June 8, 2021

O. Henry's Full House.

Review #1687: O. Henry's Full House.

Cast:
Charles Laughton (Soapy, segment "The Cop and the Anthem"), Dale Robertson (Barney Woods, segment "The Clarion Call"), Anne Baxter (Joanna Goodwin, segment "The Last Leaf"), Fred Allen (Samuel Brown, segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"), Jeanne Crain (Della Young, segment "The Gift of the Magi"), Marilyn Monroe (Streetwalker, segment "The Cop and the Anthem"), Richard Widmark (Johnny Kernan, segment "The Clarion Call"), Jean Peters (Susan Goodwin, segment "The Last Leaf"), Oscar Levant (William Smith, segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"), Farley Granger (Jim Young, segment "The Gift of the Magi"), David Wayne (Horace, segment "The Cop and the Anthem"), Richard Rober (Chief of Detectives, segment "The Clarion Call"), Gregory Ratoff (Behrman, segment "The Last Leaf"), Lee Aaker (J.B. Dorset, segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"), Richard Garrick (Doctor, segment "The Last Leaf"), Fred Kelsey (Mr. Schultz / Santa Claus, segment "The Gift of the Magi"), with John Steinbeck as narrator. Directed by Henry Koster (#1607 - Harvey), Henry Hathaway (#1314 - True Grit), Jean Negulesco (#1380 - Phone Call from a Stranger), Howard Hawks (#951 - The Big Sleep, #1352 - His Girl Friday, and #1399 - Rio Bravo), and Henry King.

Review: 
There have been a number of anthology movies to have come around the corner in film, whether in horror, a unified theme (such as a city like Tales of Manhattan (1942), released by 20th Century Fox), or in trying to bring short stories to the screen, and O. Henry's Full House is merely in the middle of a regular era for this kind of movie, with one early example being If I Had a Million (1932). Another example is Quartet (1948), which adapted four stories by the writer W. Somerset Maugham while having him appear from time to time to talk about them. The success of that film inspired two follow-up films in Trio (1950) and Encore (1951) and 20th Century Fox evidently wanted to play on that success with adapting short stories for one film, with O. Henry selected. Actually, they had wanted to do a film based on the writer in 1943, and a film of "The Gift of the Magi" in 1945 was thought of before fizzing out. The writer (born William Sydney Porter, who lived from 1862 to 1910) was a North Carolina native but found his success when he moved to New York (which he called "Bagdad-on-the-Subway") in 1902. He wrote over 300 stories, which generally were known for their wit and their clever endings; one of his most well-known stories was "The Caballero's Way" (1907), which was adapted by Fox for In Old Arizona (1928), and short films based on his works had been done as early as 1909. Left with needing someone to introduce the stories, Fox went to John Steinbeck (a Pulitzer Prize winner and future Nobel laureate in Literature), known for novels such as The Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952), and various other works - this was the first and only film appearance for Steinbeck. 

So let us recap the stories one by one in the order shown (oddly enough, bad screenings involving the Hawks-directed story led to it being removed before it was formally released), which runs at 117 minutes. The first is "The Cop and the Anthem", which was written by Lamar Trotti with direction by Henry Koster. It involves an eccentric on the streets that has plans to spend the cold winter in jail. Laughton is right at home with a role that requires a bit of quizzical timing and an astute sense of self that he plays right to what is needed for those twenty-ish minutes. Monroe is technically in the film as a star, in that she is there for a minute to exchange with Laughton (since the character believes that harassment will help his jail case), which goes fine, while Wayne tags along at times. Technically this is the story with the clearest ending seen coming (well, there is Magi, but come on), but it is a solid A-/B+ kind of story to get it all going. "The Clarion Call" was written by Richard L. Breen while directed by Henry Hathaway, involving a detective in debt to a friend-turned-murderer. It reunites Hathaway and Widmark, who worked on Kiss of Death (1947) to a tremendous debut for the latter actor; he essentially is reprising his role from that film for this one, which was reportedly inspired by the character of The Joker from the Batman comics. Strangely enough, Widmark's performance would influence Frank Gorshin when it came time to play The Riddler in Batman (1966-1968), which seems evident with the laugh uttered by Widmark when we first hear him. He seems to overshadow Robertson, who makes for a decent detective when it comes to wrapping away his guilt in a small cat-and-mouse game with the dangerously playful Widmark. Overall, it is a fairly solid B kind of segment.

"The Last Leaf" was written by Ivan Goff and Ben Robers and directed by Jean Negulseco. Here, we have a story about a lady who believes she will die when the last leaf falls off a tree near her bed. Honestly, the highlight is probably Ratoff, who was actually both an actor and director in his time, and he plays the eccentric artist with fair gusto to counter the dour stuff needed by Baxter and Peters. I think the twist here works better than the ones done in the last two, but a B+ grade seems fairly warranted here in its useful pacing. "The Ransom of Red Chief" was written by Ben Hecht, Nunnally Johnson and Charles Lederer while directed by Howard Hawks (Johnson wanted his name off the script, which was re-written by Hecht and Lederer at the request of Hawks because it was originally written by Johnson with Clifton Webb and William Demarest in mind for stars). To be honest, I fail to see exactly why this was thought of as the clunker among the five, because it is quite amusing, featuring two radio mainstays with Allan and Levant, who play bumbling kidnappers of a snotty kid. It's a chuckler that one will be quite familiar with, because I'm sure most of us have seen/experienced taking care of someone who enjoys taking things into their own hands, whether with a bear or other means, which ultimately means a B- grade. "The Gift of the Magi" was written by Walter Bullock while directed by Henry King. It is likely the most famous of the five stories, and it is probably washed in sentimentality as the aforementioned Leaf story ripe for the spirit of Christmas. You've probably read this story at least once (probably in high school), and it ultimately is a decent if not completely heartwarming tale that we all see coming. Crain and Granger are a decent pair to go along with what is needed in balancing selfless nature without falling into the trap of pap. It is a solid B episode, not exactly the weakest story, and it closes the film out just fine in encapsulating the feel of what the movie yearns to show in generating interesting characters to go with plots that go with useful turns that make for a fairly solid anthology film on the whole. It serves as an interesting piece in depicting an author's work onto film, efficient in what needs to be shown for any viewer curious enough for it.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

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