User Reviews

The best context to look at "The Petrified Forest" is through the context of the first great disaster of the 20th Century: World War I (or, as it was known then, "The Great War"). I had just finished reading a long, thorough history of World War I when I saw this one and even though this is some twenty years after that awful catastrophe (all wars usually are, but this one especially), one can still feel it's aftershocks rolling through that desolate landscape. Maybe that's why Leslie Howard's character, Alan Squier, wound up wandering through there, as it probably reminded him of more than a few days and nights in No Man's Land (a term invented by the Great War to describe the space between enemy lines). A lot of non-American WWI veterans came out of it really messed up. The whole foundation of the 19th century's ideals had been laid to waste by this new and brutal world that WWI brought about. So it's not very suprising to me that Squier feels "obsolete", as he puts it; the role he had hoped to take with his world doesn't even exist. The best he can do is give Gabrielle Maple the chance he can never have.

Duke Mantee (played by Bogie in a superb, breakthrough performance) is also a relic, but from a different period, that of the Roaring Twenties. Not for nothing were such outlaws as John Dillenger and Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow glamourized during this period; one could possibly point to our current fascination with serial killers as this phenomenon's modern equivalent. But by 1936, the period of the romantic outlaw was drawing to a close if it wasn't already over (a point made five years later in "High Sierra"). Mantee is totally without hope of escape or even a reprieve. He sees his fate as clear as day and doesn't kid himself about his chances of eluding it forever. That, more than anything, would explain his rapproachment with Squier and perhaps his reluctance to shoot him until Squier gives him no choice. Mantee may know his own fate well enough, but he has no wish to inflict that fate on someone in the same position.

Granted, there's a lot more layers and angles going on in "The Petrified Forest" than what I've just mentioned here, but this was the one that grabbed the most. Because human nature doesn't change that much, perhaps that's why this brilliant stage piece still holds my respect.

"The Petrified Forest" is widely regarded as Humphrey Bogart's breakthrough film, which indeed it was. Bogey had made several forgettable films between 1930-34 before returning discouraged to the New York stage. There, he acquired the role of Duke Mantee in the stage version of "The Petrified Forest" in which Leslie Howard was the star.

When Warner Bros. bought the film rights they wanted Howard but also wanted Edward G. Robinson for the Mantee role. Howard interceded on Bogart's behalf saying that if Bogey wasn't cast as Mantee that he wouldn't do the film either. Bogey never forgot this favor and years later named his daughter Leslie after Howard.

The story takes place in a dusty road side cafe/gas station in the middle of a desert. The film is essentially about a bunch of life's losers with no real future except for the young waitress Gabrielle Maples (Bette Davis) who dreams of leaving the dusty desert for the bright lights of Paris.

A wandering intellectual/writer Alan Squier (Howard) comes to the cafe broke and hungry. He strikes up a friendship with Gabrielle who admires his cultured manner and love of poetry much to the chagrin of would be boyfriend Boze Hertzinger (Dick Foran) a has been football player who now pumps gas. Inside the cafe we meet Gabrielle's father Jason (Porter Hall) who fancies himself as a war hero and Gramp Maples (Charlie Grapewin) a senile old timer who likes to tell stories of his encounter with Billy the Kid.

Into this peaceful setting comes gangster Duke Mantee (Bogart) and his three pals Jackie (Joe Sawyer), Ruby (Adrian Morris) and Slim (Slim Thompson). The gang is on the lam from the law. Mantee holds all of the people in the cafe hostage including travelers the Chisolms (Paul Harvey, Genevieve Tobin) and their chauffeur Joseph (John Alexander). The rest of the film deals with the conflicts between the various characters and the growing love story between Alan and Gabrielle.

Bogey reportedly patterned his Mantee after real life gangster John Dillinger right down to his speech and movements. In fact if you look at photographs of Dillinger, you can see the resemblance. This might explain Bogey's CP3O (the android from "Star Wars") like posture. Notice how he holds his arms and his walk.

The two black actors (Thompson and Alexander) were also in the New York stage production. Dick Foran was appearing as a singing cowboy in a series of "B" westerns for Warners and welcomed this chance at a straight role in a major film.

Although Bogart definitely dominated the film, one can't help but admire the performance of Leslie Howard as Squier. Bette Davis just emerging as a major star has little to do but stare wide-eyed at Howard.

After this film, Warners signed Bogart to a contract. He would play mostly gangster roles in Cagney and Robinson films with the odd lead in a "B" picture such as "Black Legion" (1937) until 1941 when he became a major star after appearing in "High Sierra" and "The Maltese Falcon".

Transcribed from the trailer for "The Petrified Forest", filmed in the fall of 1935, and released early the following year.

[ Here's the news you have awaited-for a year and a half. Warner Bros. announce the re-uniting of The Stars Who Electrified The Screen World. The Girl Who Knows How To Use Her Charms – Bette Davis. And The Man Who Found Her Dangerous, but Irresistible – Leslie Howard. Co-starred in the sensational Broadway stage success "The Petrified Forest". ]

On the edge of the American desert lies a forest turned to stone, the Petrified Forest, grim, silent, mysterious. Here in a lonely desert tavern, faith draws together a strange company: Alan Squier (Leslie Howard), of Vagabond Adventure, running away from his past, Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis), a beautiful girl, weary of the desert solitude, eager to escape with the first man who comes her way, Boze Hertzlinger (Dick Foran), an ex-football hero, down on his luck, Paul Chisholm (Paul Harvey), multimillionaire banker vacationing with his disillusioned young wife, Edith (Genevieve Tobin), Gramp Maple (Charley Grapewin), a sly old reprobate, and Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart), vicious leader of a notorious band of gunmen, hiding out after a gang massacre.

In a short space of 24 eventful hours, these characters live a lifetime of romance, adventure, terror and tragedy. It's one of the most unusual stories ever brought to the screen, "The Petrified Forest".

[ Gabrielle Maple: Wouldn't you like someone to be in love with you? Alan Squier: Yes, Gabrielle, I would like someone in love with me. Gabrielle Maple: Do you think I'm attractive? Alan Squier: There are better words than that for what you are. ]

"The Petrified Forest", where nature makes man Forget his conscience, and Strips woman of her pride.

[ Edith Chisholm: Do you mind if I speak up, my dear, perhaps I could tell you some things that… Gabrielle Maple: What do you know about me? Edith Chisholm: I don't know about you, my dear, but I do know what it means to repress yourself, and starve yourself. ]

[ Duke Mantee: What were you saying? Jason Maple: I'm telling you for your own good, Mantee. They know where you were heading, they picked up your trail. They'll get you. Jackie: What's the matter with you, Duke? Do something! Duke Mantee: Shut up! Shut up! Give me time to think. Alan Squier: No, Duke, you want revenge, don't you? You want to go out of your way again, to get that blonde who snitched, Well don't do it, Duke. Jackie: She has snitched, come on, Duke! Duke Mantee: I told you to shut up! Alan Squier: You know they gonna get you, anyway. You're obsolete, Duke, like me. You've got to die. Well, then die for freedom. That's worth it. Don't give up your life for anything so cheap and unsatisfactory as revenge. ]

You'll find yourself Caught in a searing, blinding tornado of emotions in "The Petrified Forest".

Leslie Howard re-creates the role that thrilled Broadway. [ Alan Squier: Any woman's worth everything that any man has to give: anguish, ecstasy, faith, jealousy, love, hatred, life or death. ]

Bette Davis more tempting, more tantalizing, then ever. [ Gabrielle Maple: Sometimes I feel as if I was sparkling all over, and I wanna go out and do something absolutely crazy and marvellous. ]

Humphrey Bogart the most terrifying character since the Cagney of "Public Enemy". [ Duke Mantee: Just keep in mind that I and the boys is candidates for hangin'. And the first time any one of ya makes a wrong move, I'm gonna kill the whole lot of ya! ]

And Genevieve Tobin, Dick Foran.

"The Petrified Forest"

[ A New Triumph For The Screen's Greatest Dramatic Team. Brought to you by Warner Bros. the hit-after-hit studio. ]

Robert Sherwood's The Petrified Forest had a run in 1935 on Broadway for the first half of that year. Warner Brothers bought the film rights and shot it the following year. Leslie Howard and at his insistence, Humphrey Bogart, came west to repeat their stage roles.

For Bogart it was a return to bigger acclaim than he had gotten in his first trip to Hollywood in the early Thirties. He hadn't made much of an impression then, but he was in Tinseltown to stay after The Petrified Forest and his frightening characterization of criminal on the run, Duke Mantee.

The Petrified Forest takes place in a filling station/greasy spoon truck stop on the edge of the Arizona desert. About as desolate a place as you'll find. Three generations of the Maple family own and operate the place. Grandpa Charley Grapewin, Father Porter Hall, and daughter Bette Davis who dreams about the fact there's more to life than this nowhere place. Bette also has to contend with former college football star Dick Foran and his clumsy efforts at courtship.

Along comes Alan Squier played by Leslie Howard who's a blase world weary vagabond who's seen better days. He and Davis hit it off and she comes to realize that there is a great big world out there.

The first third of the movie involves the two of them and I have to say that in the mouths of players less skilled than these two, Robert Sherwood's dialog would have sounded like so much romantic drivel.

For Davis, Gabrielle Maple is a unique part and not one she'd play later on as her features hardened. An intelligent and romantic young girl is not a typical Bette Davis part, but she does bring it off.

As for Howard, Alan Squier is a typical part for him. Not too much different than Ashley Wilkes or Philip Scott from The 49th Parallel.

The remainder of the film is when Duke Mantee and his gang take refuge at the filling station and hold captive anyone who's there or wanders in. A lot of souls are bared under Mantee's guns and the climax is spectacular.

Two other actors who repeated their Broadway roles are Joseph Alexander who's the chauffeur of a rich couple who stop at the filling station and Slim Thompson a member of Mantee's gang. Both of these players are black.

Joseph Alexander is a menial and Slim Thompson really rubs it in to him, telling him the day of liberation has come for some time now. In 1936 that was practically revolutionary.

Alexander had a substantial career, but I have no idea what happened to Thompson. He had no other film credits and only one other stage appearance on Broadway in the original production of Anna Lucasta.

Moviegoers of all generations should thank Leslie Howard for insisting on Humphrey Bogart being in this film and helping to create a screen legend.

I may have seen this film many, many years ago but I have no such recollection. I rented it last night and was amazed at the issues handled by a fine cast in a pre-World War II gangster film. A black chauffeur for a rich couple is not typically stereotyped but has a say as to how he does his job. A second black character is an equal member of the gang of fleeing desperadoes with no reference to his race and he engages in conduct no different than his cronies. A quick interchange between the two black characters is fascinating. The Rich Wife spills out her anger and frustration about a loveless marriage in terms as realistic for many today as it was when the film was made.

The love story is dramatic; it is also unreal. Leslie Howard, who was to die in World War II when the plane on which he was a passenger was shot down by the Luftwaffe (there's a strange story about THAT interception), relates his failed marital history with a genteel but real frankness not usually found in pre-war cinema.

Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart shine in their roles. Bogart was starting off on his long career as a bad guy and does his promise come across. Davis is appealing with a naivete absent from most of her later films.

This is definitely a film with an agenda. Comments on patriotism seem suspended between caricature and seriousness. A sign, "Tipping Isn't American-Keep Your Change," hangs prominently in the desert cafe. Tipping isn't American? During the Depression? Methinks not.

One of the best films from a long-ago Hollywood that had its too often underappreciated cohort of serious thinkers.

"Petrified Forest" is both a fine film and a reminder of a Hollywood that occasionally showed its ability to address sensitive issues when even discussion of some of them was largely infra dig for most cinema moguls and their claques.

Here is one of the reasons I love old movies so much - intriguing writing, great acting, and interesting characters hold our attention throughout the movie without needing to resort to desperate all-out action, explosions, and computer effects.

Leslie Howard is a gentle intellectual roaming the Arizona desert who happens upon a quaint little cafe/gas station in the middle of nowhere, amidst sand and cactus. He immediately stirs the emotions of big-eyed waitress, Gabby (played by an adorably youthful Bette Davis), who holds a dream of going to France and finding herself in the world. But despite their quick and mutual adoration for one another there is impending tension hovering around their introduction, as news continually escalates about a killer named Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) who's on the run and not far from the diner. Eventually, the infamous gangster shows up with some thugs and takes over the cafe, holding an array of wonderfully colorful characters hostage.

This was originally a play with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart, and leading man Howard reportedly refused to do the picture without Bogie being in it. As a result, this is noteworthy also as Bogart's big breakout movie, and it would only be a few more years before he would hit super-stardom all on his own. Humphrey seems to put a lot into his gangster character, investing Duke with the necessary evil demeanor, yet also with a hint of heart and soul. Leslie Howard and Bette Davis make a wonderful pair, and both give fine performances; which makes the potentially talky twenty minute scene where they first get acquainted actually completely captivating. Charley Grapewin is delightful and funny as Davis' chattering grandpa. Dick Foran, playing a strapping and comical football star who pumps gas while always trying to woo Gabby, was very good in this film and it's probably the best work I've seen him do in movies, before he wound up as a "B" player for Universal. His character here is in complete contrast from the heroes and "singing cowboys" I've been used to seeing him play.

At first watch I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending (which I will not reveal) but after thinking about it I came to the decision that it really fit the story well after all, and is actually very poetic. ***1/2 out of ****

In an Arizona diner by a forest made of stone, a hobo of an Englishman who's wandering alone, pops in for some refreshment though he doesn't have a dime, encounters Gabrielle and thinks this lass is worth some time. She tells him of her dreams and how she wants to go to France, her mother went back there to Bourges at the end of her romance, there's connection and some magic that the pair begin to weave, until Boze becomes belligerent and the traveller needs to leave...

... although it's not too long before they all regather at the diner in the company of Duke Mantee and his band of hunted outlaws waiting for his broad to show. It's not the greatest piece of filmmaking you've ever seen, I'm not sure it would have been a particularly brilliant stage production either. Leslie Howard is a tough character to accept as genuine, then or now, the dialogue's a bit daft at times, Bette Davis uses her eyes to great effect and the career of the great Humphrey Bogart gets a boost in a villainous role he would evolve several times over the next two decades.

Based on the stunningly emotion play of the same title Petrified Forest is the tale that Acting great Leslie Howard will always be remembered for.He is at the heart of this film as a disillusioned intellectual whose personality never survived the war. Bette Davis is also strong as the waitress who Howard shares his secrets with. Humphrey Bogart made an impressive screen debut repeating the role of Duke Mantee at Howard's insistence. Howard and Bogart played the roles on stage and it is a treasure to see these two actors performances preserved for posterity. Those on this page who have questioned Howard's portrayal of his role are obviously missing the entire emotional through line of his role. Howard was far ahead of his time, an extremely naturalistic actor in a Hollywood obsessed by type casting. Watch this film and be moved by the story. you won't regret it.

The movie version of Robert Sherwood's play, The Petrified Forest, is an oddity. An outstanding, maybe even great film derived from a basically second rate work. Archie Mayo directs splendidly this story of a poet-drifter who (literally) walks into an eatery in the Arizona desert, where he runs into a desperate, Dillingeresque bad guy who holds him hostage, and in the course of his captivity falls in love with a very naive young woman. Much of the dialogue is dated (though clever) and is written in the faux-Lost Generation style popular in Broadway plays of the twenties and thirties, which is to say there are hints of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in the attitudes expressed, but little of their artistry and originality. As the drifter, sensitive, pipe-smoking Leslie Howard has never been better or better cast; one almost suspects that the role was written for him. Humphrey Bogart, in his first good movie role, is appropriately menacing; he looks remarkably like John Dillinger, and shows even at this stage of his career much of the charm and charisma that later propelled him to superstardom. Watch him closely: he more than holds his own with Howard. Bette Davis is somewhat silly as the love interest; this was not a good part for her. There are no demons for her to unleash in this shy school-girl, and she seems at a loss as to how to play her. The supporting cast is superb, down to the smallest bit player. Mayo and Company worked wonders with the desert set, with its cacti, tumbleweeds and air of rustling menace. We know it's not a real desert, but it doesn't matter; the state of mind is all. This is how the real desert would feel in the mind of such a man as Howard plays, and this is all that matters. The shack-like eatery, with its blinking barbeque sign, is a great creation; with its creaking floorboards and dry as sand tables and chairs, one can almost smell the chili. Also, the transition from day to night is exceedingly well done and quite subtle; it just happens. You know it's dark outside without actually having to see the darkness just beyond the door. The feeling of stars and huge sky above is conveyed by dialogue only and is yet palpable nonetheless; there in spirit if not fact. Inside, the claustrophobia is well-managed; even with several camera shifts there is a strong sense of confinemnt in the film. Mayo did a better job here, with this threadbare, wildly ambitious play, than Wyler ever did with much better material, and I'm not sure why. Mayo's career drifted downward in the late thirties and forties, and of his later work the less said the better. But in 1936 he proved that with great actors, outstanding cameramen and art directors, small miracles could be wrought right on the Warner Brothers back lot, and for a while at least the desert bloomed.

Having *just* watched it I'm not sure if 'The Petrified Forest' is a crime thriller, a melodrama, or a comedy. I do know that I laughed all the way through it. The writing is sharp and oddly convincing despite an obvious written-for-the-stage sheen.

Every line that Bogart spits out is a gem, he's virtually radioactive, you can feel his angst through your screen. Leslie Howard and Bette Davis are also very good. Especially hilarious is the interplay between Howard, the wordy, cynical, romantic, failed novelist, and Bogart's terse, mad-dog, killer.

The DVD I saw comes with a news reel from 1936 that drives home the fact that this story was very much "ripped from the headlines" and most likely the contemporary audience didn't watch it with the same ear-to-ear grin that I wore, but it really is desperately funny.

An Award Winning Play with Extremely Awkward, Dated Dialog and a Controlled Confinement renders little Payoff for Modern Moviegoers.

The Attraction of Two Superstars (Howard, Davis) cannot save this from being Melodramatic with Heavy Doses of Melancholy, not only by Today's standards but the Verbiage probably started to Fossilize before the Patrons Exited in the Thirties.

It is so Over Written and Corny that even Depression era Dreamers could see through the Silver Lining in this Clunky Cloud.

Widely Considered the Movie that Made Bogart (his entrance is iconic).

This is as Dusty as it gets and can really Only be Enjoyed by Film and Social Historians as a Slice of Literary and Cultural Pop. An empty, Pretentious, Commercially Driven Deterrent to the Woes of the Day. Populist Escapism.

It was Wrapped in Plastic and Sold to the Suffering Masses, but did Not Cure the Neurosis ("nature has unleashed") and was a Placebo.

"The Petrified Forest" (Archie Mayo, 1936) is most fascinating for its eager willingness to voice criticisms of wealth, power, authority, and inequality in America. Perhaps its acute social commentary should be unsurprising considering that Warner Brothers released the romantic crime drama during the depths of the Great Depression, but it is freshly relevant just the same, striking a note that would not be witnessed in the films of the forties and fifties. In speaking to the exploitation of workers, the snobbery of corporatism, the repression of women, blacks, artists, and literary poets, the reign of gangland crime, the American government's complicit abuse of power, and the loss of individuality in an increasingly meek age, "The Petrified Forest" manages an equal-opportunity iconoclasm that belies any party affiliations. Simply put, the film is unafraid to criticize America, and it's that sense of freedom that makes it particularly delightful. Best of all, "The Petrified Forest" voices its dissent through colorful witticisms and engaging banter, never taking itself too seriously or losing its sense of humor.

"The Petrified Forest" is also particularly notable for marking Humphrey Bogart's first major screen role as the nominal villain and escaped gangster Duke Mantee. The unshaven, pompadour-sporting Bogart is leering and menacing, brooding and growling and glowering, projecting the lonely, hard-bitten cynicism that would soon become his trademark. At the same time, however, he also emerges as a sympathetic and noble figure, one who transcends his criminal trappings through a fierce sense of integrity and individuality. Not only did these hard-boiled character traits become the template for the Bogart persona, but they also serve as a source of magnetism within the film's social milieu. Aside from the corporate oilman (Mr. Chisholm, played by Paul Harvey), Duke Mantee's hostages in a desert diner come to admire and salute his rugged individualism and defiance of the status quo, even as he endangers their lives. They yearn for the empowering resistance that he embodies and the gritty social rebelliousness that he wears on his prickly face, and when the film, before its final shootout, labels the confrontation as "Duke Mantee vs. the American government," it's clear that the sympathies of its principal characters reside with the Duke.

"The Petrified Forest" is also noteworthy for the dynamic contrast between its two black characters. One of them (Joseph, played by John Alexander) is virtually the embodiment of the pre-sixties Hollywood stereotype, a meek, shuffling, subservient chauffeur who always looks to his wealthy boss for paternalistic approval before opening his mouth. The other (Slim, played by Slim Thompson) is one of Duke Mantee's gangster associates, and he's clearly a liberated, autonomous, independent soul who offers his opinions on his own accord while mocking his "colored brother" for his subservience. He's almost a figure out of 1966 rather than 1936, and the difference between these two black men highlights the social conflict that the film heeds. On one side is the ruggedly individualistic and socially defiant Duke Mantee and a black man who marches to his own beat; on the other is a fat cat corporate tycoon and his docile and emasculated black servant, who, in turn, represent the American status quo. And so while Mantee and his gangsters are nominally the villains of "The Petrified Forest," at heart they constitute the film's heroes and rousing saviors. They are the men who obliquely brighten the hopeless despair and repressed frustrations of a trapped waitress who is secretly a talented painter (Gabby Maple, played by Bette Davis) and a fatalistically passionate French drifter-poet who is hitching his way to the Pacific Ocean (Alan Squier, played by Leslie Howard). They also seem to enliven several of the other repressed characters, from the restless wife of the cowardly tycoon (Mrs. Edith Chisholm, played by Genevieve Tobin), to an ex-college football player struggling to release his pent-up energies (Nick, played by Eddie Acuff), to an old man who longs for Billy the Kid, Mark Twain, and the legendary individualists of a bygone era (Gramp Maple, played by Charley Grapewin).

To be sure, the film doesn't explicitly paint Duke Mantee and his fellow gangsters as heroic saviors, but it's clear where the film's sympathies lie.

Ultimately "The Petrified Forest" is about an umbrella of misfits and their discontent with the repressive and exploitative American establishment, and it's that pulse of iconoclasm that keeps it audacious and provocative after all these decades.

Who would be the best actor to play a failed writer, a romantic dreamer? Yeah, Leslie Howard seems to be a nice choice... And what if we take this pretty and young Bette Davis (before she becomes the best villain in the story of cinema) and make her play a rebel girl that's longing for a new life far away from that dusty Arizona hole she lives in? Lastly we give Humphrey Bogart the role of a bloodthirsty gangster that walks like a bulldog... Now that we have the perfect cast we just have to write a simple film-noir script, full of humor and with some touches of poetry and romanticism. That's it, a 80 minutes long wonder.

This is cinema, my friends. Quite a lesson of how to create characters and how to make a great movie with a few sets and with six or seven actors. "Petrified Forest" is 70 years old, but it'll remain magnificent for ever and ever.

*My rate: 9/10

I'm not a big fan of Leslie Howard but THE PETRIFIED FOREST is his best film, in my book.

He was great in THE 49th PARALLEL and OF HUMAN BONDAGE, and he's great here too. In this film, he is a lazy writer gone awry, trying to live out his dreams in Bette Davis' character (who is a painter).

In a way, he's totally opposite of Humphrey Bogart's Duke Mantee character, and the dichotomy really is the justification of 'classic' given to this film.

Bogart's and Davis' performances are just average in this film - although at the time of the release, this was Bogart's best film.

I think the old man - Charley Grapewin - and Genevieve Tobin (as Mrs. Chisholm) do a great job with their small parts. Tobin is also a very attractive lady!

I enjoyed the banter between the two drivers as well, both African-Americans cast in a "white" movie at WB in '36. It's a shame they weren't given larger roles.

Talky and melodramatic - and certainly unbelievable (the middle-of-nowhere desert gas station is almost always FULL of people, for starters), this stagy, yet classic film is not for everyone. Your kids will hate this film. But to me - this is good stuff.

This **is** prototypical 1930's cinema.

This movie needs better spokespeople! So here goes: take Bogart, Howard, Davis. Classic story with modern undertones. Stage play that works on screen. Clever dialog. Bittersweet longing for a better place. Missed chances for love. Violent gangsters. Quaint desert cafes. Mix in blender: out comes a classic from 1936 which still tastes good today.

Don't miss it. You can't talk about American cinema until you've seen this one, too.

PETRIFIED FOREST is a bit strange version of gangster drama. It was created based on the homonymous theater play by Robert E. Sherwood. Similarly evoked. Dramaturgy is good and all the characters are in some way dissatisfied with their lives. They are constrained to make a key step towards a goal.

This version is a really good combination of forms of theater and film media. The entire drama takes place in an imaginary indoors. The concentration of people in general is shown as being slaves and closed, conditioned by the achievements of money, power and security. In one night the whole drama played out with two characteristic of men (Alan - L.Howard, and Duke - H.Bogart), which seems to have been the cornerstone orbiting ellipse society that is built on democratic foundations, the traces of legendary heroes and war triumph. The two outlaws in different roles, one is actually a poet, the other a criminal. Deep within the society is well camouflaged, tinted and prohibited frustration that we call humanity. The margins and marginal aspects are also thematic coverage. The story is interesting. It rises and falls in the dialogue.

Leslie Howard as Alan Squier is a young passerby, traveler and writer who wanders aimlessly. Depressed at odds with the whole world looks for meaning that can be among other things, love and death.

Bette Davis as Gabrielle Maple is a girl who dreams of romantic dreams and read poetry. Falls in love with a man who tells her exactly what she wants to hear. With him, she can escape from reality. Bette Davis is terribly charismatic.

Humphrey Bogart as Duke Mantee is a gangster and a murderer on the run. In his story the women and around her all spinning. Duke has resigned. This is crucial Bogart role in his early career.

Characters are in a particular vortex of frustration and self-pity. The troubles are becoming aware of each other. Seen from a philosophical point of view this is a good movie. Acting suffer a little, while Cinematography is suffering far more.

This one may not be a certified classic, but I absolutely loved it. I've always had a fondness for hostage dramas and siege stories, something about people trapped together in desperate circumstances makes for intimate and intense storytelling and this one really delivers.

The stage is carefully set with Leslie Howard, the world weary wanderer stumbling upon a lonely roadside cafe where he inflames the imagination, and passions, of a young Bette Davis. She dreams of the larger world but her father and grandfather keep her in check and she suffers the advances of the loutish hired hand. Also thrown into this mundane situation are Paul Harvey and Genevieve Tobin as a bickering wealthy couple on their way to Phoenix. The drama explodes with the arrival of Humphrey Bogart and his cronies, on the run for robbery and murder. They all spend the night in the cafe as Bogart holds them hostage as he waits to rendezvous with his girlfriend and the rest of the gang.

The conversation is fantastic as Howard cleverly exposes the hopes, fears and failings of all concerned. The best bits are when Tobin, who came off as a shrewish rich wife, reveals how she wasted her life marrying into a loveless marriage to please her family, and there is some racial commentary when a black member of Bogart's gang mocks Harvey's black chauffeur for serving white people. Even Bogart, who exudes a cruelty and meanness we'd expect from a gangster, reveals a tender vulnerability after being pressed by Howard for a "favor". Wonderful stuff.

I must also mention the set, mostly inside the diner, but with the fake scenery and matte paintings in the background, it has a haunted and surreal atmosphere which enhances the tension.

It's very apparent when watching The Petrified Forest that it was designed as a stage play. Bette Davis can't seem to lower her voice to save her life and Leslie Howard, while a great actor, waxes poetic like an inebriated Lord Byron. If you can stand Davis' yelling, Howard's soliloquies, and Dick Foran's large man-breasts, grossly accentuated by his tight-fitting shirt, then you might find this to be an enjoyable little movie. Humphrey Bogart steals every scene he's in, which isn't as many as you may be led to believe. All of the film's best moments feature Bogart. If you're a Bogart fan, this is a must-see. Otherwise, unless you enjoy films of the 30's, particularly ones that seemed like filmed plays, you might want to watch something else.

"The Petrified Forest" at the time of this review is 71 years old. It has some painted outdoor sets, a very young, pretty Bette Davis, with Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Howard repeating their stage roles as, respectively, a Dillinger type criminal and an idealistic dreamer. It's less a film than a filmed play - and it's obviously a play, by Robert Sherwood. And guess what, it holds up with some wonderful acting and surprisingly refreshing themes.

Davis is Gaby Maple, who works in the desert café owned by her grandfather. It's there that she waits on Alan, who speaks loftily and listens to her dreams of leaving the hated Arizona desert, joining her mother in France and becoming an artist. In a short time, they fall for one another, but Alan has to move on. He hitches a ride with a wealthy man and his wife, the Chisholms, but on the way out of the desert, they run into the escaped murderer Duke Mantee and his gang, whose car has broken down. They steal the Henderson's car. While their chauffeur is attempting to fix the Mantee vehicle, Alan realizes that Duke and the gang are heading toward the café, and he walks back there. There, Duke holds everyone hostage, including the returning Chisholms, during which time, Alan comes to an important decision about Gaby, himself, and what his life means.

The film has two unusual aspects, the first being the surprising treatment of the black characters. One of the black men is part of Duke's gang and an equal member of it. When the chauffeur asks his boss if it's okay to have a drink, the gang member scoffs at his subservience. "Haven't you heard about the new liberation?" he asks him, shoving a drink in his hand. The second aspect is Mrs. Henderson's feminist counseling of Gaby. Mrs. Henderson urges Gaby not to suppress her dreams for someone else, in this case her grandfather, but to become an individual and know who she is and what she wants. She explains that she was in Europe and offered a stage role by the great Max Reinhardt, but acquiesced to her parents when they demanded she return to the states. She is now unhappily married to a selfish man and has no identity of her own. This is 1936, and acquiescing to what one's family expected of you and losing yourself in your husband's identity went on long, long after that.

Unlike today's films, "The Petrified Forest" is rich in dialogue with only a few action scenes. Nevertheless, it holds one's interest due to acting and wonderful atmosphere of this broken-down café with the wind whipping outside.

With his finely drawn, handsome features and British accent, Leslie Howard excelled at playing dreamers and philosophers, culminating in his role as Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind." As Alan, he's above it all, speaking of poetry and art to the wide-eyed Gaby and throwing even Duke Mantee off-balance. Mantee was Bogart's breakout film role, and he's fantastic. He studied John Dillinger's mannerisms to prepare for his stage role. Here he's fierce and angry as a man who knows he hasn't got a chance in hell of making it to Mexico but he's going to go down fighting. As Gaby, Davis conveys the character's fantasies, hope for the future, naive ambition, and love for Alan. Neither one of them belong in the desert, but while Alan is through with life's struggles, and Duke knows he's about to be through, Gaby is looking forward to them. Like the gas jockey who's in love with her (Dick Foran) she's willing to take risks for what she wants. Mr. Chisholm, the fat cat, just hopes nothing upsets his status quo. Mrs. Chisholm is stuck but vicariously roots not only for Gaby but Duke and Alan.

Allegorical in its themes, with no special effects, "The Petrified Forest," its title referring to the nearby dead forest where several characters are figuratively heading, is a real treat for lovers of classic film, classic actors, and our country's history of depression and classism. I treasured every minute of it.

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+

Most of the reviews of this film are highly positive. I could hardly wait for it to be over. The dialogue was awful. Silly and stupid, and totally unrealistic for the circumstances. I was hoping for Duke to kill them all so they would shut the hell up. What a waste of talent. I gave it a 4 just because of Bogart.