Humphrey Bogart: Hollywood's Iconic noir man
Welcome to Friday Night at the movies for Friday,9/18/2009.
My original thought for this diary was a complete Bogart filmography, along with important biographical notes.
However, time restraints and the desire to post a more focused and concise look at Humphrey Bogart's career led me to narrow the spectrum to what I consider to be six of Bogart's best films.
This process, however, took a bit longer than I figured, so here are the first two.
If you like them, I'll get to work on the next four and post those at once in my next turn at FNatM.
So,if you are a Bogey fan, a film noir fan, a lover of Hollywood's Golden Age, or even if you've never seen any of these films,follow me after the jump for two smokin' hits by Bogey.
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born on January 23, 1899, in New York City.
This is the birthdate verified by census reports of 1900, although Warner Brothers Studios published Bogart's birthday as December 25, 1899.
His father, Belmont DeForest Bogart, was a wealthy surgeon in Manhattan.
Bogart's mother, Maude Humphrey, was a well-known magazine illustrator.
By accounts I have read, and those posted online, Bogart's childhood was a rather lonely one, as both of his parents shared an addiction to morphine.
As a child, Bogart, or "Hump", as he was known then, tended to confide more in his mother than in his distant and controlling father.
Perhaps this is where he got his inclination toward the Arts.
Humphrey Bogart was educated at the Trinity School in New York City, then sent to the Phillps Academy in Andover, Massachussetts for preparation for medical studies at Yale. Bogart was expelled from Phillips and joined the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Bogart's association with with stage events came in 1920 when he managed a stage company owned by family friend William A. Brady.
He began playing various stage roles at that time.
His acting was described then by writer and actor Alexander Wolcott as inadequate.
Bogart, however, kept plugging away until he got his first contract with Fox films in 1930, where he made his feature film debut in a ten-minute short called Broadway's Like That.
Fox terminated his contract after two years. Then, for the next five years Bogart would play a number of small roles until his breakthrough film, The Petrified Forest.
Bogart won the part over Hollywood's then-leading tough guy, Edward G. Robinson.
The two would go on to make five films together, the last of which was Key Largo, also starring Bogart's fifth wife, Lauren Bacall.
Rumor has it that Bogart's co-star, Leslie Howard, lobbied for him to get the part, telling Jack Warner that she would not appear in the film if Bogart was not given the lead.
Bogart seemed to be tailor-made for the part, what with his stumbling gait, raspy voice, and distinctive and later trademark lisp.
His performance in the film won him a long term contract with Warner Brothers, a relationship which would prove profitable for both.
Bogart's star shone brightest, however, when he played roles written by the now legendary director and screenwriter John Huston, who co-wrote the screenplay for the 1941 film High Sierra with W.R. Burnett, whose novel the film is based on.
In the film, Bogart's role as a gangster is given another dimension as he travels with gun moll and co-star Ida Lupino.
Bogart's character, gangster Roy Earle, heads up in to the Sierra Nevada to lead a motley but inexperienced crew of robbers who plan a jewel hiest.
Earle's role is what today's critics would call that of the anti-ero.Earle appears at once to his thieving cohorts as a old-blooded, iron-hearted killer with a shell that is impenetrable.
Yet, when he is alone with his newfound gun moll, he possesses a lonely, compassionate, and vulnerable side which he reveals first by helping a crippled young woman (Joan Leslie) get money for a needed operation, then by caring for he and Lupino's newfound friend, the stray dog "Pard."
Oddly enough, the little dog has an interesting charactaristic in that all of his previous owners, by one way or another, have ended up dead.
As the tale winds on,the hiest goes awry, and Earle is "made" by the law. He and Lupino make a run for their escape into the Sierra Nevada mountains, for a dramatic standoff with the cops as co-star Lupino frightfully watches.
The scene, filmed on location halfway up Mt. Whitney, is not to be forgotten.
Here is the trailer for the 1941 film:
It is this next 1941 film which cemented Humphrey Bogart in the pantheon of film noir forever, John Huston's masterful interpretation of Dashiell Hammet's The Maltese Falcon.
The mystery begins post haste when Bogart's trademark character, privae investigator Sam Spade meets the lovely damsel in distress, Brigid O'Shaunessy, brilliantly played by Mary Astor.
Astor begins by telling Spade a shify-eyed tale of a sister involved with a dangerous man by the name of Floyd Thursby.
She pays Spade handsomely to have Thursby followed by Spade's partner, Miles Archer.
That night, both Archer and Thursby are murdered in short order.
The plot deepens when Spade finds out that O'Shaunessy was lying about having a sister in trouble, and that she is really the one in danger.
Spade knew about the lie, admitting it in true Bogart fashion by stating that O'Shaunessy had paid him more than if she had been telling the truth, and enough to make it alright.
The cops waste no time in grilling Spade, especially about Thursby's murder, which they suspect is a crime of revenge.
To further add to Spade's predicament, he falls in love with the beautiful but troubled O'Shaunessy, and the two are locked in a murder mystery thereafter.
But it is with the introduction of two of the movies most interesting shady characters that the Maltese Falcon delivers on it's genius plot and draws the viewer inextricably into it's grasp.
Spade meets the elegant,well spoken,and equally sneaky Joel Cairo,who dresses in tuxedos, presents a business card which smells of Gardenias,
and introduces himself to Spade by searching his office at gunpoint.
Cairo also peaks Spade's self-serving nature when he mentions the object of his search, a statue of a black bird for which he is willing to pay Spade a large sum of money for, after of course Cairo visits his bank.
Cairo also peaks Spade's self-serving nature when he mentions the object of his search, a black bird for which he is willing to pay Spade a large sum of money for, after of course Cairo visits his bank.
Cairo also peaks Spade's self-serving nature when he mentions the object of his search, a black bird for which he is willing to pay Spade a large sum of money for, after of course Cairo visits his bank.
I think that any actor alive or dead would be hard pressed to equal Peter Lorre's portrayal of Joel Cairo. His sneering voice, wide-eyed astonishment at Spade's frankness, and concise treachery are priceless.
Spade seems to have an appreciaton for Cairo's boldness, however, and soon he is extended an invitation to meet with Cairo's boss, the Fatman, played by the eloquent and rotund Sidney Greenstreet.
Greenstreet wastes no time in hi attempt at pulling Spade in to the intruige of the black bird. Spade, however, won't be so easily drawn in.
He pulls a fake temper tantrum and sets up a later meeting, giving himself time to prepare himself for the gang of vultures he has involve himself with.
At Spade's next meeting with Greenstreet,the Fatman unviels the mystery of the bird, describing in detail the wealth of possibilities that the jewel-encrusted statue could bring with the hypnotic smoothness and calculating perception that only the best con men possess.
He then presents Spade with the opportunity to strike it rich by partering with Greenstreet to recover the invaluable Falcon.
What happens next in their furious search for the priceless bird is the stuff that movie genius is made of.
Greenstreet and Cairo attempt to beguile the crafty Spade, who constantly strives to stay one step ahead of the traps that are laid for him.
All the while the San Francisco District Attorney is under pressure to make arrests for two high profile murders, with Spade as their number one man of interest.
Not to be outdone, Miss O' Shaunessy has a part to play in this melee of mystery.
The film builds masterfully to it's climax in a rapid-fire exchange between Spade and O'Shaunessy as the two ponder their fate amidst the array of cops and shysters allied seemingly against them.
Bogart delivers his lines with such force and precision that the viewer must pay attention implicitly or risk being lost in the plot complications.
The scene is definitely among my top 5 of all films made.
If you see this film, it may be at the top of your list as well.
Here is the trailer for the 1941 film, The Maltese Falcon:
I hope you have enjoyed these first two reviews.
If they are well received, I'll compose reviews of the other four films that I think are Bogart's best.
Also, I'll present the three most popular, and conflicting, accounts of how Bogey came to have his trademark lisp.
Just to whet your appetite, here is the trailer for the 1942 film, Casablanca.
You won't want to miss it!
Thanks for reading!
Interceptor7