about Ma just having to get something for her boy. The screenplay at that point simply had Cody give Verna a withering look. It was Cagney who suggested they improve the ending of the scene by having Verna standing on a chair when she made the comment, only to have the gangster then knock her off it onto the bed. Another bit added by Cagney: Jarrett's giggles and laughter when he is about to be blown up at the film's fiery climax. They perfectly convey the fact that the lead character has now gone completely over the edge, but those giggles were Cagney's invention. They were not a part of the screenplay. Finally, the prison cafeteria scene in which Cody goes berserk after hearing that Ma is dead, one of the most shatteringly frightening scenes in post WWII cinema, almost didn't get filmed for budgetary reasons. Jack Warner objected to a scene with 600 extras and few bits of dialogue. According to McGilligan, Warners summoned Walsh, the two screenwriters and producer Lou Edelman to his office, chastizing them for the expensiveness of the cafeteria scene, wanting the setting of Cody going nuts switched to a chapel. What would Cody he doing in a chapel, they asked him. Besides, a large part of the effectiveness of the scene is achieved when all the echoing noises of the cutlery in the cafe are suddenly silenced with Cody's initial shrieks. That would be missing if set in a chapel which is already quiet. Finally, Walsh saved the day and the scene by saying that he could do it with 300 extras in a converted machine shop subbing as a cafe and that the shooting would be finished by noon. Warner agreed, and Walsh did the scene in a single take. All done in three hours. The screenwriters later said that Cagney conferred with them before the scene was shot, asking them "How crazy to you want that?" They replied that he was the actor, it was up to him, the more spine tingling, the better. Cagney was an actor who had no objection to a large audience being present when he filmed a scene of great emotional intensity. The day that Walsh filmed the cafe scene there was a jam of visitors on the set, including the writers and Cagney's brother, William. No one was quite prepared for what Cagney brought to the scene because the actor hadn't told anyone how intense he would make it. The screenwriters later said they were frightened by the lunatic assylum shrieks coming from the actor, as were the visitors. As were, importantly, the extras in the scene - their stunned reactions an honest reflection of their feelings - were they actually seeing a famous film actor going nuts, they must have wondered for a moment. 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!

Now that you've made that statement, Jim, no one will be looking at any other part of the photo. (Maybe I should have worded that differently). <>

Behind the scenes: Captains of the Clouds

William, thanks very much for supplying this historical Zorro tidbit. To be honest, I had never heard of The Bold Caballero. Robert Livingston was not exactly a household name but for Republic to film the production in colour shows that some effort must have been put into it. According to the IMBd, this film correctly reflected the original Johnston McCulley pulp series magazine cover that was the original basis for the bandit by having the actor's head completely covered by a mask, rather than just half his face. It always stretches credibility, of course, to have so many characters in the Zorro films not recognize the outlaw when half his face is exposed even though they know him during the day as the foppish Don Diego. However, it's also understandable that Fairbanks or Ty Power or whoever fans would have been upset if their screen favourite had had his face completely covered during the action scenes. (Not to mention being a little grating to the egos of the actors involved). Err, colour or not, he looks more like a black hooded klansman to me. Not exactly as dashing as Fairbanks or Power in appearance, is he? Sidney Lusk's Theater in Washington D.C. - a presentation of the granddaddy of all movie swahbucklers, in 1921.

It was Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions that were involved in bringing Terence Rattigan's play, Separate Tables, to the screen. I don't know how much of a role Lancaster played behind the scenes on this film but he had a reputation for "difficulty" as a guy who wanted to see a scene or film done right. Whether he did it on this film, again, though, I have no idea. I think it says much about Lancaster's integrity as an artist, however, that he was involved in bringing to the screen a play that would give great roles to an ensemble cast (including Academy Awards for two of them), rather than just a project that would be a great showcase for him. I find it difficult not to respect Burt Lancaster for that, among many other things.

Jake, while many love to attack this film for Ayn Rand's individual over the collective stance, you take the opposite viewpoint. My point, instead, is to take a look at the superb craftsmanship of a couple of the scenes of this film that make it memorable. Above all, for me, the ending.

Mongo, I assume this is a shot of Ford visting Hayworth on the Lady from Shanghai set.