Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Broderick Crawford star in Fritz Lang’s “Human Desire”

Human Desire (1954) is an American film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Broderick Crawford. Peggy Maley, Kathleen Case, and Edgar Buchanan round out the supporting cast.

Korean War veteran Jeff Warren (Ford) is a train engineer for the Central National Railroad. Jeff’s involvement with Vicki Buckley (Grahame) puts him in peril with Vicki’s sadistic husband Carl (Crawford).

Will Jeff and Vicki be able to overcome the evil shadow of Carl Buckley?

Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford

Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976) was an Austrian-German-American director. Lang is the director of the silent film classic Metropolis (1927). After serving in World War I, Lang worked as an actor in the theater and then worked as a writer at Decla Film in Berlin. Lang’s first talking picture was M (1931) a story about a child murderer. Due to his growing renown, Joseph Goebbels offered him the position of head of the German film studio UFA in 1933. Lang emigrated to Paris and then to the United States in 1936. Lang worked for all the major studios, making twenty-three feature films in the United States. Some of Lang’s films include Scarlet Street (1945), The Big Heat (1953), and While the City Sleeps (1956).

Glenn Ford (1916 - 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who was one of the biggest box office draws for three decades. Ford acted on stage in California before he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. He appeared in mostly B movies until The Lady in Question (1940), the first time he was paired with fellow Columbia contract player, Rita Hayworth. After serving in the Coast Guard during World War II, Ford’s career took off. He and Hayworth had a huge hit with Gilda (1946) and A Stolen Life (1946) with Bette Davis. Ford came into his own in the 1950s with films like Blackboard Jungle (1955), Interrupted Melody (1955) with Eleanor Parker, Jubal (1956), and The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) with Jeanne Crain, all box office successes. By the end of the decade, Ford was one of the biggest stars in the world. Ford continued making movies in the 1960s but his films were more uneven than in the previous decade. However, he had hits with Experiment in Terror (1962) and The Courtship of Eddie’s Father  (1963). In 1978, he played Clark Kent’s adoptive father in Superman (1978). His last film role was Raw Nerve (1991).

Gloria Grahame (1923 – 1981) was an American actress. She began her career on the stage and then went to Hollywood in 1944 where she was under contract to M-G-M. At M-G-M, they didn’t know what to do with Grahame. She was loaned out to play Violet Bick in It’s a Wonderful Life, earning good notices but M-G-M decided to sell her contract to RKO. She played minor and secondary roles in several film noirs, but her career didn’t gain any traction at that studio. She had good roles in Sudden Fear (1952) and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad and the  Beautiful (1952). Grahame’s performance in that film lasted just over nine minutes. She was the Elephant Girl, performing her stunts, in Cecil B. De Mille’s The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). Other films include Not as a Stranger (1955) and Oklahoma! (1955) where she played Ado Annie, a change of pace from her typical femme fatale roles. Grahame died of cancer at the age of 57.

Broderick Crawford (1911 – 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor. Born in Philadelphia to a show business family, Crawford acted with his parents on stage. As an adult, he won acclaim as Lenny in the original Broadway production of Of Mice and Men in 1937. He later moved to Hollywood and began acting in small roles and bit parts throughout the 1940s. He finally got his chance at stardom in All the King’s Men (1949), the film version of Robert Penn Warren’s award-winning novel. The film was a big hit and Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Willie Stark. Now a star, Crawford starred in more prestigious productions including Born Yesterday (1950) receiving top-billing over co-stars Judy Holiday and William Holden. Crawford became a television icon as Dan Matthews in the police dram Highway Patrol (1955 – 1959.) 

Human Desire trivia

• Fritz Lang didn’t like the title. He thought it was redundant. “What other desire is there?”
• Lang wanted Marlon Brando to play the role of Jeff. Brando thought Lang had lost his way and called the screenplay “crap.”
• Rita Hayworth was originally scheduled to co-star with Ford but she was tied up in court with divorce proceedings.
• Olivia de Havilland and Jennifer Jones were mentioned as possible leads.
• Ford and Broderick Crawford worked together in Convicted (1950) and The Fastest Gun Alive (1956).

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

Click HERE to join the discussion on September 23, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. If you saw The Big Heat (1953) also starring Ford and Graham, which do you think is the better film?
2. Do you think Vicki loved Jeff or was she just using him to get rid of her husband?
3. Some critics have called Human Desire a low-rent Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Do you agree with that criticism?
4. Ford and Grahame were paired again because of their previous success in The Big Heat. Do you think their on-screen chemistry is as good in this film?
5. How much of the action is based on fate and the characters' choices?
6. Was the ending a surprise to you? Was it satisfying?
7. Does this film qualify as a film noir in your opinion? Yes or no? Why?

Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward star in "Rawhide"

Rawhide (1951) is an American western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward. The supporting cast members include Hugh Marlowe, Dean Jagger, Edgar Buchanan, Jack Elam, and George Tobias.

Tom Owens (Power) is the sophisticated heir to the J. C. Owens of the Overland Mail Company. His father sends him west to the remote relay station Rawhide Pass to learn about the business from Sam Todd (Buchanan). Tom can’t wait to get back to civilization in one week’s time.

A young woman named Vinnie Holt (Hayward) arrives at the station with her young niece Callie. Callie is the daughter of Vinnie’s deceased sister. Vinnie was traveling east to take Callie to her paternal grandparents. Before Vinnie can catch the next train, The U.S. Calvary arrives to inform the stagecoach passing through Rawhide that four convicts escaped from Huntsville prison. With this news, the Calvary refuses to let Vinnie and Callie ride the stagecoach—it’s against the law to allow children to travel in a dangerous situation.

Tyrone Power and Hugh Marlowe

Now Vinnie and Callie are stuck at the Rawhide Pass with the escaped outlaws heading their way. When Rafe Zimmerman (Marlowe) arrives at the pass with his three fellow outlaws, no one is safe.

Henry Hathaway (1898 – 1985) was an American film director and producer. Hathaway started working in silent films in 1925 as an assistant to established directors like Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg. His first solo directorial effort was Heritage of the Desert (1932) starring Randolph Scott. Hathaway, along with Scott, would be known for western movies. Besides Scott, Hathaway directed Gary Cooper in several films, including The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) which earned him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. In 1940, Hathaway began working at Fox where he directed Tyrone Power in Johnny Apollo and Brigham Young (both 1940), Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942), Don Ameche and Dana Andrews in Wing and a Prayer (1944), and Call Northside 777 (1948) starring James Stewart and Richard Conte. After leaving Fox, he was one of three directors who worked on the western epic How the West Was Won (1962). He directed Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith (1966), directed John Wayne in True Grit (1968) which won Wayne his one and only Best Actor Academy Award.

Tyrone Power (1914 – 1958) was a major movie star as well as a star on stage and radio. He was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s and 1940s. Power was under exclusive contract to 20th Century-Fox where his image and film choices were carefully selected by studio head Zanuck. After the war, Power wanted to stretch his acting past romantic comedies and swashbuckler roles. Nightmare Alley was Power’s personal favorite of all his films. Some of Power's films include Marie Antoinette (1938), The Rains Came (1939), Jesse James (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940), and  Blood and Sand (1941). Later in his career, he starred in Captain from Castile (1947), The Black Rose (1950), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). Power’s favorite of all his films that he starred in was Nightmare Alley (1947) even though it was a commercial and a critical failure when first released. Its status as a classic film noir has been recently reevaluated.

Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward

Susan Hayward (1917 – 1975) was an Academy Award-winning actress for her role as Barbara Graham in I Want to Live! (1958). Hayward worked as a fashion model but traveled to Hollywood in 1937 to try out for the role of Scarlett O’Hara. She didn’t win that coveted role, but she secured a film contract. Hayward’s career took off in the late 1940s when she was nominated for Best Actress for Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947). She received four more Best Actress nominations for My Foolish Heart (1949), With a Song in My Heart (1952), I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955), and I Want to Live. Later in her career, Hayward replaced Judy Garland as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls (1967).

Rawhide trivia

• This was Susan Hayward's first film for Fox after Walter Wanger sold her contract to the studio.
• Tyrone Power was 20 years older than his character.
• The film score was originally written for Brigham Young (1940) starring Power and Dean Jagger. It was also used for Yellow Sky (1948).
• Quentin Tarantino said this film was the inspiration for The Hateful Eight (2015).

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on January 2, 2023, at 6:30 p.m.Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to the discussion on Zoom. 

Discussion questions

1. Does this film remind you of any other westerns you've seen?
2. Did you think Tyrone Power was too old for the role of Tom Owens?
3. Were Power and Hayward a good "team?"
4. What about the supporting cast? Did anyone stand out to you?
5. Did anything about this film surprise you?

Randolph Scott and Ella Rains traverse “The Walking Hills”

The Walking Hills (1949) is a modern American western directed by John Sturges and starring Randolph Scott and Ella Raines. The cinematography was by Charles Lawton Jr. (The Lady From Shanghai, 3:10 to Yuma). The stars are supported by William Bishop, Edgar Buchanan, Arthur Kennedy, Josh White, and John Ireland.

Nine men of different ages and backgrounds, search for a lost treasure supposedly lost in the shifting sands of Death Valley. One of the men is a detective looking for a fugitive who may or may not be among the treasure seekers. To complicate matters further, a woman named Chris Jackson (Raines) joins the group where she attempts to sort out her feelings between Dave Wilson (Bishop) and Jim Carey (Scott), two men she had relationships with in the past.

Will the search for the lost treasure unite the seekers or turn them against each other?

Randolph Scott, William Bishop, and Ella Raines

John Sturges (1910 - 1992) was an American film director. He started his career in Hollywood in 1932. During World War II, he worked on training films and documentaries for the United States Army Air Forces. After the war, Sturges made a string of B movies before establishing himself as an A-list director. He had great successes with Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), and The Great Escape (1963). Other films he directed include The Old Man and the Sea (1958), The Halleluja Trail (1965), Ice Station Zebra (1968), and The Eagle Has Landed (1976).

Ella Raines, Randolph Scott, and director John Sturges (back to us)

Randolph Scott (1898 - 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned over three decades. Scott started out in silent films in some uncredited roles and on the advice of Cecil B. De Mille, he performed on stage at the Pasadena Playhouse where Hollywood took notice. In the early stages of his career in the 1930s, Scott acted in comedies, musicals, and adventure films. He established himself as a dependable leading man in the 1940s but achieved his greatest success in the late 1950s starring in a string of popular westerns directed by Bud Boetticher including Seven Men from Now (1955), 7th Cavalry (1956), and Ride Lonesome (1959). During this period, Scott was a top box office draw often ranking in the top ten.

Ella Raines (1920 – 1988) was born in Washington State where she studied drama at the University of Washington. Howard Hawks spotted her in a college production and signed her to a contract. Right out of the gate, she starred in some big movies, including Preston Sturges’s Hail the Conquering Hero and Tall in the Saddle (both 1944) where she shared equal billing with John Wayne. As her movie career declined in the 1950s, Raines worked in series television starring in Janet Dean, Registered Nurse (1954-55). She appeared on the cover of Life magazine twice, once in 1944 and in 1947.

The Walking Hills trivia:

1. Regarded as a film noir western along with Pursued (1947) and Blood on the Moon (1948)
2. Filmed in the Alabama Hills of California and Death Valley National Monument. Sturges would revisit this location for Bad Day at Black Rock.

To watch the film on YouTube click on the link below.

To join the discussion on May 4, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation to join the discussion with a link to the meeting on Zoom.

Discussion Questions:

1. Did this film remind you of any other films you’ve seen?
2. What do you think motivated the characters in their quest?
3. Was the love triangle between Scott, Bishop, and Raines believable? Did it add to or take away from the narrative?
4. Did you have a favorite character actor?
5. Were you surprised by the ending? Was it satisfying or disappointing?

Focus on Josh White (1914 - 1969)

Joshua Daniel White was an American singer, guitarist, actor, and civil rights activist. He sang blues, country, gospel, and social protest songs. In 1931, he moved to New York where he found success on Broadway, radio, and film. He also expanded his musical repertoire to jazz and folk songs.

In the 1940s, White shared the stage with Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Burl Ives, and the Golden Gate Quartet. His tours with Led Belly were enormously successful and White was tagged the “Joe Louise of the Blues Guitar.” His recording of “Sucking Cider Through a Straw” was a million-selling record, the first by an African-American male artist. Other artists including The Andrew Sisters and Bing Crosby recorded cover versions.

Unfortunately for White, he was caught up in the anti-communist Red Scare during the 1950s. He was labeled a communist which hurt his career.

Interestingly, White’s character in The Walking Hills is that although his part is small, he is an equal partner with his white cohorts. In some ways, his character acts as a Greek chorus for the film. During the late-1940s, Hollywood was starting to grapple with racism and the depiction of people of color on the screen. In this film, the subject of White’s race is never brought up. Not the case with the Native American character Cleve, however, who is maligned by Chalk the character played by Arthur Kennedy.

White’s legacy in music runs deep. He was considered a mentor to Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, and influenced a generation of singers including Pete Seeger, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, and Harry Belafonte.

Irene Dunne recalls her marriage to Cary Grant in “Penny Serenade”

Penny Serenade (1941) is an American melodrama directed by George Stevens and starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The film is based on a story by Martha Cheavens that appeared in McCall’s magazine.

Dunne and Grant at the beach in Penny Serenade

Dunne and Grant star as a couple on the brink of divorce after a tragic event in their lives. While preparing to leave her husband, Julie Adams (Dunne) listens to old records that take her back to the early days of her relationship with Roger (Grant). Balancing laughter with tragedy, director Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant, Shane) strikes all the right notes with this sentimental classic. 

The excellent supporting cast includes Beulah Bondi and Edgar Buchanan. Grant earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a truly moving performance.

P.S. You may need tissues while watching!

George Stevens (1904 – 1975) was an American film director and producer. He was nominated for five Best Director Academy Awards, winning one for Giant (1956). Stevens got his start in the movies as a cameraman working on many Laurel and Hardy films. Stevens directed many of the top stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Hepburn, Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard, Fred Astaire, Joel McCrea, Alan Ladd, Spencer Tracy, and Elizabeth Taylor. Other popular films directed by Stevens include Annie Oakley (1935), Gunga Din (1939), Woman of the Year (1942), The More the Merrier (1943), I Remember Mama (1948), Shane (1953), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959).

Irene Dunne (1898 –1990) was an American actress and singer who was one of the most popular movie stars during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She is probably best remembered for her comedic roles, though she first became famous playing in melodramas like Back Street (1932) and Magnificent Obsession (1935). In fact, Dunne was so popular as a star of melodramas that she was dubbed “The Queen of the Weepies” by the press. Her comedic breakout performance was in Theodora Goes Wild (1936), which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She would go on to make other comedy classics like The Awful Truth (1937), where she earned another Best Actress nod, and My Favorite Wife (1940). Dunne and Grant were one of the most popular screen teams in movie history. All three of their films were critical and box office successes. Dunne earned a total of five Academy Award nominations for Best Actress but never won a competitive Oscar. The fact that the Motion Picture Academy never awarded her an Honorary Academy Award for her body of work is a travesty to me.

Cary Grant (1904 – 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies, including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations: Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Penny Serenade trivia

• Irene Dunne said this was one of her favorite films because it reminded her of her adopted daughter.
• This was the third and final film that Dunne and Grant made together.
• Dunne and Grant share the same bed, which was against the Production Code.
• This was the first of Grant’s two Best Actor nominations; the other was for None but the Lonely Heart (1944).
• To get around the laws restricting the time infants could be on camera, director Stevens hired two sets of identical twins.

Director Stevens hired identical twins to get around the laws restricting the 
time infants could spend on camera.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join us on Zoom for a discussion on December 15, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click the link for details and invitation. When you RSVP, you will receive an email and a link to the discussion.

Questions for discussion:

1. Were Grant and Dunne believable as first-time parents?
2. What do you think about how the adoption process was portrayed?
3. Did you like the film’s narrative flashbacks?
4. What did you think of the character roles played by Beulah Bondi (Miss Oliver) and Edgar Buchanan (Applejack Carney)?