NFR Project: 'Cyrano de Bergerac' (1950)

 

NFR Project: “Cyrano de Bergerac”

Dir: Michael Gordon

Scr: Carl Foreman, Brian Hooker

Pho: Franz Planer

Ed: Harry W. Gerstad

Premiere: Nov. 16, 1950

113 min.

This immortal story is largely fiction, but it has its roots in reality. Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655) was a real person – a writer, poet, playwright, and soldier of France. He was witty and daring. He created science fiction long before anyone else ventured into it. His brief life was studded with achievements. And, yes, he had an unnaturally large nose.

French playwright Edmond Rostand created the legendary figure of Cyrano de Bergerac in his dramatic work of the same name in 1897. He extrapolated the facts of Cyrano’s life and built what he termed an “heroic comedy” out of them. His play, wildly successful, received an extraordinary English translation by Brian Hooker, which proved to be a starring vehicle for the American actor Walter Hampden.

A revival of the play in 1947 led to a Tony win for Best Actor for Jose Ferrer. It was deemed worthwhile to capture his performance on film. This performance led to Ferrer winning an Oscar for Best Actor for the role in 1950. It was well-deserved.

In the play, Cyrano is highly regarded as a duelist and writer, someone not to be trifled with. He is proudly independent, consistently making powerful enemies that attempt to thwart him. He routinely wipes the floor with detractors who make fun of his nose, skewering them with his sword.

He has one weakness – he is madly and secretly in love with his cousin Roxanne, who sees him only as a brotherly figure. He fears that she will despise him due to his grotesque appearance. She confides to him that she is in love – he thinks excitedly at first it is with himself, but then sadly realizes that the object of her affection is a young and handsome new recruit to his fighting unit, Christian. Cyrano befriends Christian, and tells him of Roxanne’s attraction to him.

However, Christian is in despair. He has no gift for words, and Roxanne demands poetic love-talk from him. Cyrano hits upon a plan. He will write love letters to Roxanne and attribute them to Christian, so that the young cadet can win her love. In this way, Cyrano can unburden his heart to her in disguise.

In the famous nighttime balcony scene, Cyrano feeds Christian romantic lines to recite to Roxanne as she stands above him in the darkness. Christian is too hesitant, so Cyrano thrusts him aside and delivers a heartfelt romantic speech to her, which wins her heart – for Christian. The two are married, but their honeymoon is thwarted by the antagonistic Comte de Guiche, who orders Christian and Cyrano off to war.

Later, in the trenches, Cyrano writes and mails letters in Christian’s name to Roxanne, even when surrounded by enemy Spanish troops. Roxanne makes it through the lines with supplies for the cadets, and finally sees Christian again. She tells him of her delight at receiving love letters from him daily – and Christian realizes Cyrano loves her as well. Roxanne declares that she loves him for his soul, and would love him even if he were ugly.

Christian confronts Cyrano, and declares that Cyrano must reveal his love for her – that she must choose between them. This Cyrano is about to do when Christian is fatally wounded. Before dying, Cyrano lies to him, saying that Roxanne has chosen him. As Roxanne mourns, “My love weeps for me, and does not know!” Cyrano exclaims.

We move forward several years. Roxanne is now ensconced in a convent. Cyrano, as her old friend, visits her weekly, bringing with him amusing bits of court gossip. However, on this day, he has been attacked by his enemies and is fatally wounded. Hiding the bandages around his head, he goes to see her, though it means his death. The truth is finally revealed, and Roxanne declares her love for him. But it is too late. Sword in hand, Cyrano defies death and proclaims his triumph over it in the form of his panache, his vibrant spirit, his “white plume.” And he dies.

Ferrer’s performance is extraordinary. He is alert, intelligent, intense, not letting his cumbersome nose prevent him from fleshing out his heroic character. Whether he is dueling and rhyming simultaneously, or pretending to be a lunar traveler, his hearty spirit dominates the proceedings. The film follows the play faithfully, with minimal cuts to the original script. The settings and costumes are lavish, and the ensemble of actors is ideal.

Rostand’s Cyrano is the Cyrano we know today. Rarely has a fictional elaboration so completely eclipsed an actual historical figure.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Ida Lupino’s Outrage.

 

 

 

 

 

NFR Project: Bohulano family film collection (1950s-1970s)

NFR Project: Bohulano family film collection

Recorded 1950s – 1970s

An admirable compendium of the joys of family life in a Filipinx immigrant community in Stockton, California, from the 1950s through the 1970s. These are truly home movies, and they document the life of an extended family and a segregated community in America. It includes the usual content of home movies – records of community events, family gatherings, and vacation trips. What elevates this collection above normal home-movie fare is that it gives the viewer a sense of family and how it endures, even in discriminated populations.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Cyrano de Bergerac.

 

 

NFR Project: 'White Heat' (1949)

 

NFR Project: “White Heat”

Dir: Raoul Walsh

Scr: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts

Pho: Sidney Hickox

Ed: Owen Marks

Premiere: Sept. 2, 1949

114 min.

James Cagney was looking for a hit. After he won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1942, he left Warner Brothers, went off on his own and tried to make his own movies independently. He failed. So back he went to Warner Brothers, signing up to make more movies for the studio he had originally rejected.

The studio was eager for him to make a gangster film. Cagney resisted, as he thought he was being overidentified with the genre. However, he overcame his reluctance and made White Heat, one of the most iconic of all crime films.

It’s a bifurcated story. One half of it is about the modern police’s enhanced abilities and procedures that allow them to track down and neutralize bad guys; the other half is about Cody Jarrett. Cagney is Jarrett, in a towering performance of psychotic intensity.

Jarrett is a bank robber, ruthless and insane, unconcerned with his casual murders. He is unnaturally attached to his criminal “Ma” (Margaret Wycherly), who both lives for him and controls him. He suffers from spells of burning headaches that torment him; only Ma can soothe them away. Together, they seek to live large (“top of the world,” she tells him) He leads a gang that includes his wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) and right-hand man “Big Ed” (Steve Cochran).

Cody is almost nabbed for a train robbery, but pleads to a lesser (false) charge, so that he is sentenced to only two years in prison. A Treasury agent places an undercover man, Fallon (Edmond O’Brien) in prison, assigning him to befriend Cody.

Verna and Big Ed are playing around behind Cody’s back. Big Ed tries unsuccessfully to have Cody killed in prison. In an iconic scene in the prison mess, Jarrett finds out that Ma is dead. (Look closely in this scene for the great Native American athlete, Jim Thorpe.) He goes berserk, slugging guards and writhing frantically as he is carted away.

He vows to escape, and does with Fallon in tow. Returning home, he kills Big Ed and the inmate who tried to kill him. Soon the gang has another robbery in mind – the payroll department of a big chemical plant. Using a gas truck like a Trojan horse, the gang enters the plant and begins to crack the safe. Fallon is recognized, but escapes. Surrounded, the gang is rubbed out one by one. Jarrett climbs to the top of an enormous storage tank and fires into it. It bursts into flame. Shouting “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” Jarrett exults and is blown to smithereens.

Cagney was 49 when he made White Heat; his youthful good looks were leaving him and he was making the transition to character roles. His decision to play an utterly despicable character was unique, but it worked. Jarrett is a complex of violent impulses, barely capable of getting through the day without killing someone. It’s a brilliant portrayal of a criminal as a mentally damaged individual.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Bohulano family film collection.