This 1936 drama is 7.6 out of 10 on IMDB.
It’s 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (!!!) where 76% of the audience report liking it.
It’s also considered Humphrey Bogart’s break-out film role.
Synopsis
Alan Squier (Leslie Howard) hitchhikes around Depression-era America and comes to a diner/gas station in the Arizona desert, on the edge of the Petrified Forest. He strikes up a friendship with the owner’s daughter, Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis), until he catches a ride with a wealthy couple and their chauffeur.
They stop to help some stranded motorists, who turn out to be the Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) gang. The gang steals the wealthy couple’s car, and heads off toward the Petrified Forest. Alan Squier follows them on foot, cutting across the desert.
A sandstorm blows up, and the intellectual and the gangster hole up in the diner as the police close in…
Verdict
You can see beautiful digital transfers of it on DVD, and you should.
A central theme of The Petrified Forest is searching.
Alan Squier is searching for something to give his life meaning. At 43, Leslie Howard conveys an effete world-weariness effortlessly.
Duke Mantee is searching for a way out. In real life, Humphrey Bogart was searching for a way in. He knew very well that, at 37, this was his last chance in Hollywood. When Warner Brothers sent him a round-trip ticket, he knew just how little confidence the studio had in him.
Gabrielle Maple is searching for a life big enough to satisfy her. At 28, Bette Davis was beautiful and fairly vibrating with energy.
Boze Hertzlinger (Dick Foran) is searching for a way to get Gabrielle to love him.
Archie Mayo was a great choice for director. He’d started out directing the stage, and had 20 years directing in Hollywood when he turned this Broadway play into a film.
Lessons
Networking is critical.
When Warner Brothers made this movie, Leslie Howard was the natural choice to play Alan Squier. He played the role on stage, opposite Bogart as Duke Mantee. However, Warner Brothers wanted a known star, Edward G. Robinson, to play Duke Mantee. Leslie Howard stuck to his guns and insisted that Bogart get the role.
Thus was film history made.
According to legend, Edward G. Robinson was just as happy not to have to play another gangster.
Bogie never forgot what Leslie Howard did for him. Years after Howard’s death, Humphrey Bogart named his second child with Lauren Bacall “Leslie” after his friend.
I was discussing movie stars yesterday with cast and crew from Clark and Lex: Roommates (full disclosure: I have credit for additional writing), and I offered up an insight from Sweet Liberty. As director Bo Hodges, Saul Rubinek says that 80% of moviegoers are between the ages of 12 and 22.
“Well, this may sound silly to you, but kids go completely ape if you do three things in a picture: defy authority, destroy property, and take people's clothes off.”That’s as true today as it was in 1986. As a result, we rarely get to see movies like The Petrified Forest anymore.
We also don’t get actors like Bogart anymore, and we’re not going to.
When tough guys like John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, and even Clint Eastwood were coming up, the movie-going audience was mostly adults.
It was okay for guys like Richard Boone to have fought in WWII (US Navy), gone to college (Stanford University, left before graduation), wildcatted the Oklahoma oilfields, tended bar, painted, wrote, and fought as professional boxers all before turning to acting.
Now who do we have?
Taylor Lautner? Cam Gigandet? Paul Walker?
We’ve got pretty boys with no life experience masquerading as tough, because Hollywood makes money by pleasing its audience.
I think Hollywood is missing out on something.
Just as music acts from the past enjoy a resurgence thanks to Pandora, iTunes, Turntable, and other music sources, so, too, are old movies and TV shows enjoying the benefit of retro tastes.
Thanks to YouTube and Netflix, among many others, young people today can watch movies like The Petrified Forest. Because of the way streaming and rental services provide recommendations based on past activity, young viewers can trace trails of recommendation back to classic sources.
The movie and TV studios see these streaming and rental services as rivals, when they should see them as pointers directing younger viewers to their past catalogues. Not to mention, giving the kinds of movies that the execs grew up with another chance at life and profitability.
If you want to learn more about Humphrey Bogart’s life and movies, and his continuing impact, check out Stefan Kanfer’s biography, Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart (2011, Knopf).
Lots of movies try to create tension by trapping disparate characters in a single room or building. Most of them fail to generate any interest.
This one succeeds, and the performances stand up today.
