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Saturday, May 18, 2024

BLACKWELL'S ISLAND (1939)

Blind-sided by an era-defining success for debuting John Garfield in FOUR DAUGHTERS/’38, (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/06/four-daughters-1938-young-at-heart-1954.html), Warner Bros. now wasn’t sure what to do with their new star: street-savvy, ethnic, violent vibe, something of a precursor to all those Method actor types (think Clift; Brando) of a decade later.  (True, Bogart already at the studio, but he wouldn’t find his true character for a couple of years yet.)  So, before they finally figured Garfield out (see THE SEA WOLF/’41 https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-sea-wolf-1941.html), they used him to fill up prestige pics in support or bump up programmers, as here where his top-billed crusading reporter socks a police officer to follow a vicious syndicate boss (fifth-billed Stanley Fields in the film’s biggest role) into New York’s Blackwell Prison.  (It’s now pastoral Roosevelt Island!)  Entertaining & ridiculous in equal proportions, director Michael Curtiz, who guided Garfield in DAUGHTERS (and would again in WOLF) was brought in sans credit to buck up William C. McGann’s routine megging.  (You can easily spot Curtiz’s stuff, especially in the big prison riot and breakout climax.)  Rosemary Lane gets nothing to do, but as she co-starred in DAUGHTERS, she gets second-billing.  The supporting players, all second-tier Warners players, are great.  What a line-up of contract players that studio had.  Nice to see Charley Foy, of vaudeville’s SEVEN LITTLE FOYS, with a decent role as Garfield’s prison helper.  Even nicer to see Fields go to town with his childish vulgarian act not quite covering the real threat he and his waterfront protection racketeers put out.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Warners brought their A-game to the undercover reporter in prison storyline in next year’s EACH DAWN I DIE/’39.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/each-dawn-i-die-1939.html

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