Release Date: February 6, 1936
Running Time: 82 minutes
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran
Directed By: Archie Mayo
Revisiting The Petrified Forest after having not seen it in years one thing becomes obvious. It is stilted and forced, coming across as scripted and unnatural more often than not. It was originally a Broadway play and it shows it constantly. The two lead males, Howard and Bogart, starred in the play before coming to the silver screen for this adaption and they play it like they are on stage acting for the back row. Bette Davis is a little better but she’s trapped in a role that is overwritten for what it is. Almost the entirety of the film takes place on one set giving it a claustrophobic feel that better directors than Archie Mayo would have found a way to overcome. As it is it doesn’t feel cinematic.
The story is very basic. A handful of strangers stop by a last chance gas station at the Petrified forests in the Arizona desert. There is also word that a killer by the name of Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) and several other criminals are on the loose in the area. Inevitably Duke shows up at the station and takes everyone hostage. Everything else in the story is strictly character build-up (Bogart’s Mantee doesn’t even make an appearance until well after the halfway point of the film).
What’s so frustrating about The Petrified Forest is that most of the film is character moments and not much of it is all that interesting. Bette Davis plays Gabrielle (Gabby) Maple, a woman whose mother abandoned her and her father to return to her home in France after finding married life in Arizona unappealing. Gabrielle finds the idea fascinating and wishes to travel to France as well to study painting and drift through life without any romantic commitments. She is clearly damaged by her mother’s abandonment yet she looks up to this as a legitimate and envious way to live her own life.
Leslie Howard plays Alan Squier, a drifter whose eloquence hides for a time that he is homeless, penniless and adrift in life. He talks like a Harvard intellectual yet he doesn’t look down on the likes of Gabrielle, finding her fascinating and indulging her to go on about how much she is willing to sell of herself to get to France. We learn little about him which is a bit off-putting when coupled with intellectual facade. The two of them share a kiss but we get the sense that there is no real passion from either of them.
The third member of the triangle is ex-football player Boze (Dick Foran) who has his eyes of Gabrielle and doesn’t like it that she is spending time with Alan Squier. Boze is as one-dimensional as it gets. He is the quintessential muscle bound jock who is more concerned about his past glories than making any real attempts to appeal to Gabrielle. He also rankles whenever things are beyond his control, something that becomes more evident late into the film when Duke and his men show up.
On a more positive note, one true delight in this film is Charlie Grapewin as Gramp Maple. Gramp loves to reminisce about the past, especially if it involves gunplay and violence. He loves telling anyone who will listen about being shot at by Billy the Kid. When Duke shows up later and takes everyone hostage Gramps is having the time of his life being in the presence of the killer. His character breathes some fun into some of the slower moments.
Things don’t really pick up until nearly fifty minutes into the film. By then if it weren’t for the convenient radio broadcasts we would have completely forgotten there was a killer in the area at all. Gramps stated earlier that you can recognize a killer because they always hold their chin in and sure enough, when Duke makes his entrance his chin is held in and stays that way for most of the remaining time. But what should be a real jolt of excitement in an otherwise sleepy film really doesn’t go anywhere. There are a few exciting moments but they are sandwiched between a lot of sitting around and talking awkwardly, especially by Bogart who seems to be out of it for most of his scenes. It’s awkward, and even worse, unconvincing. That this film is touted as being the one that made him a star is nothing short of amazing.
There is more drama behind the scenes then there is in front of it. For instance when Warner Brothers optioned the play for filming they brought Leslie Howard with it. However they were less enamored with the relative unknown Bogart and wanted the more bankable Edward G. Robinson instead. Howard refused to participate without his co-star. Edward G would get another opportunity to play this type of part a few years later in Key Largo and Bogart would also get a second stab at it in the far superior The Desperate Hours. Howard’s insistence on casting Bogart lead to a long and successful career for Humphrey which the actor never forgot. His daughter Leslie Howard Bogart was subsequently named after him.
The Petrified Forest is not a bad film; far from it. It suffers from too much reliance on dialogue and the claustrophobia inheritance in filming in one location. It also has some really interesting performances that help bolster it. Bette Davis is naive and her motivations are a little unclear; she wishes to move to the French village her mother has moved to but speaks nothing of actually reconnecting with her. The fate of Alan Squier is telegraphed several times yet his motivations are not very clear. We know the whys but are not clear on what is driving this decision. It ultimately leads to an interesting if somewhat unsatisfying viewing experience.
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