The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest on the IMDb
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Warner Brothers: Warner Brothers Gangsters Collection. Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart. Somehow I had missed this one, the only one of the six movies in the Gangsters Collection that I had not seen before buying the set. Lo and behold, after watching them all again this one comes out on top as my favorite! The Petrified Forest was adapted from a play by Robert Sherwood, and manages to carry over to film some of the best dialogue that I've ever heard. The actors, especially the top three that I listed above, are all perfect and really on their game. Howard and Davis had worked together previously in Of Human Bondage, and Howard had also worked with Bogie before in the stage version of this very movie! Howard, as star of this picture, insisted upon Bogie as Duke Mantee in the film, and thankfully his wish was granted. Out of all of the early film gangsters I found Mantee to be the most realistic and menacing, all apologies to Jimmy Cagney, who the Gangsters box set is built around. This film would launch Bogart into stardom, but even though his performance really should steal the show, the rest of the cast is so incredible that he can't completely do so! As with the others in the set this DVD includes a twenty minute or so documentary about the film plus Leonard Maltin's Night at the Movies feature. Incredible movie, my highest recommendation!
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