Runtime: 92 minutes
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Sylvia Sidney, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot, Edward Ellis
From: MGM
I should have this movie on disc; that’d be a nice mementum… excuse me, memento.
It’s always nice for film fans like us that each August, Turner Classic Movies has its Summer Under the Stars series where each day is spent entirely w/ films of a particular actor. This year the names range from Eastwood, Mifune, and Loy to Constance Bennett, Brando and two days ago, Spencer Tracy. I’ve viewed a few movies of Fritz Lang-so it was time I saw his American debut-and the same goes for co-lead Sylvia Sidney but Tracy movies are sort of a blind spot for me. In hindsight perhaps I should have DVR’ed more than this on Wednesday…
The plot: mob rule starts after what is tantamount to the old game of Telephone and rumors start flying about Tracy’s character, who is about to move out West (with his dog Rainbow, played by the same mutt that played Toto in The Wizard of Oz) to his love Sidney after months of saving his cash in the blue collar job of auto mechanic. He’s being held-not even arrested-due to circumstantial evidence tying him to a big kidnapping case. The mob is riled up and they literally want to lynch the poor guy, who of course is innocent. A huge moment happens and I won’t spoil the rest. I’ll just say that thank goodness the events of this movie (people enraged by conjecture and rumor storming a government building, tear gas being used, items being tossed, and the throng of insane people making their way inside to cause more havoc) could never happen now, especially in the past few years…
Yeah, the movie sadly feels prescient at times although otherwise I will avoid any potentially controversial comparisons. The movie has lost little of its potency today-people are indeed full of fury at certain points-despite the handicaps of the Hays Code and what was obviously a studio-mandated ending. Even if it’s not strong impressionistic like M there are some similar flourishes and the movie is incredibly gripping after the first few minutes--which were sweet as it showed how nice the lead couple are.
The plot has a few surprises and it be wildin’ out at times. Besides the direction being so strong, the performances also stand out, filled with characters that thankfully weren’t stereotypical-for example, there’s a gruff sheriff who turns out to just be serious about his job AND is the honest type who won’t railroad an innocent man. This successfully presented the characters dealing with various emotions: grief, revenge, blind hatred, and indeed fury. Not surprisingly, it is Tracy and Sidney (in a weepy role; from someone I follow here, she made many movies where she cried often) whose stars shone the brightest here; for certain I should delve deeper into the filmography of them and Lang.
I had high hopes and this exceeded those expectations.
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