An atmospheric if rather stage bound film version of the Broadway play.
"The Petrified Forest" and its examination of the toll WWI took on the world's psyche is fascinating to watch now, knowing that a second and even larger war was looming on the horizon at the time of this film's release. Leslie Howard plays a man with an artistic and philosophic temperament who sees nothing but doom for the human race due to his experiences in the war. Bette Davis is a young waitress rotting in a middle-of-nowhere diner who longs for something more. She gives Howard a reason to live; he gives her the opportunity to stretch her wings and fly. Meanwhile, Humphrey Bogart is a gangster on the run who hides out in the diner and takes everyone hostage, and who has his own nihilistic outlook on life.
"The Petrified Forest" doesn't quite know how to open up the world of the play from which it's adapted and make it feel more like a movie. There are a couple of moments of promise -- like an opening long shot of Howard walking down a desert road, or a reverse tracking shot of Davis standing on the porch of the diner as Howard is driven away in a car -- brief little moments that almost evoke the moody and stoically beautiful style of a John Ford film. But while there may be too few of these, the ideas and performances are enough to make this movie interesting to a modern-day audience, especially if you have an added interest in seeing how WWI affected popular culture when it was the only world war people had been through.
Grade: B+
"The Petrified Forest" and its examination of the toll WWI took on the world's psyche is fascinating to watch now, knowing that a second and even larger war was looming on the horizon at the time of this film's release. Leslie Howard plays a man with an artistic and philosophic temperament who sees nothing but doom for the human race due to his experiences in the war. Bette Davis is a young waitress rotting in a middle-of-nowhere diner who longs for something more. She gives Howard a reason to live; he gives her the opportunity to stretch her wings and fly. Meanwhile, Humphrey Bogart is a gangster on the run who hides out in the diner and takes everyone hostage, and who has his own nihilistic outlook on life.
"The Petrified Forest" doesn't quite know how to open up the world of the play from which it's adapted and make it feel more like a movie. There are a couple of moments of promise -- like an opening long shot of Howard walking down a desert road, or a reverse tracking shot of Davis standing on the porch of the diner as Howard is driven away in a car -- brief little moments that almost evoke the moody and stoically beautiful style of a John Ford film. But while there may be too few of these, the ideas and performances are enough to make this movie interesting to a modern-day audience, especially if you have an added interest in seeing how WWI affected popular culture when it was the only world war people had been through.
Grade: B+