Captain Horatio Hornblower (R.N.)*(Raoul Walsh, 1951) Supposedly C.S. Forester himself adapted his first three Hornblower novels to make the screen-story for this swashbuckling distillation of the Royal Navy's fictional hero. It is 1805, and his majesty has sent the HMS Lydia on a secret mission. England is at war with Spain and France, and Hornblower must enlist the aid of a mad South American dictator in the war efforts a world away. But, upon arriving, Hornblower's distaste for the assignment and the "El Supremo" (Alec Mango) has him violating the Admiralty's standard orders, and when he captures the massive El Natividad (commanded by a very young Christopher Lee), he is forced to turn over the ship to the mad-man. Heading for home, he finds out that Spain is now England's ally (oops!) and he must re-take the massive ship on open seas, risking his crew and an unwanted passenger, Her Ladyship Barbara Wellesley (Virginia Mayo), sister to tthe Duke of Wellington and betrothed to Admiral Leighton (Denis O'Dea).
The crew is very British (including a youngStanley Baker), but its Captain is played by the very AmericanGregory Peck,**ramrod-stiff and stoic, so even though the accent is wrong, the attitude is just so—Forrester's Hornblower is a stoic, constantly questioning himself and his failings, reflected in his constant lecturing and drilling of his crew. And Raoul Walsh is the perfect man to direct, as the action director has a keen eye toward the psychological and characters with complicated motivations. Peck has the attitude, but is a bit uneasy when called upon to display the comical aspects of the still-upper-lip Hornblower—his uneasy "harumphs" are constantly dubbed in to make more of them than Peck could convey on-set. But for the brooding and irritation (and the authoritarian air), Peck is fine.
The battles are well-choreographed for the times—one can practically see the wires yanking pieces of ship-railing past the players—and sometimes the falling masts and ropes get a little out of control, but the model-work and staging are excitingly done. A fine way to spend a rainy afternoon.
* The added "R.N." because the British version of the title included them, the American did not. As with the recent Master and Commander, nothing is made of Hornblower maybe having to fight the American Navy, as he might have seven years in the future.
** The screen-rights were acquired for a vehicle for Errol Flynn, but after Flynn's previous movies had poor ticket sales (and the actor was proving difficult to manage), other actors (including Burt Lancaster) were considered. Peck got the part. Lancaster would star in The Crimson Pirate the next year.
Gentleman Jim(Raoul Walsh, 1942) It's all background in this Errol Flynn vehicle, as the audience focuses on Flynn portraying boxer "Gentleman" Jim Corbett as he serves as point-man (chin variety) for the gentrification of the pugilistic sport. As we fade in the first rule of the fight game is "nobody talks about the fight game." Not in polite society anyway. As it is, floating boxing matches are staged hectically before the police can find out and they regularly end, not with the sound of a bell, but the sound of a gavel in a courtroom. Once "Johnny Law" gets wind of the fight (or hears the sound of one, they're fairly rambunctious affairs), they descend, the crowd scattering as they round up fighters and fans alike. It's all strictly word-of-mouth, grudge matches, really, the only civility being those of the Marquis of Queensbury—and anybody who's seen Wilde knows what a toad he was.
It's a natural extension of Flynn's persona as a cavalier, being the winking bad boy who's naughty to all the right people, but especially to the really bad ones—the jaunty trickster with a gleam in his eye, who'll find a way to get ahead...by left hook or by crook, the competent high-wire artist in marked contrast to buddy Walter Lowrie (Jack Carson, one of my favorite character actors), the lovable schlub who plays pilot-fish to Corbett's shark, never able to achieve success, but omnipresent to enjoy it for him.
They Drive By Night(Raoul Walsh, 1940) Warner Brothers-style action-and-intrigue pot-boiler about...wild-cat truckers. Well, that shouldn't be much of a surprise. In lieu of gangsterism, the trucking world could serve as a substitute for rough-and-tumble world of trying to make a fast buck on the legitimate side of the ledger in the world of capitalism The subject hit something of a zenith combining trucking and film-noir in Jules Dassin's Thieves' Highway. This tough little film from Raoul Walsh—who made definitive films on both crooked and straight paths to success concerns the brothers Fabrini (George Raft and Humphrey Bogart) are partners in a truck who decide to stop working for other shipping companies and do the deals themselves. This pushes their murderous schedules to the edge and consequences determine a change of focus. An interesting little movie where two Warner's tough-guys—Raft and his understudy at the time, Bogart*—do "everyman" jobs and mine real drama out of it. Of course, it couldn't be a Warner's picture without action and the film boasts two nail-biters where truck-drivers fall asleep at the wheel, filmed with the snap that one can expect from Raoul Walsh.
Where the movie excels is the smart patter that spins drama in the economic realities of this corps of transport specialists. The movie manages to slip in lessons in Unionization and Modernization amid the wise-cracks and the trumped murder-plot that dominates the film's second half. You begin to feel like you're learning something without being preached to.
And there's enough good acting going on that raises it above "B" level. Raft is a bit looser than usual in the starring role, but Bogart has the most dramatic...and fun part. Ann Sheridan does well with her wise-acre dialog and Ida Lupino manages a mine-filed of femme fatale neuroses with dexterity and quick-silver reactions. But the stand-out is Alan Hale—"The Skipper''s" dad—who takes the part of a trucker-who-owns-a-company and can't believe his good fortune. Hale's "Ed Carlsen" never has a "down" moment, and is carried out with wolfish good spirits and the sense that he's making it up as he goes along. His performance is the diamond in the rough in this rough little film about trucking.
*At this time in his career, Bogie was still upset at the way his career was going, he was still doing the occasional western, and just the previous year he starred in the worst movie of his career--The Return of Doctor X! But in his next movie would be a part that Raft tosses aside--"Mad Dog" Roy Earle in High Sierra. And the next part meant for Raft but inherited by Bogart would be detective Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon.
The Story: I would love to do more of this scene. I'd love to have started when gangster Cody Jarrett finds out that his latest confidante (since his mother died) is a undercover detective infiltrated into his gang. "A copper," he says, almost gleefully. "A copper, how do you like that boys? A copper and his name is Fallon. And we went for it, I went for it. Treated him like a kid brother. And I was gonna split fifty-fifty...with a copper!" It is the point where the nuclear core of Cody Jarrett goes critical and he starts to snap. But, I don't have that much life left to invest—it would have taken weeks, and there's a chase and a shoot-out in between that and this and when you're dealing with a director like Raoul Walsh...well, the man is a visceral director, not a contemplative one. Like James Cagney as an actor. You want contemplation? It's an eye-flick for Cagney and it'll register as deep-thought. When he made a move, he committed and he committed all the way and he made you believe it. Visceral. He and Walsh were a whirlwind combination and volatile. So much that even this apocalyptic over-the-top finale comes across as believable and even inevitable. In one draft of White Heat, screenwriters Goff and Roberts (they created "Charlie's Angels," btw), Cagney's Jarrett was ignominiously shot atop a hortonsphere, and fell to his death. But, when Cagney reluctantly returned to Warner Brothers (after making a couple of movies for his own production company, he "needed the money"), he looked at the script, initially based on the career of Ma Barker and, not wanting to repeat his earlier gangster roles, said "Let's make him nuts!" The script went through many re-writes (five official drafts), emphasizing Cagney's starring participation, and the Cody Jarrett character got crazier and crazier, mother-fixated, subject to "buzz-saw" headaches, and casually vicious. And his last line? Cody confesses its origins to detective Fallon, whom he's comes to depend on after the death of his mother: "My old lady never had anything. Always on the run. Always on the move. Some life. First it was my old man - died kickin' and screamin' in a nuthouse. Then, my brother. And after that, it was takin' care of me. Always tryin' to put me on top. "Top of the world," she used to say. And then, times when I'd be losin' my grip, there she'd be, right behind me. Push me back up again. And now..."
And now. You'll notice that the script and how the film plays out aren't exactly in-line. Walsh and editor Owen Marks very freely played with it and juxtaposed sequences to build tension and gain maximum impact. And Cagney's giggling, insane performance—that was Cagney, filling in the blanks, filling the frame, before he can only be topped by one thing—explosions. But not completely. I've kept the final "End" credit in the scene, because you can still see Garrett, like a figure in Hell, courtesy of an out-take of a wider angle amongst the flames. It's one last hysterical, crazy flourish for one of the most savage of movie-endings.
The Set-Up: Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) is cornered during a robbery, not knowing that among his Gang is a police investigator Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien). With Jarrett surrounded, the police have driven him outside using tear-gas, and now as the dragnet and the full force of the police come down on him, Jarrett makes a last ditch effort to stay alive and evade capture. Action!
MED. SHOT. Ext. CODY AND RYLEY LATE EVENING
They break out of poly area again. Cody stares around wildly like a hunted animal.
He sees superfraction area with its protective superstructure.
He motions to Ryley and they both head for it. The shadows are now deepening. Night is rapidly approaching. EXT. GROUP OF CARS EVANS, FALLON AND OTHERS Police and agents pour out of cars. Pan quickly to another group of cars from which more agents and police run out. We see equipment and searchlights being set up and tested, ready for use. EXT. CODY AND RYLEY AT SUPERFRACTION AREA ALMOST NIGHT They move slowly with the desperation of whom the net is closing. Searchlights begin playing in the opposite direction. EVANS: They're heading up. FALLON: Got them on the ground
heading for the Horton Sphere area.
Send men out to that section.
EVANS: Okay, pass the word along. Don't fire
unless you've got a perfect target.
EVANS: That place is a stack of dynamite.
EVANS: Have that area surrounded.
EVANS: Get some searchlights.
JARRETT: They think they've got Cody Jarrett.
JARRETT: They haven't got Cody Jarrett. You hear?
They haven't got him.
JARRETT: And I'm gonna show you, they haven't got him.
Come on. Come with me. He nudges Ryley to follow him, pointing toward Hortonsphere area. Camera follows them as they arrive at base of Hortonsphere. Cody starts up the steps as Ryley lags behind, hides by a large pipe.
As Cody continues up the steps he hears:
RYLEY: Don't shoot.
RYLEY: It's me, Ryley. (Cody wheels around, his eyes searching.)
RYLEY: I'm coming out.
RYLEY: Don't shoot!
WHAT HE SEES RYLEY IN BEAM OF SEARCHLIGHT NIGHT
His hands upraised, coming slowly forward toward light.
CLOSE ON CODY NIGHT
He raises his gun.
FULL SHOT NIGHT
Ryley still in searchlight beam, coming toward T-men, his hands upraised. A shot is heard. Ryley is hit, winks to the ground. The agents wheel toward source of shot.
TOP OF THE HORTONSPHERE As Cody reaches it he realizes, dimly at first, that he has reached a dead end. There is no way down but the ladder he climbed. Voices off screen drawing closer. Weaving slightly, aware now he has chosen his own death-trap, he stands astride the Hortonsphere, which is like the globe itself. He stands there, alone, naked and unprotected, challenging the world in its madness. ON GROUND NEAR HORTONSPHERE NIGHT Evans and Fallon stand behind two cars, stare up. They know where Cody is. Evans hands Fallon the gun with snooperscope. HORTONSPHERE FROM THEIR ANGLE NIGHT Now it is even more like a globe—the earth itself—with a lone, tragic figure standing atop it, claiming it, refusing to admit defeat.
EVANS: You might as well come down, Jarrett.
There's no one left but you. TOP OF HORTONSPHERE CODY NIGHT
Cody (glares down; still cocky, still top man)
JARRETT: Ha-ha. Come and get me.
EVANS: Get the gun, Hank. EVANS AND FALLON ON GROUND NEAR HORTONSPHERE NIGHT
(SHOOTING OVER FALLON'S SHOULDER) Fallon brings up snooperscope, sighting Cody.
Camera dollies through up to sight, and from this point on to end of scene we see the action in the sight of the snooperscope by infrared.
We hear a shot fired. Cody is hit.
CLOSE SHOT FALLON AND EVANS NIGHT
Fallon still looking through sight and firing.
He hits Cody again.
FALLON (to Evans): What's holding him up?
TOP OF HORTONSPHERE CODY NIGHT
Another bullet tears into his chest. He staggers, bites his lips against the surging pain. He realizes he's through.*
He is now out of his mind. He staggers against the rail, trying to shoot back at what hit him. Instead his bullets hit the pipe valve which holds the gas in the tank under pressure.
HORTONSPHERE MED. CLOSE CODY NIGHT
He is pumping slugs into the pipe. We hear sound of escaping gas. Suddenly the gas is ignited from the blast of Cody's gun and Cody is completely enveloped in flames.
ON GROUND FALLON, EVANS AND OTHERS NIGHT
camera pans with them as they start running away from the flaming area. Off-screen sound of terrific explosion. The area is all lit up as they continue to run for cover.
JARRETT: Made it, Ma!
JARRETT: Top of the world! FULL SHOT EXPLOSION (STOCK) NIGHT
HORTONSPHERE AREA (STOCK) NIGHT
Flames consuming what was once a cluster of Hortonspheres. Fire hoses playing on the fire, etc.
CLOSE-UP EVANS AND FALLON (FIRE IN BACKGROUND—PROCESS)
They look at fire, say nothing. Then:
EVANS: Cody Jarrett.**
FALLON: He finally got to the top of the world.
And it blew right up in his face. FULL SHOT FIRE (STOCK) NIGHT
White Heat is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Warner Home Video.
* In the original script, this is where Cody has the line: "Anyway, Ma, I made it...Top of the world!" ** In the original script, these are the last words: EVANS: One man against the world. FALLON (shakes head): Why do they try?...Why do they try?
Captain Horatio Hornblower (R.N.)* (Raoul Walsh, 1951) Supposedly C.S. Forester himself adapted his first three Hornblower novels to make the screen-story for this swashbuckling distillation of the Royal Navy's fictional hero. It is 1805, and his majesty has sent the HMS Lydia on a secret mission. England is at war with Spain and France, and Hornblower must enlist the aid of a mad South American dictator in the war efforts a world away. But, upon arriving, Hornblower's distaste for the assignment and the "El Supremo" (Alec Mango) has him violating the Admiralty's standard orders, and when he captures the massive El Natividad (commanded by a very young Christopher Lee), he is forced to turn over the ship to the mad-man. Heading for home, he finds out that Spain is now England's ally (oops!) and he must re-take the massive ship on open seas, risking his crew and an unwanted passenger, Her Ladyship Barbara Wellesley (Virginia Mayo), sister to tthe Duke of Wellington and betrothed to Admiral Leighton (Denis O'Dea). 
