Part 5: The Stuff Movies are Made Of

13. The Baron of Arizona - Sam Fuller (1950)

The stuff movies are made of. During the 1880’s, James Addison Reavis concocted a series of fraudulent land claims for the better part of Arizona. Drawing on a stipulation in the ’Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo’ (peace treaty for the Mexican-American War 1846-8), which honoured Spanish land grants given to Mexicans in the territory of Arizona, Reavis invented a Mexican heir, which he married, and forged a claim of over 18 000 square miles of land in Arizona.

Although Reavis’ series of claims were all proved to be forgeries and Reavis himself was finally sent to prison for three years for fraud, his nefarious plan to become the ’Baron of Arizona’ is a remarkable and unique part of American history.

Samuel Fuller’s 1950 adaptation, The Baron of Arizona, romanticizes many aspects of James Reavis’ story and many aspects of the film are completely fictionalized. However, within the film, Fuller’s amazing gift for story-telling reveals itself.

Often thought of as the ‘master of pulp,’ Fuller’s true gift lies in his sensitivity to his characters, his ability to explore their inner emotions and illicit sympathy from the audience. This can be seen from his very first directorial debut I Shot Jesse James (1949) which explores the haunted and guilt-ridden psyche of Robert Ford, Jesse James’ friend and betrayer.

Working as a newspaper copyboy by the age of 12, a crime reporter by 17, Fuller was well equipped to plunge into the world of pulp fiction; and yet, perhaps it was his direct interaction with the world around him, with the underbelly of America, the thrown away imperfect America, which fostered his unique sensitivity and sympathy to all people.

And it was this unique sensitivity which allowed Fuller to turn the character Reavis from a seedy criminal to the ultimately tragic anti-hero which Vincent Price ultimately displays. It was the stuff movies are made of and made the way only Sam Fuller was able to do.

—Devon Gallant

Part 4: Who to Trust?

10. The Asphalt Jungle - John Huston (1950)
11. In a Lonely Place - Nicholas Ray (1950)
12. Night and the City - Jules Dassin (1950)

Who to trust? A perfect heist gone wrong, a violent and embittered writer accused of murder, a born loser destined to fail. Fully entrenched in the world of film noir Hollywood began to craft the genre to perfection. Stylistically dynamic, tragically poignant, the characters in these films hopelessly search for a way out, for something to believe, for something to trust.

In John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle a gang of thieves fall apart after executing the perfect heist—double-crossing, treachery, betrayal, greed. Who do trust when everyone is a suspect?

In Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place, Humphrey Bogart plays Dixon Steele, a violent tempered writer accused of murder. When Laurel Gray (played by Gloria Grahame) provides a false alibi for Dixon, she finds herself inextricably connected to him. But can she trust him? Is his violent temper truly a murderous one?

Finally, in Jules Dassin’s Night and the City, Richard Widmark plays Harry Fabian, a bit-two hustler on the streets of London. Fabian is an enterprising con man who’s hopes and dreams to hit the big time never seem to pan out. More than anything , at the core of Fabian’s character is the desire to be trusted by his girl friend Mary Bristol (played by Gene Tierney). Fabian is crippled by the idea that Mary has no confidence or trust in his schemes.

Is it so surprising that the tenor of American film at this time should seem so suspicious and insecure? The Cold War against Russia and Communism had turned the eye inward, Americans were now faced with an enemy within. Anyone could be a Communist, your friend, your neighbour, even your family. Suspicion and fear ran rampant and it turned America against itself. Jules Dassin, fled to London to film Night and the City after being warned by his producer that he was about to be ‘black listed.’ John Huston and Sterling Hayden were members of the Committee for the First Amendment which opposed the Hollywood Blacklist. For Hollywood as well as the rest of America, there was no escape from the ‘Red Scare.’ No matter what side of the fence you found yourself with, the question was present: ‘Who do you trust?’

Devon Gallant

Part 3: Dark is the Night

7. The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks (1946)
8. Out of the Past - Jacques Tourneur (1947)
8. Nightmare Alley - Edmund Goulding (1948)


Dark is the night. In the wake of John Huston's 1941 masterpiece The Maltese Falcon, a seemingly endless swell of films emerged from the 1940's which were to be hailed by French critics as 'film noir.' It was a title which was to define the most iconic genre of American film to date. And yet, what is 'film noir'?

It is a question which has puzzled, confused, and tantalized critics and audiences for years. A host of explications may be given towards what makes a film a 'noir:' its expressive use of style and lighting harkening back to the German expressionism of the 1920's, the roster of actors used between the 1940's and 50's, as well as its preoccupation with crime; and yet, none of these facets could ever quite describe the true inner nature of 'film noir.'

It is described by many as a growing pessimism to the world, a sort of black whiplash from devastation of World War II. And to be sure there can be a pessimism to the world of 'film noir.' And yet, more than pessimism these films reveal a fatalism which is at the core of their emotional power.

In a word: choice. The ability to define one’s place in the world, the ability to self-fashion and govern the choices which shape our place in the world; these are the characteristics of noir film. However, in 'film noir,' it is the darker side of our choices which are revealed. The characters in these films often take a road which leads them spiraling down to their own defeat. Are they pulled by some unknown force to make the choices they do? Is it fate? Do we have free will? Or are we all constantly being pulled or pushed by some unknown force to either our victory or defeat?

Perhaps it is because these questions are so universal to humanity itself; perhaps it is because mankind has wrestled with this question of fate so long, which makes 'film noir' so captivating. America had returned from the most devastating war mankind has seen, soldiers had come back with a new vision of the world, one that questioned the choices we make, one that understood the darker aspects of our actions, one that questioned the meaning of our lives. Dark is the night.

—Devon Gallant

Part 2: Notorious

4. Casablanca - Michael Curtiz (1942)
5. Spellbound - Alfred Hitchcock (1945)
6. Notorious - Alfred Hitchcock (1946)

Notorious. In 1950, Ingrid Bergman was publicly denounced on the floor of the US Senate. Bergman was denounced by senator Edwin C. Johnson who referred to her as “a horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence for evil.” The result: Bergman fled Hollywood, not to return until years later. Her denouncement came because of her affair with Italian film maker Roberto Rossellini and their out of wedlock child. Who was this woman who won the hearts and minds of America only to be denounced as notorious in private as she was on the screen?

Born August 29th, 1915, in Stockholm, Sweden; Bergman knew from a young age that she was destined for greatness. Her father, an artist himself, recorded her every birthday and hoped she would one day become an opera singer. Sadly, though, tragedy came quickly for young Ingrid; her mother died when she was only three years old and her father ten years later, leaving Bergman an orphan by the age of thirteen. By the age of seventeen she had already been accepted in Stockholm’s prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre School and within a year of her acceptance left to start acting in films with a Swedish studio. By 1939, the infamous Hollywood producer David O. Selznick swept her off to America to star in a film called Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939); an American remake of the Swedish Intermezzo (1936) which she had starred in only a few years before. From that point on, Ingrid was a star.

Throughout the 1940’s Bergman was to star in some of the greatest films of the decade: the incomparable Casa Blanca (1942), Alfred Hitchcock’s suspenseful masterpieces Spellbound (1945) and Notorious (1946). Through the 1940’s she was nominated four times for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and was even awarded it once for her role in George Cukor’s Gaslight (1945).

What was it about her that attracted all of America so much? How did this half-Swedish half-German girl win over America so thoroughly at a time when America was at war with Germany? The answer can only be found in watching her films, appreciating her unmistakable charm and almost kinetic allure on the screen. The 1940’s are home to an almost ceaseless roll of iconic and glamourous female starlets—Joan Fontaine, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Grahame—and yet, compared to her female contemporaries, none could quite match that unmistakable charm which made Ingrid Bergman notorious.

—Devon Gallant

Part 1: Three Sides of the Same Coin

1. Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
2. The Maltese Falcon - John Huston (1941)
3. The Devil and Daniel Webster - William Dieterle (1941)


Three sides of the same coin. By 1941, America had just recovered from the devastating effects of the Great Depression. War, once more, was on the horizon. And, while some dreamed of a renewed prosperity, there came after the Great Depression a discernable disillusionment. America had roared with wealth in the twenties only to have been rewarded by a decade of the worst poverty known to the modern age.


From these tumultuous times came a disenchantment from the prosperity which America had for so long idealized. In 1941, as a new wave of directors were making their mark on Hollywood, this disenchantment seeped its way onto film in the form of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, and William Dieterle’s The Devil and Daniel Webster. Each of these three films embodied America’s growing apprehension over the prosperity promised by the American Dream.

In Orson Welles’ directorial debut, Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane is a character who feels hindered by his inherited wealth. Kane longs for the tenderness of his youth while becoming increasingly embittered with life until the power of his wealth transforms him into a megalomaniac monster.

John Huston’s debut, The Maltese Falcon, the American Dream itself has been distilled into a tangible object, the icon of the American eagle transformed into the priceless Maltese falcon. The characters in the film lie, steal, and murder to get their hands on the promise of wealth which the falcon offers.

Finally, in William Dieterle’s Faustian tale The Devil and Daniel Webster, Dieterle depicts a poor, desperate farmer who sells his soul to the Devil for prosperity. Here, money itself, not only Mankind’s reaction to it, has become an evil force aligned with the Devil and paving the road to Hell.

Each of these three films signaled a new voice in America, disenchanted, portraying an increasingly darker side of America, a voice which questioned both the ideals of America as well as the aesthetics of American film. American cinema is an epic. This survey, like an epic, begins in media res, ‘in the middle of things.’ 1941 isn’t the beginning of American film however, it is a landmark year which heralded an American cinema coming into its own as a refined and significant art form.

-Devon Gallant