Warren William: Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood

Warren William
Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood
by John Stangeland
February 2011
212 pages
9780786448784
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

In the complete portrait of Warren William there is no legacy, only a career. What we are doing when we see him on screen is simply watching a man work. If he has a legacy at all, it is not in his craft, but in the incredible success he had in remaining true to himself. - John Stangeland


This book is for classic film enthusiasts who are not satisfied with just scratching the surface of old Hollywood but want to dig deep and discover the machinations through the stories of those figures, including Warren William, who really made early film what it was.

John Stangeland provides us with a thorough examination of the life and career of Warren William starting from his family settlement in Aitkin, Minnesota, following him to his theater days in New York, then his film days in Hollywood and finally to his death in 1948. Stangeland is comprehensive and thorough. He pored over many documents, letters and books and interviewed surviving family members to create what has become a suitable tribute to Warren William. This book was truly a labor of love.

Why should you care about Warren William? First of all he was an interesting man. He was a well-dressed, modest, talented and hard-working actor. William shined best when he was paired equally with an actress, enhances her performance with his own. He was classically trained and had a substantial theater career before he started in films. Besides his acting talents, he was an avid mariner, had a talent for inventing new devices, had a passion for raising and caring for wire-haired terriers and wasn't afraid of working hard and getting his hands dirty. Second, he's an example of how early Hollywood, especially Warner Bros. studios, was often times self-destructive. We saw WB's reluctance to let Humphrey Bogart shine in the 30s until Bogie fought back and got himself the role in High Sierra that would catapult him to stardom. Oftentimes, Hollywood needed opportunists, people like Errol Flynn and Bette Davis, to show them what they were missing. Talented, hard-working and responsible actors like Warren William were often overlooked because they were either easy to pigeon-hole into one category or were held back in such a way they couldn't showcase their true talents. Warren William's star never quite rose to the Hollywood heavens before it started to fall. His story is both happy and sad. He could have been a great star yet, as Stangeland has noted, William's first priority was to be true to himself and that kind of stardom might have come at a significant cost.

The book reads both like a thoroughly researched and well-organized biography and as a tribute. It follows in chronological order, starting with the first 100 years before Warren William's birth, through his childhood, school years, WWI, marriage, careers and death. I appreciate the structure and order of the book which made digesting all the information provided a lot easier than if it had jumped back and forth through time. Each performance, both theater and film, is given a thorough description followed by Stangeland's thoughts on the work as well as audience and critic reaction. This allows us to see how many ups and downs William's career really had. However, Stangeland is clearly a fan of Warren William and the book does have some bias. I think this helps the book more than hurts it. Stangeland's admiration for Warren William gives the book a personal tone that makes it a very enjoyable read. Instead of a dry, methodical recounting of Warren William's life, we get a story filled with interesting details that are loving pieced together to show a favorable portrait of the actor. Stangeland addresses some rumors including the persisting one that exists in various Bette Davis biographies of William hitting on Davis during the filming of The Dark Horse. Stangeland discounts the validity of this rumor and provides evidence that backs up his claims. He does this consistently with every rumor he encounters and debunks. Who knows, maybe William did hit on Bette Davis but for my part, I'm satisfied with Stangeland's conclusion and admire him for backing it up. However, at some points of the book I kept thinking that the author gave William too much benefit of the doubt. I would have done the same thing if I had written a biography of my favorite actor, Robert Mitchum. We always want to present our favorite people in the best light possible. The last few paragraphs of the book changed my mind completely on this point and I could see that Stangeland presented his hero as a flawed yet admirable man.

I want to thank John Stangeland for having his publisher send me a copy of this book for review. I'd also like to thank Cliff over at Warren-William.com for getting me interested in Warren William's work as well as recommending me to Stangeland. Please make sure you check out Cliff's review of the book.

Warren William Filmography from TCMDB

1. The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947) as Laroche-Mathieu

2. Fear (1946) as Capt. Burke

3. Strange Illusion (1945) as Brett Curtis [Also Known As Claude Barrington]

4. Passport to Suez (1943) as The Lone Wolf [Michael Lanyard]

5. One Dangerous Night (1943) as [Michael Lanyard] The Lone Wolf

6. Counter-Espionage (1942) as Michael Lanyard [Also Known As The Lone Wolf]

7. Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942) as Harry Farrel

8. The Wolf Man (1941) as Dr. Lloyd

9. Secrets of the Lone Wolf (1941) as Michael Lanyard [Also Known As The Lone Wolf]

10. Wild Geese Calling (1941) as Blackie [Bedford]

11. The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941) as Michael Lanyard [Also Known As The Lone Wolf]

12. Arizona (1940) as Jefferson Carteret

13. Trail of the Vigilantes (1940) as Mark Dawson

14. The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940) as Michael Lanyard [Also Known As The Lone Wolf]

15. The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady (1940) as Michael Lanyard [Also Known As The Lone Wolf]

16. Lillian Russell (1940) as The Famous J. L. [Jessie Lewisohn]

17. The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940) as Michael Lanyard

18. Day-Time Wife (1939) as Bernard Dexter

19. The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) as D'Artagnan

20. The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) as Philo Vance

21. The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) as Michael Lanyard [Also Known As The Lone Wolf]

22. Wives Under Suspicion (1938) as District Attorney [Jim] Stowell

23. The First Hundred Years (1938) as Harry Borden

24. Arséne Lupin Returns (1938) as Steve Emerson

25. The Firefly (1937) as Major De Rouchemont

26. Madame X (1937) as Bernard Fleuriot

27. Midnight Madonna (1937) as Blackie Denbo

28. Outcast (1937) as Dr. Wendell Phillips Jones

29. Go West Young Man (1936) as Morgan

30. Stage Struck (1936) as Fred Harris

31. Satan Met a Lady (1936) as Ted Shane

32. The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936) as Perry Mason

33. Times Square Playboy (1936) as Vic Arnold

34. Widow from Monte Carlo (1936) as [Major Allan] Chepstow

35. The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935) as Perry Mason

36. Don't Bet on Blondes (1935) as Odds Owen

37. The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) as Perry Mason

38. Living on Velvet (1935) as Gibraltar [Walter Pritcham]

39. Secret Bride (1934) as Robert Sheldon

40. Imitation of Life (1934) as Stephen Archer

41. Cleopatra (1934) as Julius Caesar

42. The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) as Perry Mason

43. The Dragon Murder Case (1934) as Philo Vance

44. Dr. Monica (1934) as John [Braden]

45. Smarty (1934) as Tony [Wallace]

46. Upper World (1934) as Alex Stream

47. Bedside (1934) as Bob [Brown, Later Known As J. Herbert Martell]

48. Goodbye Again (1933) as Kenneth [Bixby]

49. Lady for a Day (1933) as Dave The Dude

50. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) as [J.] Lawrence [Bradford]

51. The Mind Reader (1933) as Chandra [Chandler, Also Known As Dr. Munro]

52. Employee's Entrance (1933) as Kurt Anderson

53. The Match King (1932) as Paul Kroll

54. Three on a Match (1932) as Robert Kirkwood

55. Skyscraper Souls (1932) as David Dwight

56. The Dark Horse (1932) as Hal S. Blake

57. The Mouthpiece (1932) as Vincent Day

58. Beauty and the Boss (1932) as Baron Josef Von Ullrich

59. Under 18 (1932) as Raymond Harding

60. The Woman from Monte Carlo (1932) as Lieutenant George D'Ortelles

61. Expensive Women (1931) as Neil Hartley

62. Honor of the Family (1931) as Captain Boris Barony

Dead End (1937)

I've heard a few film-loving folks on Twitter proclaim that sleep is overrated. Hmph! It is indeed NOT overrated. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is highly underrated. A good night's sleep does wonders for ones well-being. And as film enthusiasts, being awake and alert and not drowsy (or the opposite, jittery from the excess caffeine) is the only way to watch a film. Sure you can cram a few more films in if you sleep fewer hours but are you really enjoying them?

I watched Dead End at home, on my sofa, wrapped in a warm blanket. I was instantly hooked, especially because I had enjoyed Crime School (1938) (another Dead End Kids-Bogie film) so much. 40 minutes into this 93 minute movie and I started to doze off. I kept trying to stay awake but no matter how good the story I just couldn't. After a long week with not enough sleep, I was mentally and physically fatigued. I drifted in an out of consciousness during the last 30 minutes, Bogie's face popping up intermittently along with that of Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea and the delightfully rambunctious Dead End kids. However, I couldn't keep awake. I saw enough to understand the plot and know what was going on but Carlos had to fill me in at certain points.

Before I return Dead End to Netflix, I'll give it a proper viewing, rested and awake and ready to full absorb the film. One thing that is notable about Dead End is that Bogie has a considerable role in the film, which was not all that common in his film career during the 1930s. He plays Baby Face Martin, a gangster just come out of some reconstructive surgery on his face and heading back to his old 'hood to find a dame he once knew as well as to reconnect with his mother. He takes some time to cause some mischief as well. Bogie's idleness in the film (he hangs around a lot, watching and threatening but not doing much until towards the end) is what keeps the various plot points together. After each section ends, it keeps coming back to Bogie's character and his growing ire and itch to do something really bad. The Dead End kids as well as the physical location do this as well. They are all anchors for the film and keep us grounded.

Dead Reckoning (1947)

I have a special talent for looking at a movie and placing the year in which it was filmed/released. If I'm off, it's usually only by a single year. So when Carlos asked me what year Dead Reckoning was from, all I had to do was look at Bogie's worn face, the hair and clothing style, the cinematography and the noirish voice over of the film to land it around 1947 or 1948.

Dead Reckoning (1947) reminded me of a few films. The self-destructive love affair between Bogie's Rip Murdock (::snickers::) and Lizbeth Scott's Carol Chandler was very much like the one between Mitchum and Greer in Out of the Past (1947). Many noirish elements, like the voice over and the flashback motif reminded me of Double Indemnity (1944). The druggings and POV sequences that followed reminded me of The Maltese Falcon (1941). Even though so many elements of the film were familiar and I felt deja vu on more than one occasion, this film still seemed very fresh and new to me.

::spoiler alert::

I was particularly struck with one of the final scenes of the movie. Bogie's Rip provides death advice to a character about to cross over to the other side. The dying character is scared and Rip asks the character to just let go. I found it quite remarkable in its straight-forwardness. It provided no false hopes yet comforted nonetheless. I wish someone would say something like this to me when my time comes.

It's like going out the jump door. Hold your breath and just let go Mike. Don't fight it. Remember all the guys that have done it before you. You've got plenty of company Mike. High class company.