San Quentin (1937)

The 1930s were a great time for prison dramas. Films such as 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), The Big House (1930) and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) graced the screens satisfying the taste buds of movie-goers who wanted a taste of the clink. San Quentin (1937) is exactly what you'd expect out of a prison drama with the added benefit of a love story and the presence of Humphrey Bogart. San Quentin is an unruly prison with issues. The prisoners have been lashing out at captain Druggin (Barton McLane) whose been giving them extra doses of punishment to satisfy his own selfish desires. With mutiny imminent, the prison needs to bring order to this unruly crowd. Whom better to bring order to chaos than someone from the most disciplined service there is: the army. Captain Jameson (Pat O'Brien) is hired for the gig but on the eve of his first day on the job he swoons for lounge singer May (Ann Sheridan). Trouble is, May is the sister of Red Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart), San Quentin's newest prisoner. I enjoyed how the love story complicated the prison story. And how the story dipped out into the real world ever so often. It made me want to stay in the real world more and the prison world less. And isn't that how I'm supposed to feel?

Trivia: Humphrey Bogart's character Red Kennedy is described as 5'10" in the film. This turned on a dusty lightbulb in my brain and I declared to an empty room "no he's not!". If you'll recall my previous post about Leading Men shorter than Richard Widmark, Bogie was actually 5'8". Ha!

Marked Woman (1937)

Living in a culture that glorifies stupidity, I am always happy to watch brains win over brawn. In the case of Marked Woman (1937), Mary (Bette Davis) is a party girl at Club Intimate (I don't need to elaborate anymore do I). She's a smart dame but chose the hapless job because it makes a lot of money. Money which Mary uses to fund her young sister's college education. Club Intimate has been taken over by Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli), a mobster with a toe dipped into pretty much every seedy and profitable business in the city. Vanning sees that Mary is smart. He tells her so as do other characters. What Mary has is the ability to see things for what they are and see where they are going and to keep herself out of trouble. Vanning is the source of trouble but his major flaw is that he's blood hungry and stupid. When he buys Club Intimate, he asks what the word "Intimate" means.  Why don't they just call it what it is? Just say it in English! Vanning's got a lot of brawn. He muscles and kills his way through everything with the help of his even dumber goons. But this time he's met his match. Because Mary's got brains and so does the District Attorney (Humphrey Bogart). This is a great film, one that really showcases Bette Davis' natural spunk and draws out a softer yet still hard-nosed performance out of Bogie. 

The Petrified Forest (1936)

The Petrified Forest (1936) is an English major's delight. For those of use who use literature and poetry as a filter through which we see the world. Sometimes we feel isolated when everyone around us takes life as is and doesn't try to see some other type of meaning. So I can sympathize with Gabrielle (Bette Davis) and her plight. She stuck in the middle of the desert working at a Gas Station/Bar-B-Que Joint. She reads the poetry of Francois Villon and dreams of going to Bourges, France where her like-minded mother is from and currently resides. Gabrielle is surrounded by people who are perfectly content with what fills their lives, even if it is clouds of dust from a sandstorm. It's just her luck that a wandering novelist, Alan (Leslie Howard), stumbles upon Gabrielle's oasis, hungry for food and intellectual stimulation. They find themselves in each other and in the poetry and literature they love, while everyone else around them is pretty oblivious to what they share. After Alan goes on his way, criminal on the lam, Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) brings the couple back together in a way that only a true literature-phile could appreciate. Oh this is a film I can watch over and over again. Anyone who has big dreams but is stuck in their situation due to whatever circumstances can see themselves in Gabrielle. What a way to kick off this marathon!

Doesn't Bogie look a little Ben Affleck here?