BY JOHN M. WHALEN
Two men drive across the blazing Nevada desert and stop
at the bridge leading to the town of Chuckawalla. Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak)
remarks to his companion Johnny Ryan (Wendell Corey) that the bridge hasn’t
been repaired since they were last here. We learn that there was some kind of accident
that took place a while ago and Eddie was involved. Driving up behind them,
honking the horn on her Chrysler wood-trimmed Town and Country convertible,
comes 19-year-old Paula Haller (24-year-old Lizabeth Scott), freshly kicked out
of yet another school, on her way to stay with her mother, Fritzi (Mary Astor).
The chance meeting sets off sparks between the two, much to the dismay of
Eddie’s friend Johnny. Uh-oh, what’s up
with that?
Paula drives into town and stops at the Purple Sage
Saloon, which her mother owns, along with the police chief, the mayor, and most
of the town. On the way Paula runs into Deputy Sheriff Tom Hanson (Burt
Lancaster), who has been carrying a torch for her since she left for school.
While they’re talking out in the street in front of the saloon, Eddie and Johnny
roll into town, and we see the start of a romantic triangle between Paula, Tom,
and Eddie, or is it a rectangle, since Johnny seems pretty angry with Eddie
over the attention he’s paying Paula.
Turns out Fritzi is not in the Purple Sage, so Paula
drives out to her rather large home out on the desert, where we discover her
relationship with mom is a bit strange as well. At first Fritzi seems like a
1940s version of a helicopter mom, but as the story goes on there’s something
obsessive about the way she wants to run Paula’s life. In one scene a
thunderstorm awakens Paula, and Fritzi pops in and offers to sleep with her
like she did when she was little. Paula says thanks but no thanks. Uh-oh, what’s up with that?
As the story progresses, we learn that Eddie is a gambler
and has come to stay at a ranch near town before setting up a gambling
operation in Las Vegas. We learn his wife was killed in the accident at the
bridge when her car plunged into the river. Johnny takes care of Eddie but is a
little over-protective, which is starting to get on Eddie’s nerves, especially
since Paula’s arrival on the scene. At one point Johnny threatens to kill Paula
if she doesn’t leave Eddie alone. So we have two characters, Eddie, and Paula,
both in the clutches of people who want to control them. Even Tom, the deputy,
is guilty of wanting to control Paula, when he warns her to stay away from
Eddie. He knows he’s no good. He tells Paula that she’d better be careful, because
she looks a lot like Eddie’s late
wife. Paula runs from both her mother and Tom and just naturally has to fall in
love with the bad guy.
“Desert Fury†is based on a novel by Ramona Stewart, and
was adapted for the screen by Robert Rossen and an uncredited A.I. Bezzerides.
The screenplay shows a lot of Bezzerides touches. The screenwriter of “They
Drive by Nightâ€, “Thieves Highway,†and “Kiss Me Deadly†specialized in stories
about flawed characters who cannot overcome their defects and are driven to
their fate by them. In this case both Paula and Eddie seem to be weak
characters who both need and, at the same time, are repelled by those who want
to dominate them. When they try to escape this web of entanglement it merely
sets off a disaster.
This is the kind of movie that should be listed in the
dictionary as the definition of “potboiler.†It’s got more pots boiling than a kitchen
in a Chinese restaurant. There are even more sordid twists, as we learn more
about Fritzi’s background, and her relationship years ago with Eddie, as well
as the truth about what happened to Eddie’s wife.
“Desert Fury†has been called the “gayest film noir ever
made.†Stewart’s source novel reportedly is much more open about Johnny and
Eddie’s relationship, which is strongly implied in the movie, but never
explicitly stated. Audiences were not ready to see gay relationships on the
screen in 1947.
The actors all do the best they can with this
melodramatic material. Hodiak turns in his patented “who am I?†performance,
all blank looks and manic smiles. Corey is alternately wooden and furious-looking
in this his first movie role. Lancaster, who reportedly hated the movie and his
part in it, shows the on-screen charisma that would make him a major star. Mary Astor and Lizabeth Scott turn in the best
performances. Astor is the quintessential hard-boiled female who’s seen it all,
trying to protect Scott, the naïve young girl driven to risk danger by her fear
of maternal domination.
Perhaps the best thing about the film is the Technicolor cinematography
by Edward Cronjager and Charles Lang. The desert and Scott both look gorgeous,
even though she seems a little too mature to play a reckless 19 year-old.
Directed by Lewis Allen, it’s not only the gayest noir, it’s the brightest and
most colorful. Not the usual dark city streets and shadows on the walls. I
guess you can call it noir if you want to but it seems more like an overwrought
sagebrush soap opera. Miklos Rozsa, who did quite a few noir soundtracks, wrote
the bombastic score for “Desert Fury,†but the music is so continuous and so
full of “fury†you wish he’d tone it down a little.
Kino Lorber has done an excellent job transferring the
color print to Blu-ray. Colors are mostly pastel, but vivid with good image
contrast. The disc comes with a highly informative audio commentary by film
historian Imogen Sara Smith, who imparts tons of behind the camera info and clues
us into the gay subtext, noting that Scott herself was supposedly outed later
by Confidential magazine. The disc also includes the theatrical trailer for
“Desert Fury,†as well as other Kino Lorber releases. If you are a film noir
collector, or want to see Lizabeth Scott in a non-femme fatale role, this one’s
for you.
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