THE BIG SLEEP (1946)

We just recently watched Howard Hawks' 1946 noir classic THE BIG SLEEP starring Bogart and Bacall ("The film they were born for!"), and it is so wonderful--and wonderfully convoluted.

Humphrey Bogart

One of the great icons of the screen, Humphrey Bogart, sadly died of cancer of the esophagus this day in 1957 at the much to young age of 57.  Some of the classic films he starred in include CASABLANCA and THE AFRICAN QUEEN, as well as THE MALTESE FALCON, KEY LARGO, and of course THE BIG SLEEP.  His screen presence is captivating.  Something about Bogie just draws one in with his self-deprecating, if not slightly melancholic, attitude.  I always loved what Roger Ebert wrote about Bogart, so I'll include this eloquant few paragraphs he wrote in an article about THE BIG SLEEP:

"Bogart himself made personal style into an art form. What else did he have? He wasn't particularly handsome, he wore a rug, he wasn't tall ("I try to be," he tells Vickers), and he always seemed to act within a certain range. Yet no other movie actor is more likely to be remembered a century from now. And the fascinating subtext in "The Big Sleep" is that in Bacall he found his match.

"You can see it in his eyes: Sure, he's in love, but there's something else, too. He was going through a messy breakup with his wife, Mayo, when they shot the picture. He was drinking so heavily he didn't turn up some days, and Hawks had to shoot around him. He saw this coltish 20-year-old not only as his love but perhaps as his salvation. That's the undercurrent. It may not have been fun to live through, but it creates a kind of joyous, desperate tension on the screen. And since the whole idea of film noir was to live through unspeakable experiences and keep your cool, this was the right screenplay for this time in his life."

Bogart and Bacall

The African Queen (1951)

Directed by John Huston.

If you are a fan of Humphrey Bogart and have only seen films the likes of Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep, then you owe it to yourself to see The African Queen for many reasons. Those previous three films are three of my absolute favorite films, all due to Bogart's spellbinding performances as Rick Blaine, Sam Spade, and Philip Marlow, respectively. While each of those performances are different and fun to watch, they all kind of fall into the same category of a blunt, witty, alcoholic, emotionally wounded man with a hard exterior and a soft interior, all men "who stick their neck out for nobody" (-Casablanca). But The African Queen is a different story.

Bogart: A changed man.

Set during the beginning of the First World War, it follows two opposing characters: Bogart's dirty, alcoholic riverboat captain Charlie Allnut, and Katharine Hepburn's prim and gorgeous Christian missionary, Rose Sayer. Together they journey down the Ulana River in the Congo, and Rose convinces Charlie to use his boat to torpedo a German gunboat stationed down-river. While the gun-boat is the mission, the focus of the film is the developing relationship between the two stars. At first clashing, mostly over Charlie's alcoholism (solved by Rose pouring out 15 bottles of gin into the river), they grow to like each other, and eventually love each other. They also learn a lot and push each other to do things outside of their comfort zones.

Rose Sayer and Charlie Allnut.

While Hepburn's Rose is at first quite high maintenance seeming, she quickly shakes that and gets involved in the operation of the boat. She, at first quite hesitantly, takes the tiller, and before they know it she is helming the small steam boat over the rapids. While she retains some of her ladylike behaviour and her love of afternoon tea, she steps it up and helps Charlie fix the propeller (underwater), and gets out to wade in leech-infested waters beside Charlie as they pull the small boat through a particularly thick bit of reeds.

In the reeds.

Bogart's performance as Charlie is just as interesting. I'm pretty sure that this is the first film I've ever seen with Bogart in colour, everything else has been in glorious black and white. It's neat to see him in technicolour though, and in a way it helps set aside his legendary noir roles of the 1940s. Charlie is generally a happy person, he's not consumed by a broken heart like Rick Blaine, he carries no chip on his shoulder like Sam Spade or Philip Marlow, and he is not consumed by greed like Dobbs of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Instead, this is a slightly older Bogart, a slightly more mature and content Bogart. He's found a place that he loves (Africa), he's found a way of life he is happy with, and now he's found a companion in Rosie. There is something more positive, more upbeat about this character. Even when he has the occasional angry outburst (as Bogart is so good at), it doesn't seem as seething, and seems to pass more quickly. This is probably due to the character of Charlie Allnut being a Canadian!

The African Queen: the little boat that could!

Aside from a handful of very peripheral characters, the film is carried by it's two stars, as well as the river. Much of the film was shot on location in the Belgian Congo in the early fifties and it sounds like it was quite a shoot. This was the time of the communist witch hunt and the Hollywood blacklist era, and director John Huston, Bogart, and Hepburn, all being rather left-leaning, decided it would be a good idea to get out of dodge for a little while and left for Africa to take on this incredible project. The crew literally drifted down the river on a assembly of rafts and barges for weeks, and faced the real challenges of Africa: Malaria, wild animals, insects, food poisoning.

On set. Apparently director John Huston, with rifle, really wanted to shoot an elephant.

The "Making of" on the DVD shows how while Hepburn was extremely high maintenance and had her own personal WC raft, Bogart was the opposite; during down time he would find a quiet place and lay down for a nap in the shade, wherever he was out of the way. Having worked on set as a PA, part of me appreciates this! Actors, and even low-level ones on Movies-of-the-week are often whisked away back to their trailer when there is the slightest amount of down time. Real stars, like Bogart, are there to do their job, and that is to act, not to tax the film crew with unnecessary duties! Bogart's wife, and movie star in her own right, Lauren Bacall was also on set the whole time. While you would think that she would fall into the Hepburn category of maintenance, she actually was more like Bogart. Like being on a working boat, Bacall understood that if she were to occupy a place there she had to make herself useful, and useful she was, acting as cook and nurse, taking care of those who were sick and wherever else she was needed. Props to Bacall!

Behind the scenes: Bacall (centre) makes sandwiches for the crew.

Down-time: Hepburn, Bacall, Bogart.

So go rent (or borrow from the library, like I did!) The African Queen for a number of reasons:
-Bogart, Hepburn (in their only film together), and the Belgian Congo in beautiful Technicolour
-Bogart as a Canadian!
-It's a major part of the extensive collaborations between Bogart and director John Huston (also including The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Beat the Devil, Across the Pacific, and Key Largo).

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking: "Dan, I watched that in Intro to Film Studies and it was BORING." Well, you are WRONG. I mean, just look at this photo!


I'm sorry, but this happens to be one of the greatest films to emerge from the Golden Age of Cinema, if not of all time! Sure, it's black and white, and the actors talk all funny-like, and there is a LOT of talking (all funny-like), but this movie is responsible for so much. First of all, I'm willing to wager a hill of beans that Casablanca would not be considered what it is today (if it was even made at all) if this film did not launch Humphrey Bogart into the stratosphere. This was also actor Sydney Greenstreet's first film role (he had done only theatre) which landed him an ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION. Director John Huston was also nominated for Best Writing, and the picture itself for a BEST PICTURE. This was also Huston's directorial debut, and the beginning of a collaboration with Humphrey Bogart which would span a number of features and nearly two decades until the legendary actor's untimely death in 1957.

Lorre and Bogart.

What this film has in spades (pardon the pun), is excellent characters, starting no less Humphrey Bogart himself as Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's timeless private eye character. Spade drinks, hates himself, is not afraid to slap someone around (man or woman!) and has loose morals--but morals nonetheless. He, like so many subsequent Bogart characters, sticks his neck out for nobody, and despite his scathing wit and blunt honesty, hides a warm little bleeding heart of empathy. Spade is thrown into a convoluted plot of who's-good-and-who's-bad with Mary Astor as femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a woman who enlists the assistance of Spade and his partner Miles Archer. Brigid gradually leads Spade into an intriguing underworld of treasure hunters, led by the massive Kasper Gutman (Greenstreet), and his greenhorn henchman Wilmer. In tow is Joel Cairo, played by the inimitable Peter Lorre. All, it turns out, are seeking the titular long-lost bejeweled sculpture that is rumored to have recently arrived in Spade's town, San Francisco.

I love how Greenstreet takes up the WHOLE frame.

What transpires are a few murders, deception, backstabbing, phone calls, hold ups, mysterious men showing up with packages, adultery, a little sexism, a couple of homosexual insinuations, one-punch knock-outs, and some brilliant dialogue. In fact, the dialogue is what drives this film. You could count the amount of locations and sets on one hand, and pretty much the entire last half of the film takes place in a single apartment. No, it's not for everyone, but the payoff I assure you is well worth it.

Miss Wonderly... or is that Miss O'Shaughnessy?

Aside from the impact The Maltese Falcon had on Casablanca (Greenstreet and Lorre both had very memorable roles alongside Bogart), it was also quite influential in the realm of film noir. Bogart's portrayal of Spade would immortalize him as a fast-talking hard ass with a heart of gold, and would also establish an archtypical detective hero of the film mode.

Astor and Bogart.

Perhaps what I love about it is the sheer effectiveness of it all. It's very theatrical, in the sense that many of the events are spoken of, but little are shown. The power of the word drives the narrative, hand in hand with the power of suggestion: a gun, a knock on the door, a piece of money, or an elevator door. This, to me, is filmmaking at its purest; interesting and dynamic characters, intriguing and unpredictable story, dialogue that tickles me pink, simple yet effective mise-en-scene, and all around smart decisions. Give it another chance. Pour yourself a glass or mug of whatever you're drinking and sit down for the 90 minutes and watch film history unfold.

Royalty.

Bacall, Bogart, Monroe.

I've been pretty busy lately, but posts about two Bogart classics to come: The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep!