I hope you’re feeling less in a funk. Sometimes I have to declare a moratorium and avoid the news for a few days in order to stay sane. Movies are great “comfort food.”

Great article!

And Ann Sheridan is radiant, isn’t she?

Thanks for the comments!

Good stuff.

Thanks for the comments!

My only disappointment with KR is in Rains’ character, because even toned down you get a real sense of evil underlying his actions, yet it’s so vague that one has trouble getting a handle on it. Rains’ trademark pathos and humanity just muddies the waters in that particular plotline.

What an excellent write-up! I’m glad to see KR get some much-needed positive, intelligent discussion.

I guess that goes to show that politics in Hollywood is one thing, making commercially viable movies with great stories is another. In terms of the exposure of the underside of the American dream, it seems to me that the power of this movie may be its recognition of pain, waste and evil in every corner of the world. The fact that the characters see this clearly by the end of the film, and release themselves from the burden that it might impose to move on with their lives is all the more remarkable, since this movie was made at the height of WWII. I would love to see all of the PCA correspondence with Warner Brothers over the content of this screenplay, as the article that you cited really touched off my curiosity!

This may also be one of the few movies in which the presence of Robert Cummings doesn’t send me lunging for the remote control.As you point out, he is actually convincingly intellectual without seeming to be what used to be called a “pantywaist” about it, (“pantywaist” probably equals “ineffectual, possibly effeminate nerd” in more recent terminology). Since many American movies of the period, (not to mention now), have a strong streak of anti-intellectualism in them, this is really refreshing.

One small quibble, which probably reflects my bias toward Claude Rains in anything: “cold, incisive” seems to be his persona on the surface, but, as revealed in several scenes, particularly in the final meeting of Cummings & Rains, he’s also a man who sees rather clearly that his analytical skills and self-imposed sense of dignity have isolated him from life. He is clearly desperately lonely and trying to do the right thing for once in his paternalistic relationship with Cummings‘ character. I thought that this largely tacit acknowledgment of the trap that he has made for himself gave his character a truly tragic element.

I try to see this movie every couple of years, particularly to hear the glorious score, the cinematography and that marvelous, studio-bound yet all encompassing art direction of William Cameron Menzies, not to mention the cast’s work, (in particular Ann Sheridan, who was never more winning). I can see that you’ve now given me even more to derive from it.

Thanks, Medusa–this is a fine, provocative piece with much to think about in your observations.