Eddie Albert stars as Matt Varney in this sometimes silly, often obvious film about a man who is much too gullible and easily manipulated for audiences to really get behind. Still he is likeable in his naiveté and the late addition of a love triangle adds some much needed energy to the final act. Yet looking at The Wagon’s Roll at Night as a whole it doesn't amount to a whole lot. It never becomes unwatchable but doesn’t ever quite dig itself out of its mediocrity.
Humphrey Bogart stars as Nick Coster, owner and manager of a traveling carnival. One of his star performers, Hoffman the Great, was hired on as a lion tamer yet he struggles with alcoholism, one of the main reasons Nick was able to hire him on the cheap. During one performance a lion, Caesar, manages to escape the carnival and makes his way into a grocer store, terrorizing a patron and her toddler daughter. Matt (Albert) hides the young child and fends off the lion until the authorities arrive to subdue the animal and take it away. This act of bravery makes Matt a local hero and Nick takes advantage of this by offering Matt a position alongside Hoffman in the lion cage. It doesn’t take long before Matt becomes more competent and popular than Hoffman and when the latter misses a show from his own drunkenness Nick fires him promoting Matt in his place.
Out of jealousy and rage Hoffman shows up one night with a friend with the intent of assaulting Matt but during the scuffle Hoffman gets too close to the lion cage and Caesar attacks leaving him badly wounded and the friend insisting Matt intentionally tried to kill him. Fortune teller Flo (Sylvia Sydney), a woman who has been developing feelings for Matt makes the decision to hide him until the heat dies down and the only place she can think of is Nick’s family farm, a place Nick would definitely not approve of since he has strong feelings about his family not intermingling with circus "vermin.". Unbeknownst to Flo, Nick’s sister Mary (Joan Leslie), whom Flo had assumed was still away at school, has graduated and moved back home. While recovering from his wounds and hiding out from the law Matt and Mary fall in love, something Nick would definitely not approve of.
Right out the gate we are shown that Bogart’s Nick Coster is not entirely on the up and up. We are introduced to him dealing with an angry patron complaining about being pick pocketed of a sum of money. Nick begrudgingly hands over the sum out of his own pocket only to have his men throw the man out while stealing the money back. This, coupled with the news that his carnival is struggling financially and he’s sold things that don’t belong to him to help keep it afloat paint the picture of a man who looks down on the people he employs as well as the patrons who pay to keep him in business. He repeatedly demonstrates his willingness to do anything to make things profitable, even at the expense of the safety of his employees. We get the sense that the only people he doesn’t look down on are his family and that he can’t stand the idea that either group should ever intermingle. He cares little that his callous references of his troupe are hurtful and cruel.
The character of Flo is a bit of an enigma. She has accepted her position in the carnival and plays her part to the hilt. Early on she is stricken with Matt, yet she never makes a move but waits for him to come to her, which never happens. She even seems oblivious to the romance that develops between Matt and Mary, even thinking he may be in love with her right up until the moment Matt flat out tells her otherwise. She is obviously hurt by this revelation but bites her lip and does what she has to to help Matt and Mary be together. It shows a level of maturity as well as resignation with her lot in life. It is quite possibly the hardest scene to watch in the entire picture.
The weakest link in the film however is the love story between Matt and Mary. It is underdeveloped and is given hardly any screen time in favor of repeat scenes of Matt performing with the lions. Eddie Albert does his best with the limited time but Joan Leslie is relegated to not much more than mooning over a man she has barely met. More time should have been dedicated to this relationship to build a better foundation beneath it. This would have strengthened the overall story and given the audience more to invest in. Instead we get a brief scene of them meeting then the next scene they are kissing by the lake. Shortly after that they are determined to marry, much to the chagrin of Nick.
The finale features some really nice stunt work that doesn’t fail to build excitement. There is some truly great moments in the lion’s cage between Matt and the ferocious and violent Caesar. It is only undermined by an unconvincing change of heart by Nick who must choose between his own prejudices and the happiness of his sister. It plays out too quickly but the end result is a nice bookend for a character who always looked down on those around him. It is poignant if a little too convenient.
In the end The Wagons Roll at Night could have been better than it ended up being. Up until the final act we really cannot be sympathetic toward Nick’s character and Matt is just too gullible to be believed. That coupled with several redundant scenes at the expense of some much needed character development between Matt and Mary make it simply a middle of the road film. It is eminently watchable, just don’t expect a masterpiece.
Release Date: April 26, 1941
Running Time: 84 Minutes
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Albert, Sylvia Sidney, Joan Leslie
Directed By: Ray Enright
Comments
Post a Comment