Raoul Walsh

[Lzcutter]

From the early days of silents through the early 1960s, Raoul Walsh was involved in movie-making. From his days with D.W. Griffith as an actor, Walsh played John Wilkes Booth in Griffith's masterpiece, Birth of a Nation, to the 1920s and his early foyers into directing, Walsh was known as man's man. He directed Doug, Sr in Thief of Bagdad and victor Mclagen in What Price Glory, he took John Wayne out of Pappy's prop department and tried to make him a star with The Big Trail. In 1939, he joined the ranks of Warner Brothers and over the years made numerous films, the best were the ones that centered around the individual. From The Roaring Twenties to High Sierra to Objective Burma and White Heat and on, where Ford's film focused on society and Hawks films focused on the group, Walsh focused on men and women whose individual journeys often took them down paths they never intended.

He never gained the recognition that Ford and Hawks did, though, like Michael Curtiz and William Wellman, he certainly deserved some of that limelight. He found recognition on college campuses and a few film societies in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s but the elusive ground that Ford and Hawks were venerated in always eluded Walsh.

A new book on Walsh is coming out this July, True Adventures of of Hollywood's Legendary Director by Mary Ann Moss, for Screen Classics. Perhaps more recognition will come his way.



I certainly hope so!

In the meantime, here's a piece by Dave Kehr. Despite the byline, it reads as if it was written back in 1980 shortly after Walsh's death.

Enjoy!

http://www.movingimagesource.us/article ... n-20110322

[moira finnie]

I can't wait for that new biography of Walsh. I've read and enjoyed the man's autobiography and his interviews over the years--not to mention relishing those movies. He certainly deserves more attention. Thanks for the link.

[pvitari]

Mary Ann Moss introduced the screening of The Big Trail at the TCM fest last year.

Being the blinkered, narrow-focused person I am :), I am looking forward to what she has to say about Charles Farrell, who was Walsh's leading man in three movies. ;) (The Red Dance, The Man Who Came Back, Wild Girl)

[JackFavell]

Well, it pays to look around this website! I am very excited about the Raoul Walsh bio coming out this summer! He's a great character - I fell in love with him watching The Men Who Made the Movies, and all over again watching his movies.

[MissGoddess]

I may have to get this one, too. I read the autobiography a long time ago, and of course Schickel's book---the man was a terrific raconteur and what stories!

[JackFavell]

Wow!b That was a fascinating article! I wish it were much longer.

[MissGoddess]

I just read the article, thank you again, Lynn. I see I missed a screening last weekend of one of his films, darn. Interesting about his use of deep focus and mostly, about how he portrays characters. I'm glad he mentions The Revolt of Mamie Stover in a positive light, lol. I actually enjoyed that film, though it is a little over the top. Jane is such a delight. By the way, did TCM do a tribute to her? I would love to have recorded this film, as I'm not sure if it's on DVD.

I have to disagree with one thing, I don't think Errol Flynn possessed or projected narcissim, at all. In fact, he seemed almost in a rush to destroy his looks and get the focus off of them. I do agree he was seldom better than in Walshie's movies. But I digress.

[moira finnie]

Hey, this is just a heads up that one of Mr. Walsh's later films, Band of Angels (1957), often trashed as a "moonlight and magnolias" rip-off of GWTW, is being shown this coming Wednesday April 6th at 10:30PM on TCM as part of April's examination of the Civil War on film. The film centers around Amantha Starr (Yvonne de Carlo), the pampered daughter of a plantation owner. Amantha, hearing the loose talk among the house slaves and worried by her doting father's equivocations, grows up with her Southern Belle nose in the air, even though she is nagged by the concern that mother's grave is set away from the family plot. At finishing school up the river, Amantha falls in love with Seth Parton (Rex Reason), an anti-slavery preacher, whom she hopes to marry, (despite his pomposity). Her father 's unexpected death enables the truth of Amantha's racial heritage to emerge at his burial. The hysterical Amantha becomes the property of the slimiest slave trader south of Memphis (Ray Teal), and her father's lover Miss Idell (Andrea King in a weirdly truncated cameo) takes over the estate. Amantha is transported to New Orleans and put on the slave auction block "intact."

Based on a Robert Penn Warren novel and starring Clark Gable, Yvonne de Carlo and Sidney Poitier, it is too rambling and occasionally hokey to be perfect, but as a coda to Clark Gable's earlier portrayal of Rhett Butler, it approaches the subject of the causes and consequences of the war in a novel fashion. At times, especially in the scenes when Gable broods about his past and when Sidney Poitier appears, the movie is quite nuanced and relatively honest for the period and the commercial demands of making a big budget potboiler. The portrayal of race relations around the time of the Civil War, which so often reflected nostalgia for the antebellum period in earlier movies, takes a step toward looking at life from inside slavery through the eyes of a young woman who experiences it and those who care for and brutalize her. Sidney Poitier plays one of his sharpest roles as an educated, intelligent young man contemptuous and defiant of the world, despite being raised by the seemingly civilized Gable, whose dark past includes episodes of unimaginable brutality. What is really interesting under the spectacle and heavy-breathing (Yvonne has to do a lot of that) is that Southerners' attitudes toward slavery and Northerners who espouse abolition of slavery are eventually revealed as far more complex than they were often portrayed in films prior to this time.

This is despite the fact that once we visit the plantation of Hamish Bond (only time you'll ever come across Gable playing a guy named "Hamish") the massa is greeted with flocks of slaves humming, strumming and singin' the praises of the Lawd and Mr. Hamish. Other times, the simmering resentment expressed by Poitier dominated the movie. His somewhat anachronistic role (though Nat Turner would not have thought it out of kilter with his time) overwhelms the characterization of the insulted and terrified Yvonne, whose bid for a big time movie starring herself is not helped by her underwritten role. Gable comes to life in the scenes near the end of the film, bringing his streak of fatalistic humor and ruefulness to bear on the reflections of his character, who appears to be summing up his life--until the movie rides to his unlikely rescue. What ultimately comes through is the painful realization of the characters of Poitier and Gable that their entwined lives cannot be untangled from the familial love they have for one another. This interesting allusion to the burgeoning Civil Rights movement in America is inescapable, but it makes Yvonne's character almost seem like an after thought. Thank goodness her beauty and spirit are there to carry her sympathetic character along and that supporting roles in films such as Criss Cross and The Captain's Paradise revealed this actress' erotic power and joyous humor (yes, well before The Munsters).

I hadn't seen this movie for years until recently and was pleasantly surprised to discover that Walsh may have been trying to make a heckuva crowd pleaser, but he also managed to craft a somewhat subversively interesting movie instead. In reality, when it was released, it was a bit of a disappointment all around, leading Gable to tell his agent, "don't send me anymore [scripts] like that."

Here's a trailer for Band of Angels in which Clark breaks the fourth wall, and Raoul Walsh is also seen:
[youtube][/youtube]

[MissGoddess]

Oh, terrific! I hope people watch. It's very entertaining and no one but Gable could give the role that certain kind of rueful authority. He also seems to know how absurd some of it is, like when they carry him in to the plantation on a cart with flowers. His expression cracks me up! I wonder if Walsh was having a little fun with his friend, there.

Yvonne looks stunning and is very sympathetic. So is the young woman who plays the housekeeper/mistress of Gable. She plays her part with zero sentimentality, yet with the pain of knowing she is being replaced and her lot in life leaves her few choices.

I honestly would fear this movie in the hands of a lesser director.

[JackFavell]

Thanks for pointing this one out, Moira!

I am very interested in seeing more Walsh movies, he always seemed a bit more trapped by the studios than a Ford or a Hawks might have been. I don't know, maybe he was less interested in creating his own projects, more interested in pulling something fascinating out of run of the mill hokum. Trapped within the confines of less-than-stellar scripts, he seems to have knocked out some pretty amazing movies, or at least movies that leave you something to think about afterwards. I haven't found a Walsh movie yet that didn't have something I really loved in it.

[RedRiver]

My name is Bond. Hamish Bond.

I am one of those who gives more credit to other filmmakers than to the talented Walsh. But when he was hot, he was on fire. I must reiterate the examples in the original post. WHITE HEAT is one of the great action films of all time. So many scenes are unforgettable. HIGH SIERRA is also fine. I like that the two great gangster films were created by this director.

OBJECTIVE BURMA is a serious, thought provoking war movie. Flynn's best acting? Possibly. THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON a thrilling, superbly formatted adventure. The total package works because all the pieces fit together so well.

Has anyone mentioned THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE? Could this flighty, romantic, borderline comedy of manners be the work of the tough, manly Walsh? Yes. And a sweet, sensitive, silly presentation it is.

I don't care for the Hornblower film with Gregory Peck. THE TALL MEN? I'm a tall man. We're not all that boring! One of the reasons Ford and Hawks cast such enviable shadows was their impressive rate of success. Most directors were more hit and miss. This one hit dead-on quite a few times.

[MissGoddess]

High Sierra and The Roaring Twenties interest me because of the way the leading character is depicted. Both are about criminals who are extremely sympathetic. It's so cliche, I know, but I doubt whether it were so when Walsh made those films. At any rate, I seldom found Bogart as richly embued with pathos as he is as Roy Earl (or is it Earle?). Seeing him long for a girl and lose her in a rough way...it's the whole Rick and Ilsa story before Curtiz fleshed out those two iconic figures. But HIgh Sierra shows more one-sided loss, as opposed to noble self-sacrifice. Earle's practically spat upon by the object of his love, as he is by society. All this right after coming out of prison, after losing the best years of his life. He's all ready to start "clean" after this one last job and as part of this new road he's on, he does what may be the most unselfish act of his life for this girl...only to have her reject him. It wasn't really altogether unselfish, he was hoping to win her. But the sad point is she really wasn't worthy of winning...not because she's a bad person, but because she's young and empty and selfish like so many her age. Her humility and warmth only seemed to exist when she was club footed. Earle had knocks against him yet it didn't make him empty. He was the "best" at his grim career yet it did not make him vain (like those punks he was stuck with). Instead, the minute the girl was "perfect" she turned into a little monster. Marie (Ida Lupino) is wonderful to watch...the way she haunts Roy...she follows him into the girl's house...she has to see what draws him away from her and to this other girl. And little "Pard", the "unlucky" dog.

So many little touches that add up to a movie that showed exceptional care on the part of the director AND the star. I think of it as Bogart's first really seriously complex role, one that sets up the possibility of all the other great anti-heroes he would come to be defined by. They all can be found in Roy.

[JackFavell]

I love what you wrote, Goddess.

I was trying to write something about Walsh this afternoon. I guess he is hard to peg down. I wanted to mention those two movies, High Sierra and The Roaring Twenties, and The Strawberry Blonde. They seem connected to me. I can't exactly say why, but you've come close to explaining it. Walsh gives weight and gravitas to these stories, even the lighter ones - bringing in tragic elements within his heroes.... they are each suffering from a romantic delusion, one so strong that it is almost enough to take them to the grave. Each has to come face to face with himself, and to decide whether to live small or die with a grand, outmoded, ridiculously chivalrous gesture. One which at the end, no one really understands or even sees as such. These very human, gritty anti-heroes remind me of Don Quixote mixed with a little King Arthur, so when I talk of delusion, I mean serious hubris. When they dare to hope, or reach for the stars, you know they are in trouble.

[Ann Harding]

You can count me as a Walsh fan! I read his wonderful autobiography, Each Man in His Time, many years ago and adored him instantly. His glorious sense of humour and charm were a winner for me. Among his pictures, there are three that belong to the top of my favourite pictures: Pursued, Colorado Territory and White Heat. I was really happy when I saw that a biography of the man was coming out. It was about time! Has anybody read it yet? I'd like to hear some comments.


(A pic of Raoul Walsh with a pet animal he intended to give to his wife. That's a picture he gave to the French film-makers who interviewed him)

Recently I saw a 1965 interview of Raoul Walsh done by French TV. It was extremely fun. He was in his ranch, leaning against the fence of his corral while rolling a cigarette. You could not have imagined a better portrait of a cowboy with Stetson and all! He regalled his guests with stories of the Old West. One day, as a young man, he had to drive a carriage with some city slickers. Those men came to the small town because of a hanging. He describes the scene as some kind of a fun fair where people came to have a good time... After the hanging, he drove the men back to town. Only then did he realise what they came for: they were pickpockets. One of the stories I enjoyed particularly was about the shooting of The Loves of Carmen (1927). He thought the casting of Victor McLaglen as the bullfighter was a joke with his large frame. Anyway, Walsh decided to experiment with the camera. He asked the cameraman to take a shot of McLaglen from between the bull's horns. They purchased a light French camera (Debrie) and placed it on the animal. His feet were attached. But, he shook off the straps and McLaglen took off like a rocket and disappeared for the whole day. Raoul was one of a kind. I love him.