The Silver Screen Oasis

Walter Huston, as a good man struggling with wartime sacrifices, opposite Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn in Edge of Darkness (1943).

Walter Huston's work seems to have so much lasting recognition for his performances in Dodsworth, The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, & The Furies. Some less often screened Walter Huston films also have extraordinary performances by this great actor, some of which were, (and are still), quite timely in their subject matter:

American Madness (1932): directed by Frank Capra, with a great supporting cast led by the underrated Kay Johnson. Huston plays a bank manager coping with a run on the bank, as well as marital problems. Fascinating as an early example of the underlying ambivalence of director Capra, (and screenwriter Robert Riskin), toward "The Masses". Don't miss Huston's moments alone when his world is tumbling around him and the scene when he turns the tide at the bank. Extraordinarily fine work. Recently issued on dvd, thank goodness.

Kongo (1932): A remake of Lon Chaney's West of Zanzibar four years later. Walter Huston's portrait of depravity, bitterness and a man coming to self-knowledge is as searing today as then. Chaney fans will not agree, but I find Huston's portrayal more complex and realistic. Quite a raucous trip into the heart of pre-code darkness. Warning: racial attitudes are uncensored and reflect the period. Some viewers will be offended. This one shows up on TCM occasionally.

Gabriel Over the White House (1933): made as the nation and world sank into the Depression, this film spins a story of a political gladhander (à la Warren Harding, perhaps), who, after an auto accident, is seemingly possessed by a higher power (an angel? a psychosis? a frisson of spiritual insight?), that leads him to take fascist-like control of Congress and the nation, assisting the out of work veterans, (similar to the Bonus Marchers), eradicating all mobsters and, oh, yeah, bringing about world peace, (sort of).
Ably assisted by Karen Morley & Franchot Tone. Only an actor of Huston's power could've gotten away with some of these extraordinary scenes, as when he awakens from his coma, assails a corrupt Congress and leads an assault on the gangsters hq! Highly entertaining and fascinating. Again, an occasional TCM broadcast brings this one to light out of the vault from time to time.

Edge of Darkness (1943): A rarely seen Lewis Milestone-directed feature outlining an incident in a Norway town in WWII. Starring Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, Judith Anderson & Helmut Dantine, (who are all better than good), Huston plays a simple yet deeply ethical man in an extraordinary time. The film is one of my faves and, fortunately, is being broadcast again on Tue., Sept. 18th at 2:30 PM EDT on TCM.


Walter Huston, perhaps enjoying his own talent for portraying evil as well as good on film, as Mr. Scratch in The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941).

moirafinnie wrote:
Gabriel Over the White House (1933): made as the nation and world sank into the Depression, this film spins a story of a political gladhander (à la Warren Harding, perhaps), who, after an auto accident, is seemingly possessed by a higher power (an angel? a psychosis? a frisson of spiritual insight?), that leads him to take fascist-like control of Congress and the nation, assisting the out of work veterans, (similar to the Bonus Marchers), eradicating all mobsters and, oh, yeah, bringing about world peace, (sort of).
Ably assisted by Karen Morley & Franchot Tone. Only an actor of Huston's power could've gotten away with some of these extraordinary scenes, as when he awakens from his coma, assails a corrupt Congress and leads an assault on the gangsters hq! Highly entertaining and fascinating. Again, an occasional TCM broadcast brings this one to light out of the vault from time to time.

I'm guessing this isn't on DVD eh? Well now I know what to request on the TCM website!

Sorry SPTO. No dvd for Gabriel Over the White House yet, just vhs & it's not currently on TCM's schedule. Gee, it would make a fine double feature some night on the network paired with Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), another Depression era movie laced with some novel political thoughts. It stars Al Jolson as the bum and "mayor of central park" in question and Frank Morgan as the Mayor of NYC. The latter film is on dvd.

Kongo is an interesting film and Huston's contrast with Chaney's "King Deadlegs" are not so far removed as one might think. I also like his character in The Outlaw which I feel is the only redeeming quality of that film.

Treasure was not the only film Huston cast his father in. He also had an uncredited performance as Captain Jacobi who actually staggers in and dies with the package containing the Falcon ("He couldn't have come far with those holes in him.").

Great post Moira! Walter Huston is definitely one of my favorite film actor and, as you might remember, "Dodsworth" is in my "top five" list; and not only "Treasure of Sierra Madre" is one of Huston's best films but I it's also (IMO) Bogey's best movie too.

Luckily enough I have seen "Edge of Darkness", "American Madness" and "Gabriel over the White House", three excellent films.

My favorite of that bunch would be "Gabriel...", what a grand, lesser-known, gem of a film. Simply fantastic! "American Madness" is also superb, although a small portion of it really got on my nerves.

Another excellent film featuring Huston which s not very well known is the 1932 Pre-Code "Night Court" in which he plays a corrupt judge Phillips Holmes and Anita Page are also very good in it!

I'd die to watch "Kongo". I've read it's an outrageous Pre-Code!

Another--perhaps deservedly--almost unknown Walter Huston movie occurred to me this morning. Always in My Heart (1942) a relatively low budget attempt by Warner Brothers to cash in on that Hollywood studio trend to have gifted youngsters such as Deanna Durbin & Kathryn Grayson sing a few quasi-operatic numbers and rake in the cash from the public.

The songbird in question here is Gloria Warren, who seemed to have a good voice, a pleasant manner, and a brief career. Oh, and her "supporting" players, who play her long separated parents, are none other than Kay Francis (still working off that lucrative WB contract any way they asked & still wearing unlikely & elaborate ensembles for a middle class Mom), and Walter Huston.

Sure, it's a variation on Four Daughters & Daughters Courageous, but there is one scene that makes the soapier aspects of this dud worth enduring:
Walter Huston, who is a paroled convict whose children were too small to remember him when he went up the river, comes to see them. As Gloria Warren practices her singing and piano alone in her house with the doors and windows open, he listens intently in the street. He eventually introduces himself to the teenager as an itinerant piano tuner, drawing her out about her hopes for the future and present problems. Huston does very little speaking throughout this sequence, but the active intensity, expression and body language of the old pro actor made it moving and tense throughout what might have been a flat moment.

Come to think of it, while barely raising his voice or an eyebrow, the ol' boy stole the scene, and the movie.

I really liked Huston as a Wyatt Earp type figure in "Law and Order" which was made in 1932 or so. Harry Carey was the Doc Holiday type, and the story came from a W. R. Burnette novel. It was one of the best pre-Stagecoach westerns in my book.

I'm glad you mentioned Always in My Heart, Moira, or I was going to. I don't normally care for the Deanna Durbin type of movies but this one reeled me in, probably due to Huston more than anything else. It's nice to hear him singing, too.

I saw Gabriel Over the Whitehouse only once, but it made quite an impression.

I love Walter Huston in most anything, and I even think he was very sexy.

I'd love to see Law and Order. Huston AND Harry Carey, Sr. in one movie---that's bound to be worthwhile.

MissGoddess wrote:impression.

I love Walter Huston in most anything, and I even think he was very sexy.

I agree with that assessment, Miss G. He didn't have to be beautiful; he had a very masculine and authoritative manner that also spoke of gentleness and a sense of humor underneath, much like our well-liked Edward Arnold and Edw. G. Robinson. Thanks to TCM I saw that side of Huston; before that I had only seen him as an older man in his later films. I think he was quite appropriately roguish and attractive as Mr. Scratch in "Devil & Daniel Webster," and was a perfect foil for Mr. Arnold as Dan'l Webster. His performance in "Rain" was a great exercise in repressed sexuality.

I would have liked to have know the senior Mr. Huston. (Anyone who would marry a woman named Bayonne Whipple must have something of a sense of the absurd!)

I love Walter Huston in most anything, and I even think he was very sexy. ~ Miss Goddess

Well, Miss G., if you'd like to have Walter Huston make your toes curl a little, please catch Ann Vickers (1933) sometime, if you haven't already seen it. That seemingly forgotten craftsman, director John Cromwell, made a very liberated pre-code movie about extramarital lovers Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, free love, social work, out of wedlock birth, and prison reform. Those topics aren't really why I might watch it again, however. It's just something about Walter.

I would have liked to have know the senior Mr. Huston. (Anyone who would marry a woman named Bayonne Whipple must have something of a sense of the absurd!)~Jdb1

Huston's name in Ann Vickers is--and, I'm not kidding--Barney Dolphin. So that earlier life experience marrying someone seemingly named after a town in NJ probably prepared him for more outlandish character names, don't you think?

Walter Huston was a master at his craft. His performances in "Dodsworth" and "The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" are two of the best EVER captured on film...and watching him is captivating.
I saw "Dodsworth" for the first time a couple of months ago. I spent the entire movie wondering why this classic masterpiece is not at the top of every film lover's best list. Huston's omnipresent portrayal of Sam Dodsworth is perfection.
I'd love to "visit" more of his other work.
"Ann Vickers" and, especially, "Kongo" sound like a lot of fun! "Kongo" also features the work of another master-art director Cedric Gibbons.
I'd also love to see "Dragon Seed" with Huston and Katharine Hepburn playing Chinese!

jdb1 wrote:

MissGoddess wrote:impression.

I love Walter Huston in most anything, and I even think he was very sexy.

I agree with that assessment, Miss G. He didn't have to be beautiful; he had a very masculine and authoritative manner that also spoke of gentleness and a sense of humor underneath, much like our well-liked Edward Arnold and Edw. G. Robinson. Thanks to TCM I saw that side of Huston; before that I had only seen him as an older man in his later films. I think he was quite appropriately roguish and attractive as Mr. Scratch in "Devil & Daniel Webster," and was a perfect foil for Mr. Arnold as Dan'l Webster. His performance in "Rain" was a great exercise in repressed sexuality.

I would have liked to have know the senior Mr. Huston. (Anyone who would marry a woman named Bayonne Whipple must have something of a sense of the absurd!)

If you can, keep an eye out for a short that TCM airs occaisionally that consists of an "interview" of Walter (concocted, of course, by studio publicists) by a young female reporter that takes place at his home. He is apparently between wives at this point, and he looks to be around 40-ish. They are pool side and danged if he isn't flirting like a house on fire with the girl. I can only imagine what went on when the camera wasn't on them!

Evidently son John's devilish ways with women were a case of the proverbial apple falling.

moirafinnie wrote:

I love Walter Huston in most anything, and I even think he was very sexy. ~ Miss Goddess

Well, Miss G., if you'd like to have Walter Huston make your toes curl a little, please catch Ann Vickers (1933) sometime, if you haven't already seen it. That seemingly forgotten craftsman, director John Cromwell, made a very liberated pre-code movie about extramarital lovers Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, free love, social work, out of wedlock birth, and prison reform. Those topics aren't really why I might watch it again, however. It's just something about Walter.

I would have liked to have know the senior Mr. Huston. (Anyone who would marry a woman named Bayonne Whipple must have something of a sense of the absurd!)~Jdb1

Huston's name in Ann Vickers is--and, I'm not kidding--Barney Dolphin. So that earlier life experience marrying someone seemingly named after a town in NJ probably prepared him for more outlandish character names, don't you think?

I have seen Ann Vickers and admit shamelessly to enjoying it, comical name notwithstanding. He must have had a great sense of humor and you can even see evidence of that in the oft present twinkle in his eye.

The apple and the tree it fell from:

That interview between Walter Huston & the reporter can be seen on the tcm site here. Don't know if he's really flirting. He seems a bit uncomfortable to me, but he's being a bit of a show-off with "the movie star and his telephone by the swimming pool bit", don't you think? I think I prefer his on-screen work to speak for itself, lol.

Sorry, but I never thought there was anything attractive about John on or off screen, though everyone's tastes are different and who knows what dictates our responses? Huston the Younger was a talented fellow, yes, but not my cup of tea. Even if Olivia De Havilland, (and many others), would disagree.