Raoul Walsh

[CineMaven]

I can see different directors resonating with some folks more than others. Three stars out of four? Since when is that bad. And they're only movies? Yeah. But if you want to be really anally technical about every film on this message board or over at TCM-City or on all the bloggers' blogs in all the gin joints in all the internet in all of cyberspace...they're ALL "only movies." So what does THAT say?

[Robert Regan]

Theresa, I wish more people in all the gin joints on the internet would heed your words. I don't understand why so many people all over the web will expend a lot of effort posting negative views, and let's face it, it is fun, yes, but also work!

Back to Raoul Walsh. Over in Italy, the Cineteca di Bologna is in the midst of their 26th annual festival of Il Cinema Ritrovato, devoted as always to archivally restored prints of films from throughout movie history. Of interest to us here is a program of over a dozen Walsh films in spanking new top quality prints, some familiar to many of us like The Big Trail, Distant Drums, Regeneration, Me and My Gal, The Thief of Bagdad, Pursued, What Price Glory, and Band of Angels. Among the less familiar titles which we can only hope will find dvd releases are Wild Girl '32 with Joan Bennett and Charles Farrell, The Yellow Ticket '31 with Elissa Landi and Laurence Olivier, The Red Dance '28 with Dolores Del Rio and Charles Farrell, and Kindred of the Dust with Miriam Cooper who was married to Walsh at the time and got much better parts from him than she did from D.W. Griffith. I saw all of these and more at the Museum of Modern Art's extensive Walsh retrospective in the seventies, and they are all at least very good.

Raoul Walsh's career lasted over fifty years, and he directed well over a hundred movies. There's a lot of treasure sill to be found from the teens through the sixties! Charlie Farrell fans, keep your eyes peeled!

[JackFavell]

kingrat,

I can certainly see your point, and understand exactly what you are saying about Walsh, and can even see why you feel that way. It's a shame you don't feel what I feel with Walsh, but that's why we are all here, to learn and explore why others have such reactions.

I do think your description of Walsh "craft, competence, comfort" is perfectly true, but what I see coming out of those three C's is something transcendent. I'm stymie'd as to how he manages to do that, with no effort at all.

Hee hee. Stymie'd. I love Stymie.

[CineMaven]

OOooooh Bob, I would've loved to travel to Italy to see the film festival. Well...let's face it, I'd just love to go to Italy, period.

I read your post on "Yellow Ticket"...sounds very interesting. The first thing that came to mind was Hester Prynne's big ol' "A". We know all the things men and boys can do...but I'm happy to see a director take interest in the inner lives of women. Someone just told me a quote from Nora Ephron that hit me like a ton of bricks. Nora said: "Celebrate your heroine, not your victim."

Where my film education lacks a little finesse is in really knowing directors. Yeah yeah, I know Hitchcock. But truth be told, I've really avoided his early work. Miss Goddess posted here, this: film festival devoted to Hitch's early work. (Hmmm, I seem to remember the time "someone" spent the entire night reading me the entire Hitchcock book by...) Oh I can talk about the movie stars, and I know the films and I know film history and trivia...but I'd really like to have at my finger tips the recognition and vocabulary to speak on any director; knowing his traits and grand subtexts. Wendy's post on Walsh kind of fueled that fire for me. Funny I don't see films from that perspective, especially since a director is what I'm striving to be. (But I DO understand that every director is not every one's cuppa). I don't come from what the director's trying to say, but from what the story is about. I want to know more about WHAT they're trying to say. I s'pose there's time yet, though I'm on the downward side of the Baby Boomer mountain. But I always wanted to be able to tell that this was a Degas, and that was a Monet...or know that this was Mozart and that was DeBussy.

Guess it's not a bad thing to spend the rest of my life learning.

[JackFavell]

I feel the same way, Theresa. Like I need to delve a bit, director wise. I am fine on most of the biggies, Hitch (though like you I have not yet cracked the silents, most of which are available on youtube or Netflix. Just haven't wanted to see any early ones, really since watching East of Shanghai which really did scare me to death), Ford (I am lacking with a few early Ford films, I just don't want to have seen all of them - I would get depressed. I like to leave something to look forward to). I've seen most of Hawks, Wyler, am seeing more and more Wellman. But I like having gaps in my film education, it makes it a joy to discover more movies.

Robert, that festival sounds awesome! I wish I could just pick up and go to these things.

[Robert Regan]

Ah, Theresa, it would be a joy to see Italy with you, with or without movies. I felt totally at home the minute I got off the plane, even though Italian is one of the few ethnicities not part of my melting-pot family. Here I can't resist letting my vanity take over. One afternoon is Florence I was asked for directions by an Italian family (I'm short and dark, and I was not carrying a camera). Although my grasp of the language is limited to the few words I have picked up from movies and operas, I was able to say, "Sono straniero" (i.e., "I'm from out of town").

Yes, The Yellow Ticket is fascinating and powerful. It is certainly my favorite Elissa Landi movie. She is usually one of those girls we have talked about who is just too nice, but here her role has more scope and she is up to the challenge. Before that Walsh show at MOMA I had seen most of his classic films of the forties and fifties, but seeing so many movies from the twenties and thirties gave me a whole different perspective on his work.

Speaking of perspective, please do not underestimate your approach to film. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has gaps in their knowledge of the relatively short history of the movies, as I learned only too well when I signed up on MUBI and was introduced to Asian and European directors and actors I had never even heard of before, some of whom I have come to love (especially the magnificent Gong Li!). Anyway, the point that I am trying to make here is that you have a unique and personal Point of View on the movies you see, as well as the writing skill to express it in your reviews and ramblings. True, it probably would not hurt your criticism or your directing to know something more about the truly great directors, but considering what you are already capable of in your writing and filmmaking, it should not be thought of as mandatory.

In short, stay as sweet as you are. And as tough.

[MissGoddess]

Looking for something else on YouTube, I stumbled upon what appears to be a "sequel" to Raoul Walsh's silent version of What Price Glory?, entitled Women of All Nations. It reunited characters Flagg & Quirt (Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen) and follows them around the globe as they carouse and continue their fights over women. I can't wait to watch it, I'm sure it's not as good as the original but with this trio (Walsh, Lowe & Vicky Mac) it might be fun. Co-stars Greta Nissen and El Brendel.

Part I:

[youtube][/youtube]

[JackFavell]

I believe (don't quote me though) that Walsh did at least two sequels to What Price Glory, neither of which were as good, but the public just loved Flagg and Quirt and wanted to see more of them.

[JackFavell]

There are three sequels and a cameo in another movie. But Walsh only directed the first two.

The Cock-eyed World 1928 (Walsh)
Women of All Nations 1931 (Walsh)
Hot Pepper 1933
and a cameo in The Stolen Jools 1931

MacLaglen and Lowe also played two feisty marines in Call Out the Marines 1942

[MissGoddess]

So they were a popular duo! I had no idea, thanks for that information. I saw Stolen Jools a long time ago but I'll have to take another peek.

[RedRiver]

I had absolutely no idea there were other Quirt and Flagg movies. The Adventures of Quirt and Flagg!

[CineMaven]

"HIGH SIERRA"

I haven't watched this film in the longest, but with the resurgence of this thread earlier this week, I made sure to check it out this morning. I missed the first half hour, but saw the rest. I watched the story play out of a guy who is basically a loser.

No no, please don't get me wrong. I don't mean this in a harsh way of LOSER ( baaaah!!!! ). It just seems poor Roy's on the losing end of a lot of things in this movie. And Walsh lovingly follows the story of a guy who can't seem to catch a break on anything. I see a little "NIGHT SONGS" "ACE IN THE HOLE" "GWTW" and dare I say...even "FAT CITY." My pathos quotient teetered on the brink of despair watching things develop.

How do I figure? It might be a stretch but:

"NIGHT SONGS" - Falling in love with someone who has a disability...you want to help the person...maybe they'll even love you for helping them. But when they get better...they're not really interested in being with you. Do you help someone b'cuz you're selfless...or d'ya think your help will make them love with you? Hey Roy!!! Pretty Velma was really never right for you. But guys like these alllways want the girl who is good...and clean....and not right for them.

"GONE WITH THE WIND" - The daisy chain of love; loving someone who is not in love with you. Those two clowns fall for Marie...Marie loves Roy...Roy loves Velma...Velma loves John Eldredge??? ( ) Ack! Nobody loves John Eldredge in the movies. Remember Stanwyck in "His Brother's Wife"? She married him and didn't love him? Remember Bette Davis in "Dangerous"? She'd rather crash her car dead on into a tree than be with Eldredge. Oh well...love is blind. (Did I get that right about Arthur Kennedy and Alan ["Phantom Lady"] Curtis? I missed the first half-hour of the film and I haven't seen it in forever).

"FAT CITY" - Folks can't seem to get out of their own way and wind up staying stuck in losing positions. The head boss dies before getting the loot, the two boys in the car drive a different route after a getaway and get killed. Roy not walking away from it all before he has to shoot folks in self-defense (yeah, I'd say self-defense). Marie (thanx Wendy) falling for a man who'll bring her nothing but heartache, though you love who you love.

"ACE IN THE HOLE" - The media circus of covering the story of a "mad" killer on the run and finally trapped up in the mountains. The commentator giving an overwrought blow-by-blow of the capture. And there's cinema vulture Jerome Cowan...ready to pick up the scraps. ( Ack!! )


A VIEW TO A KILL

In Wendy's lovely treatise on Raoul Walsh, she writes:

I'd say that the movies Walsh is most identified with, and the ones that HE most identified with have a protagonist that is a dreamer, rather unrealistic about his own life and the fate he wishes for himself. There is something grand... noble about Walsh's heroes.

I see, said the blind man. You've hit the nail squarely on the head Wendy as the ton of bricks fall clunkingly on my haid! I see what you're saying, and I'm connecting it to Roy. He got out of prison...he's feeding squirrels to the nuts...he goes for this heist with some fresh-faced nincompoops, but there's still something gentlemanly about him. He's a square guy, he wants to make things right. He'll get Big Mac his cut of the money no matter what, and follow his instructions to the letter even if Mac (Donald McBride) is dead; he slugs folks with the butt of the gun first instead of just shooting. He's got a soft spot for a girl he wants to help and dreams he can have a better life with her (uhhhh, well...after the heist, too). He's not really a baaaad bad guy. He's not Duke Mantee. ( ) We see him get his heart broken just like Spade gets a kick in the pants by Brigid, or Rick by Ilsa. Yeah, he ain't so tough. He seems like he wants to make things right, but falling for Velma is a mistake. And Bogey has the pathos to pull it off. What's worse than Velma's family and the ol' doc knowing this won't be a go...I really felt bad for Roy when Marie wheedles her way into Velma's house and gets a gander at her. Now Roy's embarrassment is complete, when Marie sees who the "competition" is. What a wonderfully female thing to do. When he fences the stolen goods, he really just wants his share.

Walsh puts Roy in an even more precarious position when things start to unravel badly. They pin the unearned moniker of "Mad Dog" Earle. (Uh-oh). Kills a crooked cop. No, not Emile Meyer but Barton MacLane. Robs a store, shoots a cop, speeds away. Like a spinning top you throw out there from its string, his life is coming undone. There's no escape. I loved Walsh ricketyly dolling in to the radio loudspeaker as Marie learns it's Earl that's in trouble. He's up in the mountain. Walsh gives him no way out. All throughout the movie it seems that Roy gave himself no way out. I've seen the movie over the years completely and incompletely but it's been many years since my last viewing. And now reading over this thread, I'm seeing Walsh with a new set of peepers. If only Roy Earle had gone to the movies and seen a Walsh film, he might've been spared the fate that awaits him. Walsh doesn't mind showing failures...or folks that just can't get out of their own way.

Won't you check out the trailer? The narrator's hokey voice is overwrought. But you can see two minutes of film clips. And there's Raoul at the end of it.

"Remember what Johnny Dillinger said about guys like you and him. He said, "you were just rushing towards death."

[JackFavell]

Oh man, Maven, that's beeyoutiful. I'll reply when I get back from the pool.

[MissGoddess]

That was a great write-up, Theresa, one of my favorites by you.

And if I may, I'd give a nod to John Huston who wrote the script, too.