Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 9-November-08
Spoiler Rating: Medium

O. Henry's Full House (1952)

The double whammy of a recession and the holidays makes this a fine time to revisit O. Henry, that master of sly, funny, sentimental stories about folks at the bottom of the food chain. The printed page provides the best fix, but the 1952 movie sampling of O. Henry's work is an enjoyable alternative. It draws upon a slew of stars, a quintet of noted directors, and the legendary John Steinbeck (as narrator) to bring the writer's work to life.

The chapters selected for the film address a range of themes including personal honor, love in various forms, and plain dumb luck. Each is excellent in its own way. The first finds Charles Laughton as a bum named Soapy who likes to hibernate in jail during the winter. One frosty morning, with a fellow bum in tow, he sets out to get himself arrested on the mean streets of New York. To his dismay, nobody will set the cops on him no matter what he does. Theft doesn't do it, nor accosting a pretty girl (a briefly seen Marilyn Monroe), nor breaking a shop window. The finale to Soapy's dilemma is rich with irony, forming a counterpoint to the classic Christmas tale that wraps up the film.

This is of course "The Gift of the Magi," a perfect little story which easily withstands being stretched to 20 minutes. Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger play the newlyweds who make sacrifices to buy each other presents that express their love. In warmth this episode is matched by "The Last Leaf," a tear-jerker starring Anne Baxter and Jean Peters as sisters sharing a room in Greenwich Village and Gregory Ratoff as their starving-artist neighbor. The question of what gives life meaning is explored as Baxter lies stricken with pneumonia and a broken heart and decides that she must die when the last autumn leaf abandons an ivy outside her window.

Another classic, "The Ransom of Red Chief," switches the setting to summertime and the Deep South and offers a strong shot of comedy. Two con men (Fred Allen and Oscar Levant) attempt to prey upon the local yokels by kidnapping a tyke and holding him for ransom. Unfortunately, the lad they choose to abduct (in a hilarious scene) has learned to cope away from home since he relocated from the fiery halls of his father Beelzebub. The wee hellion dominates and tortures his captors, completely upending their plans.

The most dramatic of the stories features a very different pair of men. It stars Dale Robertson, an actor who found a niche on television but has a wonderful presence on film. The past returns to haunt his character, a hardworking policeman, when he recognizes a clue dropped at a murder scene as belonging to a childhood friend who took a different path and became a hoodlum (Richard Widmark). The twist is that an old debt lies between the two men which prevents the policeman from arresting his erstwhile chum, who laughingly admits to the murder. This score must be settled before justice can prevail, another instance of the notion of responsibility which so often adheres to tales of men in blue.

Cops, crooks, bums, and people just trying to get by: these are the denizens of O. Henry's world and the fascinating subjects of this worthy Full House.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.