Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The Petrified Forest (1936)

The Petrified Forest is a notable film from Warner Bros studio, a company that was known for their action pictures with a solid set of lead actors including James Cagney and Edward G Robinson who made several of the early gangster pictures with the help of a stable of identifiable supporting characters that made a great setting for the headliners to do their stuff. 

In a bid to clean up film sex and violence, the Production Code began to be enforced more rigorously after 1934 and Warner's finessed it with good success by emphasizing a crusading reporter, law enforcement, or public service angle instead of making the gangster an attractive character that events revolved around. Warner's knew the fans would come for the action - car wrecks, shoot outs and staccato patter delivered by the protagonists - and the censors were placated. Everybody was happy and Warner Bros used this formula to make dozens of fast moving urban dramas that have made their film library one of the best for action lovers.

The Petrified Forest has a few idiosyncrasies that make it notable among these 30s crime features.  First, it is based on a Broadway hit play by Robert Sherwood which is quite different from the scripting of most of these actioners.  The dialog is a bit stagy at times and most of the action takes place inside the cramped diner.

The cast was adopted from Broadway with star Leslie Howard  and Humphrey Bogart who had not achieved film notoriety as yet, as an important supporting character. This film proved to be his ticket to film success and Howard was the one who went to bat for him, refusing to work unless they hired Bogey too. Another important difference from usual is the main female character was played by Bette Davis, who had also not achieved her fame but was on the verge of stardom.

The story concerns a service station out in the middle of the Arizona desert, supposedly near the Petrified Forest but with the name of Black Mesa.  This glorified gas station with two pumps and attached dining room houses the bored denizens waitress Gabrielle Bette Davis, her father (Porter Hall), a pump jockey (Dick Foran) and Gramps (Charley Grapewin).  Like most pictures set in the West, there is usually a tumbleweed blowing somewhere around the dusty landscape.

The first act is generally talky setting up the hostage situation that will occur later. We hear the news crackle over the radio and read the headlines Duke Mantee is on run from the law. We see the normal goings on at the sleepy fuel stop with gas pumper Dick Foran trying to woo young flower Davis with only partial success.  Into this setting comes hiking the worldly intellectual hobo Alan Squier (Leslie Howard) whose world weary manner sweeps the bored Gabrielle (Davis) off her feet.   Gabrielle wants to see Paris and thinks that Alan would be the one to take her there but Alan is jaded from a life of leisure and hasn't found himself yet, etc.

Then Bogart gets a star's entrance after a ~ thirty minute build up showing his progress by news reports keeping him in the audience's mind when he finally arrives at the diner with his three gun toting minions.

Bogart of course takes over and does a star making performance as Duke Mantee a character based on real life bank robber John Dillinger who had just been killed the year before.  Bogey's make up, gait, haircut, and mannerisms were allegedly based on Dillinger who was a folk hero among Depression era Americans like Jesse James to an earlier generation.  Bogart's character, despite a dangerous air of violence also has innate nobility that makes him human and is very attractive to the viewer.

Bette Davis and Leslie Howard and the other characters provide a good frame for Bogart's hunted criminal with the haunted eyes.  This is one of his most identifiable roles and you can see a lot of his future shtick in this performance. The Petrified Forest was a turning point for Bogart who was ready to throw in the towel with movies if it did not provide him more clout with the studios.

The story does play out very much the same as the Broadway play and that means it has a sad ending which is unusual for a Depression era picture.  Despite the ending most viewers will think the movie comes out right for the story development.  The movie is shot in moody black and white cinematography with lots of shadows anticipating the film noir cycle which would soon be starting.

The Warner Bros DVD is available both separately and in the set Warner Gangster Classics Vol 1.  The DVD contains the restored B&W movie in 4x3 theatrical format and running a brief 82 minutes.  The DVD is in the Warner Night at the Movies style with several features that would have appeared with the feature presentation at the time it appeared in theaters in 1936.  The extras include: A full length commentary by Bogey biographer Eric Lax; a cartoon; a feature on the making of the film; a newsreel;  and a radio broadcast with Bogart, Tyrone Power, and Joan Bennett reenacting the play; as well as the theatrical trailer and some other stuff, too.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV