Moonrise (1948)
Directed by: Frank
Borzage.
Written by: Charles
F. Haas based on the novel by Theodore Strauss).
Starring: Dane Clark (Danny
Hawkins), Gail Russell (Gilly Johnson), Ethel Barrymore (Grandma), Allyn Joslyn
(Sheriff Clem Otis), Rex Ingram (Mose), Harry Morgan (Billy Scripture), David Street
(Ken Williams), Selena Royle (Aunt Jessie), Harry Carey Jr. (Jimmy Biff),
Irving Bacon (Judd Jenkins), Lloyd Bridges (Jerry Sykes).
One of
the last films by the great Frank Borzage – who worked consistently from the
early 1910s right up until the 1940s, winning two directing Oscars in the
process – Moonrise is a cross between a film noir and a Hollywood melodrama. In
terms of the plotting of the film, there is nothing here you haven’t seen
before – and the lead performance by Dane Clark isn’t quite up to par here
(apparently John Garfield was Borzage’s first choice – and would have been
perfect). And yet, while Moonrise isn’t a perfect film by any means – it’s one
of those where the direction really elevates the rest of the movie. The film
looks amazing – with Borzage drawing on his silent movie background to come up
with some stellar image after another, one stellar sequence after another. The
direction elevates what could have been a rather run of the mill and
forgettable film into something quite bold.
Clark
stars as Danny Hawkins – who has been an outcast in his town since shortly
after birth. His father got mad at the doctor who delivered Danny – blaming him
for the death of Danny’s mother – and murdered him shortly after, getting the
death penalty as a result. Danny is raised by his grandma (Ethel Barrymore) –
who probably would have been smart to leave town, but doesn’t. Danny is
tormented and bullied throughout his childhood – mostly led by Jerry Sykes
(Lloyd Bridges). The montage that shows this progression of bullying in the
first of many great sequences in the film. It finally leads to yet another
fight between these two men as they step outside from a dance – but this time, Danny
gets the best of Jerry, and ends up killing his longtime tormenter. He hides
the body, and goes back to the dance.
Of
course, killing a man is easy, but getting away with it – and living with
yourself – is much harder. Jerry has a rich daddy, who doesn’t take his sons disappearance
lying down – and hires a detective to look for him. Meanwhile, Danny moves in
on Jerry’s girl – Gilly (Gail Russell) – an innocent school teacher, and the
two fall in love. But the Sheriff (Allyn Joslyn) isn’t stupid – and starts
noticing Danny’s increasingly odd behavior – as Danny spirals out of control
into guilt and remorse.
Moonrise
is an odd film – in that, you could see the way you make this into a guilt
ridden film noir – with Danny not unlike say Edward G. Robinson in Fritz Lang’s
The Woman in the Window. But that’s not really how this film proceeds. It is
the most sympathetic film from that time I can think of in terms of a portrait
of someone who could (rightly) be called a murderer. The film probably lays it
on a little thick – making the dead Jerry into more and more of a villain as
the film progressed, and having everyone be a little more understanding of
Danny that they probably should be. The film even has a “happy” ending – at
least as much as a film like this could have. Here’s where Clark’s performance
disappoints – because it doesn’t have any of the shading it really needs. An
actor like the aforementioned Garfield could have made this a complex character
– someone who you both like and fear. But Clark is more of blank slate than
anything. He isn’t aided much by Russell as the blandest of bland film noir
“good girls” imaginable. Throw in a few more characters that border on
offensive clichés – the mute eyewitness who sees everything, and the
sympathetic “magical negro” Danny has as a friend, and Moonrise could have been
downright maudlin in other hands.
And here
is where Borzage’s direction really does the heavy lifting – he plays it
somehow right down the middle from the maudlin melodrama or the film noir it
could have been. It’s somehow both and neither at the same time. And in terms
of how the film looks, it is remarkable. Borzage has over 100 directing credits
listed on IMDB stretching from 1913 (when he would have been 19) until the year
before his death in 1962 at only 68. He brings that wealth of experience here.
The film works best when Borzage is directing it almost as if it were a silent
film – that opening montage for instance, or other set pieces throughout. The
film never looks less than amazing.
The
direction makes up for the rest of the flaws in the film. This isn’t a
masterpiece like some other Borzage films (I admit, I need to see more of his
work, but my favorite is perhaps the pre-code Man’s Castle from 1933). But it
does show just how good a director he was – right up until late into his
career. He would only go on to be credited with directing two other films after
Moonrise – and both of those came 10 years later. But Moonrise shows that in
1948, he was still at the height of his powers.
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