Petrified Forest was adapted from a stage play of the same name that had also starred Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart.\u00a0 Howard play Alan Squier a down on his luck writer who has lost faith in his life.\u00a0 He has hitchhiked his way into the Petrified Forest region of Arizona and shows up at a diner where Gabrielle Maple, played by Bette Davis, and her grandfather are running the business while Gabrielle\u2019s father is out with his band of vigilantes trying to track down notorious bank robber Duke Mantee and his gang.\u00a0 The gang has killed six men and is known to be in the general vicinity.\u00a0 Alan takes a liking to Gabrielle because of her artistic bent and she finds him both mysterious and attractive because of his cultured manner and his knowledge of the world.<\/p>\n
There are several other characters, a rich couple and their chauffeur,\u00a0a gas attendant at the diner who is infatuated with Gabrielle and some lawmen looking for Mantee.\u00a0 But the story comes down to the occupants of the diner being held hostage by Mantee and his gang until they are ready to leave.\u00a0 At a certain point Alan decides that he will take advantage of the situation to give Gabrielle the chance to fulfill her dream of going to France and becoming an artist.\u00a0 He writes his $5,000 life insurance policy over to her and gets Mantee to agree to shoot Alan before he leaves the diner.<\/p>\n
Eventually the law finds Mantee and Alan forces a reluctant Mantee to shoot him before he departs.\u00a0 Then Alan dies a long talkative death in Gabrielle\u2019s arms.\u00a0 Then she recites some French poetry while still clutching the corpse.\u00a0 Yikes.<\/p>\n
There are some scenes in the movie that are amusing.\u00a0 The early part of the movie where Alan is talking about his early life and where he discusses art and life with Gabrielle are pretty good.\u00a0 But the whole world-weary artist tired of living and anxious to die in a noble gesture is absurd and extremely ridiculous to watch.\u00a0 Also, Bogart\u2019s Mantee is a laid on a little bit too thick for my liking.\u00a0 How he got from Brooklyn to Arizona seems odd.\u00a0 Gabrielle\u2019s grandfather is played by Charley Grapewin who was Dorothy\u2019s Uncle Henry in the Wizard of Oz.\u00a0 He is quite entertaining as the grizzled old survivor of the old west.<\/p>\n
Some people might be interested in this film as a period piece showing what a stage play was like during the Great Depression and some might be interested to see an early Bogart role.\u00a0 But I can\u2019t recommend it in good faith.\u00a0 It\u2019s just too hokey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Petrified Forest was adapted from a stage play of the same name that had also starred Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart.\u00a0 Howard play Alan Squier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[2718,1562,2717],"class_list":["post-12669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-bette-davis","tag-humphrey-bogart","tag-the-petrified-forest"],"yoast_head":"\n