Petrified Forest The (1936)

Petrified Forest The (1936)

Humphrey Bogart made an impression on moviegoers and critics alike in his role as Duke Mantee a gangster who threatens a roadside restaurant its employees and its patrons when he chooses it as his gang’s hideout until things cool down. Bette Davis stars as a waitress and daughter of the establishment’s owner (Porter Hall) who dreams for more than her current situation allows. Leslie Howard is a writer who finds himself in the right place at the wrong time as do other patrons including Genevieve Tobin. Dick Foran (known as the "Singing Cowboy" in other films) plays a local yokel who’s in love with Davis. Directed by Archie Mayo with a screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves that was based on the play by Robert Sherwood.

It’s an interesting film about "dreamers" or those searching for something other than their current situation AND people who accept who they are (no matter how pathetic). The characters played by Howard and Davis fall into the former group while Bogart Foran "Gramps" (Charley Grapewin) and the others are in the latter. SPOILER – Genevieve Tobin’s character switches "camps" during the course of the film inspired by Howard’s "love" for Davis.

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