Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I know there are those who hold this film to be a bona fide masterpiece. I wouldn't go that far. Many of its characterizations are hokey and it includes what might be the most troublingly nonchalant reference to sexual assault in all of cinema. Having said that, it is a memorable and unique picture. The opening scene is, admittedly, as aesthetically great as cinema gets. A luscious, mysterious credit sequence lays the groundwork for a series of dissolves between intricate shots, one more impressive than the other. It's not hyperbole to say that first scene is worthy of Wells or Tarkovsky. After that, the filmmaking comes down to earth, but there are other impressively shot scenes. The narrative is a strangely constructed anti-Noir that affirms humanity's difficult, perilous freedom. I wonder if Jean-Paul Sartre ever watched this movie. Bet he would have approved.

It isn't easy to write about this haunting film. Not sure I can say I've seen much else quite like it. In the early stages, it tends to look like one of those el-cheapo 'exploitation' films of the 50s (the type some 'modern' reviewers now try to glamorize) but the difference here, is this film tackles its difficult subject with far more integrity. The story concerning a soul dominated by the memory of a family hanging, and the heartless cruelty of those who bully and taunt him endlessly, is certainly at times hard to watch.Under the guidance of all time great Director Frank Borzage (AKF: 'The Mortal Storm' '40 ~ 'Three Comrades' '38 ~ and the now rare, 'Little Man What Now' '33) Borzage, on a small budget brings to life this brutal (and yet also strangely romantic) story of Danny Hawkins (superbly played by the underrated Dane Clark) with compelling narrative style. Director of Photography: Award winning John L. Russell, known for his eye popping visual style in such diverse classics as: 'Psycho' '60 ~ 'Beast from 20,000 Fathoms' '53 ~ 'Macbeth' '48, draws you into the mesmerizing images, even when you feel you don't want to go there. It seemed odd to see angelic Gail Russell in this offering, and the supporting cast are also a class act. Allyn Joslyn turns in a fine strait role as the understanding town Sheriff, with Harry Morgan convincing as a deaf mute. Ethel Barrymore is always superb, but we don't see enough of her regardless of a main billing. The star character role goes to Rex Ingram as Mose, a folk singing, dog breeding swamp dweller, who gives his dogs 'Mr' status because he feels "there's not enough dignity in the world". In light of his situation this is quite a powerful line indeed! The novel by Theodore Strauss is adapted to the screen with style by the film's Producer: Charles F. Haas. William Lavas' Music score helps with some menacing atmos as well as some tender notes (if of course it's all his music - hard to know with the wide use of library music in this era)Not one you might expect from Republic Pictures and not one that will please everyone, but if you enjoy off-beat psychological dramas take a look. The DVD is of quite reasonable quality. Recommended.

A great film about who you were before your father was born, primordial guilt and being in the world. A boy had to grow up with the father's sin to his name, this creates the world of anxieties that he projects everywhere around him. The opening images deeply speak of this fabric: fluid-shadowy impressions of figures, to anonymous 'people' in trenchcoats 'looking', to the shadow of a man being hanged projected on a wall. All seen from the boy's end, remembered. All to solidify the mental flow imposed by the 'lookers-on', initially abstract and floating.The film is this wall of projected inner space, nor is this to say that anything takes place in our hero's head. The noir hallucination is always out in the world, encountered. It's just that everywhere he goes he brings it to life, because he is the one tethering images and emotional spaces to a story. And it's all so emotional here. A man who can't not be seen as the son of his murderous father, a story of this tragedy, the story as imposed boundaries on self. Hell as other people. And isn't the film ultimately about how people create the hallucinated story? Schoolyard kids, the mute, the wise black friend, the girlfriend, the sheriff and shop-owner, all together kneading a life helplessly at the mercy of narrative. Isn't he merely dashing through to anywhere, escaping as noir schmucks often do? Creating various significations for us, and stumbling on this story being told around him as if fated.Cosmic jokes abound; the ferry of formulaic entrapment; the knife accidentally picked up by the dumb mute, incriminating him; the coon hunt that reveals the body. His existential 'get me out of here' to his girlfriend, meaning out of this world of people, but also the world of mysterious coincidence and absurd significance. So long as he runs from it, the story keeps folding ahead without stop. When he gives up, the skies clear and we get absolution, release from the cosmic round; the samsara. Maybe it'll look trite and naive to some. But it's moral guidance worth putting there. This is good stuff, sensitive, eloquent. And a filmmaker worth exploring for me.Noir Meter: 3/4

Frank Borzage was winding down his career when he made this item for Herbert J. Yates's Republic Picture. For Borzage this film is probably an afterthought, after all he made some great classic films like Three Comrades and The Mortal Storm for major studios like MGM and others. But what might be an afterthought for him, would be an acclaimed classic for most other directors.Moonrise is the story of a troubled young man played by Dane Clark who has been teased and bullied all his life because his father was hung for murder. A particular bully has been Lloyd Bridges who is the son of the town banker Harry Cheshire. What little we see of Bridges is that he's a real lout. At a social event Bridges starts again when they're outside and alone and in a fight where Bridges who is losing for the first time picks up a rock and goes after Clark who takes it away from him and kills Bridges with it. At first it's a missing person case and then its homicide when the body turns up. What to do for Clark who is not a criminal by nature. The rest of the film is a study of Clark and the troubled conscience he has.Moonrise has a frightening relevancy today when we are finally focusing on the issue of bullying. This film should be seen and seen again for the message it contains. Today the character played by Dane Clark as a teen might just be the perpetrator of a school massacre today.Gail Russell as the woman both Clark and Bridges were interested in and Ethel Barrymore as his grandmother are the ones who most influence Clark in the decision he must make. Such fine character players as Harry Morgan, Selena Royle, Clem Bevans, Rex Ingram are all in this film giving it a nice rural touch as it does take place in the rural South. Best of all is Allyn Joslin who plays a philosophical sheriff very much along the lines of Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones.This film could very well be Dane Clark's signature role in a career that never quite brought him superstardom. You'll not forget his performance and how so many emotions register on screen with a troubled soul.