Violence in the Fog

A big Frenchman awakens on a barge in California, wondering if he killed someone in last night's drunken haze. 1942's Moontide never really clears that up completely, one of the things that make it such a fascinating film noir.

The Frenchman is played by French star Jean Gabin in his first Hollywood role. He's introduced stumbling into a dockside tavern with a big angry dog between his legs.

There's definitely a lot of symbolism in this movie, most conspicuously during the sequence of Bobo's (Gabin) bender, which was partly designed by Salvador Dali. The most striking image is of a prostitute, Mildred (Robin Raymond), fading in and out of existence but leaving her immodest dress behind.

This dress and its supposed sluttiness play a big role in the film. Sadly, the Hays code prevented the dress from being more risque than showing a little triangle of skin below the breasts. It's worn much later in the film by Ida Lupino, who plays Anna.

Bobo rescues her from suicide and brings her home the barge where he's stopped his life of drifting to settle down with a job of selling fish bait. He has a friend called Tiny (Thomas Mitchell), though, who keeps trying to get him to hit the road with him. It's hinted pretty heavily that Tiny is gay and in love with Bobo, which is part of the reason the film later tries to implicate Tiny in the murder Bobo committed. Intriguingly, though, the film still makes more sense if you see Bobo as the murderer.

Claude Rains is in the film, too, as a night watchmen, oddly taken to wearing a big Boss of the Plains hat. Maybe these two details are to show him as a moral authority of enough gravity to absolve Bobo of the sins that are never spoken of directly.

Director Arthur Mayo heads a nicely gloomy production after taking over for Fritz Lang, who departed early in production. Gabin and Lupino are terrific together.

Moontide is available on The Criterion Channel.

Another Fateful Climb

The Criterion Channel is doing a spotlight on Ida Lupino this month so last night I watched 1941's High Sierra, which I don't think I'd seen in 19 years or so. Lupino actually gets top billing which I think is more of a reflection of Bogart not being an A-lister yet than her own clout in Hollywood. Still, it's pretty impressive for a 23 year old actress from England. But she truly was showing herself to be a big talent.

Like a lot of films noir, there are two women, the Good Girl and the Bad Girl, Lupino playing Marie, the latter. But the Good Girl, Velma (Joan Leslie), starts to show a few shades of corruption while Marie is by no means as cutthroat as Kathie Moffat or Phyllis Dietrichson.

I wonder if the name of Humphrey Bogart's character, Roy Earle, is supposed to sound like "Royal". I suppose you could look at the movie as a Royalist allegory. Maybe Roy is Bonnie Prince Charlie. He is in command of the robbers and, in addition to that, he becomes a kind of king to Velma and her family. He's moved by pity before he starts to become attracted to Velma and even after she's rejected his marriage proposal he won't accept repayment for the surgery he'd paid for to fix her club foot. It's notable that Roy doesn't really make any big mistakes or unwise decisions throughout the movie, he just has colossally bad luck.

I think everything might have worked out if he hadn't lost control of his car after he robs the drugstore late in the film. The filmmakers could've done a better job making that more plausible. He just does a sharp turn into some shrubbery, thereby attracting everyone's attention. But the absurdity may have been part of the point, a subtle way of showing up the Hays Code.

It's hard to see how anyone could leave the theatre on the cops' side, though. Especially with the strikingly cowardly shot taken at Roy at the end.