O. Henry's Full House

O. Henry's Full House (Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, Henry King, Henry Koster, Jean Negulesco, 1952) One of those rare American experiments with an anthology movie, in the fashion of European films of the type, this one featuring five separate segments (each with its own writer-director team) fashioning films based on the work of one author, in this case, America's master of irony, O. Henry (and I suppose it's merely coincidence that three of the directors are named Henry), the psuedonym of William Sidney Porter, bank embezzler, writer of amusing stories dripping with irony and creator of "The Cisco Kid."

Because of the styles of the five directors, the episodes couldn't be more different from each other, veering from light comedy, farce, drama, and tragedy. Each director has a specific way of telling their tales, but the collection is introduced by John Steinbeck, the same year that he was to have published his "magnum opus," "East of Eden." Steinbeck's presence isn't really needed (and he confessed to being uncomfortable in front of the camera), but it does provide some bridging for the stories to come: 

The Cop and the Anthem (Henry Koster): it is the Holiday season and a vagrant named Soapy (Charles Laughton) has a scheme that he pulls off every Holiday: he will get himself arrested, and as a judge is unavailable to try him, he will take advantage of the hospitality of the local jail, where he will get three square meals a day for three months and even a Christmas dinner. His pal Horace (David Wayne) tries to convince him to use the Salvation Army, but Soapy refuses, but finds his efforts to get arrested thwarted. The segment also includes an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe, playing the most cinema-scrubbed of prostitutes.

The Clarion Call (Henry Hathaway): A thief, Johnny Kernan (Richard Widmark, in full, effusive tough-guy stance) kills during the robbery of a prominent man. An investigator of the scene, Barney Wood (Dale Robertson), finds a clue on the scene that he thinks belongs to his childhood friend Kernan, and he confronts Johnny, who tells him that he can't arrest him, as Wood still owes him $1000 from a card game. Wood can't possibly arrest him when he's in his debt. 

The Last Leaf (Jean Negulesco): Joanne Goodwin (Anne Baxter) has been dumped by her lover and, in her grief, she has walked a long evening in the snow, making her susceptible to pnuemonia. Her sister (Jean Peters) thinks that she has lost the will to live—her sister notices her staring out the window, at the tree outside of it. In her delirium, Joanne says she will die when the last leaf falls from the tree.he entreats a struggling artist (Gregory Ratoff) living upstairs to help by selling his paintings.

The Ransom of Red Chief (Howard Hawks): Two ne'er-do-well con-men (Oscar Levant and Fred Allen) kidnap the child (Lee Aaker) of a prominent man, only to find that the kid is more than they bargained for.

The Gift of the Magi (Henry King): O Henry's most popular—and most copied—short story. As Christmas approaches, a newly married, but poor, couple (Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger) struggle to come up with presents for each other.

It's interesting—the best director (Hawks) has the worst results. Possibly because Levant and Allen aren't the most compatible of comedy duo's, both men's personas is a bit more snide than the two hapless kidnappers are meant to be, so it feels like they're slightly hampered by the material required of them, and any sympathy one might feel for them feels wasted. Negulesco's is the most artful, but also the slightest. Laughton's segment is the most amusing, and the Widmark segment is charged by his over-the-top performance, not unlike his debut performance, the psychopathic killer Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death.

Like most anthologies, O Henry's Full House is a mixed bag, but interesting to see so many prominent actors and directors doing something a bit out of their usual realm.