The Petrified Forest (1936)

A waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.

Director:

Archie Mayo

Writers:

Charles Kenyon (screenplay), Delmer Daves (screenplay),

Stars:

Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Leslie Howard	...	Alan Squier
Bette Davis	...	Gabrielle Maple
Genevieve Tobin	...	Mrs. Chisholm
Dick Foran	...	Boze Hertzlinger
Humphrey Bogart	...	Duke Mantee
Joe Sawyer	...	Jackie (as Joseph Sawyer)
Porter Hall	...	Jason Maple
Charley Grapewin	...	Gramp Maple
Paul Harvey	...	Mr. Chisholm
Eddie Acuff	...	Lineman
Adrian Morris	...	Ruby
Nina Campana	...	Paula
Slim Thompson	...	Slim
John Alexander	...	Joseph

Storyline

Gabby lives and works at her dads small diner out in the desert. She can't stand it and wants to go and live with her mother in France. Along comes Alan, a broke man with no will to live, who is traveling to see the pacific, and maybe to drown in it. Meanwhile Duke Mantee a notorious killer and his gang is heading towards the diner where Mantee plan on meeting up with his girl.

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Plot Keywords:

desert | arizona | gangster | hostage | idealism | 

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Taglines:

AGAIN THEY TRIUMPH!...The stars of 'Human Bondage' in a picture greater than the play!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 February 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Petrified Forest

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min 82 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original Broadway version also featured John Alexander and Slim Thompson, who recreate their roles in this film. The stage production opened Jan. 7, 1935 at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York and ran for 197 performances.

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Goofs

Near the beginning of the film where Boze is flirting with Gabrielle while she reads poetry by the gas-pumps, he tells her that he has never been married. He is clearly wearing a wedding ring on his left hand.

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Quotes

Gramp Maple: But let me tell you one thing, Mr. Squier. The woman don't live or ever did live that's worth five thousand dollars!
Alan Squier: Well, let me tell you something. You're a forgetful old fool. Any woman's worth everything that any man has to give: anguish, ecstasy, faith, jealousy, love, hatred, life or death. Don't you see that's the whole excuse for our existence? It's what makes the whole thing possible and tolerable.

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Connections

Featured in The Eastwood Factor (2010)

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Soundtracks

"I'd Rather Listen to Your Eyes"
(1935) (uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Played on the radio

User Reviews

Race and Gender Issues Tackled in a Gangster Film

I may have seen this film many, many years ago but I have no such recollection. I rented it last night and was amazed at the issues handled by a fine cast in a pre-World War II gangster film. A black chauffeur for a rich couple is not typically stereotyped but has a say as to how he does his job. A second black character is an equal member of the gang of fleeing desperadoes with no reference to his race and he engages in conduct no different than his cronies. A quick interchange between the two black characters is fascinating. The Rich Wife spills out her anger and frustration about a loveless marriage in terms as realistic for many today as it was when the film was made.

The love story is dramatic; it is also unreal. Leslie Howard, who was to die in World War II when the plane on which he was a passenger was shot down by the Luftwaffe (there's a strange story about THAT interception), relates his failed marital history with a genteel but real frankness not usually found in pre-war cinema.

Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart shine in their roles. Bogart was starting off on his long career as a bad guy and does his promise come across. Davis is appealing with a naivete absent from most of her later films.

This is definitely a film with an agenda. Comments on patriotism seem suspended between caricature and seriousness. A sign, "Tipping Isn't American-Keep Your Change," hangs prominently in the desert cafe. Tipping isn't American? During the Depression? Methinks not.

One of the best films from a long-ago Hollywood that had its too often underappreciated cohort of serious thinkers.

"Petrified Forest" is both a fine film and a reminder of a Hollywood that occasionally showed its ability to address sensitive issues when even discussion of some of them was largely infra dig for most cinema moguls and their claques.