> Dorothy B. Hughes and The Fallen Sparrow. I just saw
the movie, and was
> disappointed. John Garfield seems to be sleepwalking
through the role,
even
> when he's doing some "are those footsteps?!! I hear
footsteps!!!" number.
> Walter Slezak is around, and always worth watching,
but even marvelous
> Maureen O'Hara can't liven this one up. It's not
quite a "B," down on the
> level of the Michael Shayne pics coming out around
this time, but it's a
> potboiler, and I wouldn't call this a notable
noir.
>
I don't completely disagree, but here's the New York Times
critic Theodore Strauss at the time of the film's release:
"By virtue of a taut performance by John Garfield in the
central role, and the singular skill with which director
Richard Wallace has highlighted the significant climaxes,
"The Fallen Sparrow" emerges as one of the uncommon and
provocatively handled melodramas of recent months... Through
these scenes Mr. Garfield remains almost constantly
convincing and without his sure and responsive performance in
a difficult role Mr. Wallace's effects would have been lost
entirely."
(Quoted in "John Garfield: His Life and Films" by--ahem--Jim
Beaver.)
Despite being a Garfield fan, I'm actually a bit closer to
your camp than Strauss's, though it's the film and not
Garfield I find slightly soporific.
Jim Beaver
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