The story is very basic. A handful of strangers stop by a last chance gas station at the Petrified forests in the Arizona desert. There is word that a killer by the name of Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) and several other criminals are on the loose in the area. Inevitably Duke shows up at the station and takes everyone hostage. Everything else in the story is strictly character build-up (Bogart’s Mantee doesn’t even make an appearance until well after the halfway point of the film).
What’s so frustrating about The Petrified Forest is that most of the film is character moments and not much of it is all that interesting. Bette Davis plays Gabrielle (Gabby) Maple, a woman whose mother abandoned her and her father to return to her home in France after finding married life in Arizona unappealing. Gabrielle finds the idea fascinating and wishes to travel to France as well to study painting and drift through life without any romantic commitments. She is clearly damaged by her mother’s abandonment yet she looks up to this as a legitimate and envious way to live her own life.
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Leslie Howard plays Alan Squier, a drifter whose eloquence hides for a time that he is homeless, penniless and adrift in life. He talks like a Harvard intellectual yet he doesn’t look down on the likes of Gabrielle, finding her fascinating and indulging her to go on about how much she is willing to sell of herself to get to France. We learn little about him other than a brief backstory of being divorced and aimless. This is a bit off-putting when coupled with his intellectual facade. The two of them, Alan and Gabby, share a kiss but we get the sense that there is no real passion from either of them. Even Alan’s sacrifice late in the film seems more scripted than true to life.
Of course this film throws a romantic live triangle of sorts into the mix. The third member of this triangle is ex-football player Boze (Dick Foran) who has his eyes on Gabrielle and doesn’t like it that she is spending time with Alan Squier. Boze is as one-dimensional as it gets. He is the quintessential muscle bound jock who is more concerned about his past glories than making any real attempts to appeal to Gabrielle. He’s so shallow he keeps a newspaper clipping of his football days on him at all times just to prove he was something once. He also rankles whenever things are beyond his control, something that becomes more evident late into the film when Duke and his men show up. He’s loud and brutish, forcing unwanted affection on Gabby, and is all around an unlikeable character.
On a more positive note, one true delight in this film is Charlie Grapewin as Gramp Maple. Gramp loves to reminisce about the past, especially if it involves gunplay and violence. He loves telling anyone who will listen about being shot at by Billy the Kid. When Duke shows up later and takes everyone hostage Gramps is having the time of his life being in the presence of the killer. His character breathes some fun into some of the slower moments. Many of the long-winded scenes in the films latter half are broken up by Gramp’s reactions and funny responses to the violence around him. Without this character the second half of the film would be a real slog.
Things don’t really pick up until nearly fifty minutes into the film. By then if it weren’t for the convenient radio broadcasts we would have completely forgotten there was a killer in the area at all. Gramps stated earlier that you can recognize a killer because they always hold their chin in and sure enough, when Duke makes his entrance his chin is held in and stays that way for most of the remaining time. But what should be a real jolt of excitement in an otherwise sleepy film really doesn’t go anywhere. There are a few exciting moments but they are sandwiched between a lot of sitting around and talking awkwardly, especially by Bogart who seems to be out of it for most of his scenes. It’s awkward and very one-note. That this film is touted as being the one that made him a star is nothing short of amazing.
There is more drama behind the scenes then there is in front of it. For instance when Warner Brothers optioned the play for filming they brought Leslie Howard with it. However they were less enamored with the relative unknown Bogart who had mainly done con-men and love interests in forgettable films up to this point. They wanted the more bankable Edward G. Robinson for Duke Mantee instead. Howard refused to participate without his co-star. Edward G would get another opportunity to play this type of part a few years later in Key Largo and Bogart would also get a second stab at it in the far superior The Desperate Hours. Howard’s insistence on casting Bogart lead to a long and successful career for Humphrey which the actor never forgot. His daughter Leslie Howard Bogart was subsequently named after him.
The Petrified Forest is not a bad film; far from it. It suffers from too much reliance on dialogue and the claustrophobia inheritance in filming in one location. It also has some really interesting performances that help bolster it. Bette Davis is naive and her motivations are a little unclear; she wishes to move to the French village her mother has moved to but speaks nothing of actually reconnecting with her. The fate of Alan Squier is telegraphed several times yet his motivations are not very clear, either. Has he truly fallen for Gabby or does he just connect with the type of life she is dreaming of? The film was made with two possible endings, one of which Howard strongly pushed for. Ultimately his choice of ending made it to the final film yet it lacks enough build-up to be satisfying. We needed to understand the whys of it and this film didn’t deliver on that. It’s,built up early enough to rob it of shock value, too. This leaves the picture with a few memorable moments but nothing overall to make it stand out as anything other than a character study that falls a little short of the mark.
Running Time: 82 Minutes
Starring: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart
Directed By: Archie Mayo
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