Desert Fury

source: Desert Fury

Copyright 15 May 1947 by Hall Wallis Productions, Inc. Released through Paramount Pictures Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 24 September 1947. U.S. release: 15 August 1947. U.K. release: November 1947. Australian release: 27 November 1947. 8,656 feet. 96 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Girl falls for out-of-town gambler with murky past. NOTES: Film debut of Wendell Corey. Also Lizabeth Scott's first color film. Shooting time: 72 days. Locations: Sedona (northern Arizona); Navajo Reservation (north of Flagstaff); and the small mining settlements of Cottonwood and Clarkdale. COMMENT: An odd film - but not without interest. The basic plot is typical soapie fare which allows an ultra-glamorous heroine to emote against richly glossy interiors and spectacular mountain locations. Unashamedly, it's a Lizabeth Scott vehicle. Stunningly made up and costumed, she receives more close-ups than anyone else in the cast, and if she fails to give more than a superficial earnestness to her characterization, who will notice? Enveloped in all the trappings of Hollywood expertise at its most pointedly glamorous, Desert Fury pre-dates Ross Hunter's Universal veneers - and easily outclasses them in sophistication and style. Lang's atmospheric photography, Rozsa's haunting music, Perry Ferguson's sets, Edith Head's costumes skittle the Universal talent. Admittedly Lewis Allen's direction is no more than ordinarily competent (which places him only marginally ahead of Douglas Sirk), but this one has a script by Robert Rossen no less and a strong support cast including Wendell Corey making a memorable debut as the vicious man-behind ("Eddie Bendix? I'm Eddie Bendix. I've been Eddie Bendix all these years. Why don't women fall in love with me?") John Hodiak is effective as the hollow Bendix, while Mary Astor displays an appropriately dominating manner as a strong-willed "operator". Burt Lancaster has a rather thankless role as the "other man". He has stated that his part was built up at Wallis' insistence - which we can well believe - and it's certainly true that he handles himself with his usual assurance. (The rest of the players, including Kristine Miller who is rather prominently billed, and silent star Jane Novak, have strictly minor roles.) All in all, Desert Fury is so attractive to look at - and the music so spellbinding to listen to - it doesn't much matter that the script has a great deal of furious talk but (aside from the climactic chase in which everything is magically put right) little furious action.

Oh god, what a petrie dish fry up! DESERT FURY is literally hysterical, like a shrill daytime soapie with cinema values. Made in 1947 in perfect glossy Technicolor to distract you from the beserkness and tawdry storyline, this is one terrific exercise in censorship busting antics that managed to fulfill it's reputation. Lizabeth Scott, like a naughty green fairy loose from a bottle of Absinthe, Wendell Corey as the housewife to creepy-teeth gangster mate John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster pretending he doesn't know and Mary Astor the battle cruiser mother each out vie each other in every scene with a regular exchange of niceties followed by face slapping or tantrum and threat. Every scene, like a roundelay of temperament. DESERT FURY is genuine queer cinema. With incest hinted, guns and car tyre screeching, sinister sunglass wearing and cactus pricks everywhere, this wacky hussy of a film makes for a terrific couch night with friends who have never seen it.

You Tube is a great place to watch all these old movies. But as I wrote as my "Summary" (1947--2010) too many years have gone by and no matter how much we like the interpreters..., something has to give. Now we see too many downfalls that at the time (maybe) people weren't aware of. For example: Lizabeth Scott, as lovely and personal as she was (her voice was as attractive in its whispering as Ava Gardner's) was a wrong choice to play the daughter of Mary Astor (excelent, beautiful, very talented actress) since the age difference was minimal, most of the time unnoticeable. But..., since at the time Scott was the producer's... friend, there was no other choice!! John Hodiak was in no way presentable on his bare chest, at least now that we have become accustomed to gym exercised torsos. Burt Lancaster set of hair was so gorgeous that every time he appeared I, at least, lost track of what they were saying. Lizabeth Scott hair was also a miracle, product of Hollywood hairstylists: Fabulous. Something that drove me mad was that oval window in Scott's bedroom... Have you ever seen anything so outrageously artificial outside of an amateurish theatrical production?? Censure at the time was so frightful that most of the dialog is highly hilarious, trying to say without saying what was going on between Mr. Hodiak and Mr. Corey's characters (they were lovers). The final resolution of the story is so abrupt that one could think Scott's character was an alien without human sentiments. All of a sudden she falls in love with the remaining man, because obviously she was "a good girl" after all. Silly movie. The most enjoyable thing: That extraordinary "Town and Country" convertible she was driving all the time. Magnificent car.

Film Noir and Technicolor have never really mixed well, so in the few of them made, the plot has needed to be extra colorful in order to make it work. For Paramount's "Desert Fury", the color isn't a metaphor for the lives of the characters here, but definitely a contrast to it. The film could also be considered an update of George Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession" where a seemingly devoted mother is actually a madame, and the daughter (here played by Lizabeth Scott) is a seemingly sweet young socialite. But Scott, like her mother (Mary Astor), is attracted to the dangerous, and for her, that is gambler John Hodiak, whose right-hand man (Wendell Corey) is a bit too "devoted" to his boss. A young Burt Lancaster is cast against his normal type as the local lawman, patiently in love with Scott while out to get the goods on Hodiak. Tension arises as the possessive Astor has her own designs on Hodiak (not to mention a slight mustache, accentuated by the color photography and really obvious in a big screen revival of this which I saw) and Corey gets more possessive of his employer. Astor's showy part (her best since "The Maltese Falcon") outshines the others, although Scott's sultriness in this role makes her unforgettable as well. The truth of the matter is that Ms. Astor and Ms. Scott do not at all seem like mother and daughter, as if Lizabeth's character was actually one of Astor's "girls" rather than her own. The Arizona desert is even more impressive in color and is a unique feature to make this must-see film noir, even if it is filled with flaws.

Barbara Stanwyck must have been busy, so Hollywood asked Mary Astor to play the hardened "casino" owner trying to protect her daughter from her past mistakes in Desert Fury. Lizbeth Scott is the daughter with bad judgement and a rebellious nature, and she quickly falls for the one man her mother forbids: John Hodiak. John is a gangster and clearly bad news, but Lizbeth insists on ruining herself for him, even when the uniformed, young, handsome Burt Lancaster is in love with her. The so-called romance between Lizbeth and John is far less interesting than what could be argued as a romance between John and his faithful sidekick, Wendell Corey. Wendell gets an introducing credit in the movie, and he gets an enormously meaty role for his first foray in front of the camera. A villain with many layers, some of which couldn't be discussed because of the Hays Code, he's very protective over his friend and doesn't approve of Lizbeth's moony eyes. The best part of Desert Fury is Edith Head's costumes. Every single scene, Lizbeth and Mary are dressed in gorgeous dresses that will have you oo-ing and ahh-ing for the entire running length. Lizbeth is very pretty in this film, and dressing her up in such beautiful costumes only makes it more fun to watch her, even when she's exercising bad judgement.

After quitting school, the nineteen year-old quicksilver Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott) returns to Chuckwalla, Nevada, where her mother Fritzi Haller (Mary Astor) is a powerful owner of the casino Purple Sage. Paula meets the racketeer Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak), who is suspect of murdering his wife and is also returning to the town with his friend Johnny Ryan (Wendell Corey), parked on the bridge nearby Chuckwalla and she greets him. Paula does not have a good relationship with her mother Fritzi and when she sees how unpleasant Eddie is for her, she begins a relationship with the crook. Sheriff Tom Hanson (Burt Lancaster), who is an old friend of Fritzi and has a crush on Paula, advises her about the character of Eddie Bendix. Johnny, who is very close to Eddie, also tries to break up their relationship. But the resolute Paula does not give up easily until she knows the past of her beloved Eddie. "Desert Fury" is a disappointing film where the most interesting element is the ambiguous relationship of Johnny Ryan and Eddie Bendix. In the present days, it is very clear that they are more than friends and Johnny is jealous and in love with Eddie. But the subterfuge adopted by Lewis Allen to disclose their bond in 1947 is witty. The colors of this film are also very bright, but in the DVD it is very clear the scenario in studio. Lizabeth Scott, performing a rebel character ahead of time, is impressively beautiful but does not convince as a nineteen year-old girl. My vote is four. Title (Brazil): "A Filha da Pecadora" ("The Daughter of the Sinner")

This is one of the only examples of film noir in color. Burt Lancaster and luscious Lizabeth Scott headline a stellar cast in this twisted romance/thriller. John Hodiak and Wendell Corey's "special" is sorely tested when Hodiak falls hard for bombshell Scott. Scott's mother Fritzi (played by hard as nails Mary Astor) tries to protect her "baby" from falling into the wrong hands (namely Hodiak's) while good guy Lancaster valiantly attempts to rid the town of no-goodniks like Hodiak, Corey and sometimes Astor. It's a two-fisted Technicolor knockout of a film and a classic example of late 40's "adult" fare. See it with somebody you lust after.

I've always wondered why Lizabeth Scott never became a big star;part of the reason can be found in the fact that she resembled Lauren Bacall.She plays opposite a bossy Mary Astor and a young Burt Lancaster with whom she would team up again the following year in " I walk alone" .But neither her nor Lancaster have interesting characters in "desert fury". The real meat lies in the John Hodiak/Wendell Corey relationship.It seems sometimes that Johnny is in love with Eddie and is jealous of the women he woos."He's a bad man,he might have killed his wife " Johnny warns Paula ,but he cannot hide his misogyny and he tells her so:he hates her,and never Eddie will leave HIM for HER.

I think far too much has been made of the alleged homosexual undertones supposedly in the film. Others have suggested that Eddie the hood was really Paula's father, but that can't be true, because Fritzie says Eddie used to work for Paula's father. What doesn't make sense is how Fritzie can moralize about Eddie walking out on her years ago, when obviously Fritzie herself walked out on Paula's father to be with Eddie to begin with. The movie, while stretched out, does come to a stirring climax. However, the casting of the film leaves something to be desired. At the time of the filming, Astor was 41, Lancaster 33, Hodiak 32, and Scott 25. In real age terms, we're asked to believe Astor had baby Scott at 16, then (perhaps at 18, before Scott as a baby knew who Hodiak was), ran off with Hodiak, who would have been 9 years old at the time. It makes no sense unless we suspend disbelief to think that Hodiak is as old as Astor, let alone that Astor and Hodiak would ever have had romantic sparks. It would have made more sense to cast someone older than Hodiak, but that wouldn't seem plausible that a mid-40's man would be as weasely and self centered as Hodiak behaves. Also, we're asked to believe that Scott, playing a nineteen year old despite her worldwise 25 year old real age, would swoon over the oily Hodiak while blithely ignoring the tall, chiseled visage of Lancaster. Hodiak was named "box office poison" in 1948. But I digress. The truth is, we're always asked to believe all sorts of improbable things when a story is being told, and we go along. And once you go along with this premise, the movie is a tremendous amount of fun. Could it have been made better? Of course, but don't let that keep you from enjoying the film noir parts of it that are excellent.