Customer Reviews

Desert Fury [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At long last, this 1940s potboiler has been released on a video format, albeit in a foreign edition. No worries; you can turn the Portuguese subtitles off. And it's playable on all regions.

This isn't a great movie, but it's engrossing entertainment. Lizabeth Scott plays the daughter of Mary Astor, owner of a Chuckawalla, Nevada casino. Scott gets involved with a shady hoodlum, played by John Hodiak, and Astor and Burt Lancaster (in one of his first film roles) - here playing a sheriff - do everything they can to thwart the romance. Complications ensue, with a predictably overheated, melodramatic ending.

Lizabeth Scott, smoky-voiced and drop-dead beautiful, is wonderful to watch and a sympathetic heroine; Hodiak is stiff and uncharismatic (he never became a big star); not very convincing as an actor, he looks suave enough. Lancaster is wasted in his role: he might have been more effective as Hodiak's character. The movie is dominated, though, and practically swiped away from under everyone's noses, by Mary Astor. Though she has supporting billing, her authority and edgy, formidable swankiness has the viewer drawn to her: she fairly seethes with charged charisma.

One of the best reasons to see this, though, is the stunning Technicolor photography. And, as I understand it, one of the very few film noir movies to be shot in color. And this is one of the best processing jobs (at the time) in evidence: the colors are radiant, natural, hues pleasing, more subdued than many of the hideously garish processing jobs that marred so many of the movies of the 40s.

I hope Universal (which owns Paramount's older libary) puts out an official America release soon.

Can you follow this?
Johnny loves Eddie.
Eddie is getting tired of Johnny.
Eddie wants Paula.
Paula wants Sheriff Tom.
Sheriff Tom annoys Paula.
Paula wants Eddie.
Johnny hates Paula.
Somebody has a gun.
And, then the fun begins!
Lizabeth Scott makes it work. Burt Lancaster is restrained and doesn't overplay it as the sheriff.
Mary Astor steals every scene she is in as Paula's mother.
This is a odd film that can still find its audience after more than 60 years, and it is very entertaining!

I love this movie and it isn't because of plot, direction, or even the story. This is film noir at its strangest and I am a big fan of this genre. The color is so gorgeous, and Mary Astor is so good that this is
a treat for anyone who likes film noir. I recommend this highly for the
true fan, and the print is perfect.

Paramount Pictures presents "DESERT FURY" (1947) (96 min/Color) -- Starring Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster, Wendell Corey & Mary Astor

Directed by Lewis Allen

Desert Fury is a rarity for the 1940s, a Technicolor "film noir." Set in a Nevada gambling town, the story concerns the various misadventures, romantic and otherwise, of Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott), the rebellious daughter of gambling-house proprietress Fritzie Haller (Mary Astor). Though no better than she ought to be, Fritzie is determined that Paula will not grow up as a "shady lady", but she's fighting an uphill battle. John Hodiak plays crooked gambler Eddie Bendix, who tries to exploit Paula's fascination with him for his own gain. Thank heaven that upright lawman Tom Hanson (Burt Lancaster) is on hand to rescue the heroine from the machinations of Bendix and his partner-in-perfidy Johnny Ryan (Wendell Corey).

Desert Fury was adapted from the far racier and more explicit novel by Ramona Stewart.

Mary Astor and Wendell Corey give outstanding performances in every scene.
Lancaster, Hodiak and Scott are good, but it's Astor and Corey's film.

Outstanding score by the talented composer Miklós Rózsa captures the dark side of the characters within the drama we've labeled "film noir".

BIOS:
1. Lewis Allen [Director]
Date of Birth: 25 December 1905 - Oakengates, Telford, Shropshire, UK
Date of Death: 3 May 2000, Santa Monica, California

2. Lizabeth Scott [aka: Emma Matzo]
Date of Birth: 29 September 1922 - Scranton, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: Still Living

3. John Hodiak
Date of Birth: 16 April 1914 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 19 October 1955 - Hollywood, California

4. Burt Lancaster [aka: Burton Stephen Lancaster]
Date of Birth: 2 November 1913 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 20 October 1994 - Century City, California

5. Wendell Corey
Date of Birth: 20 March 1914 - Dracut, Massachusetts
Date of Death: 8 November 1968 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

6. Mary Astor [aka: Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke]
Date of Birth: 3 May 1906 - Quincy, Illinois
Date of Death: 25 September 1987 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 96 min on DVD ~ Paramount Pictures ~ (July 1, 2003)

After quitting school, a young girl (Lizabeth Scott) returns to her mother (Mary Astor) who runs a gambling casino in a Nevada desert town. When she becomes involved with a racketeer (John Hodiak), several people including Astor, lawman Burt Lancaster and Hodiak's companion (Wendell Corey) attempt to break up the relationship, all for reasons of their own. One of the rare examples of a genuine film noir in color, the film's desert locations reap the greatest benefit of the Technicolor cinematography courtesy of Charles Lang and Edward Cronjager. The most intriguing aspect of the film is the homoerotic relationship between Hodiak and Corey wherein Corey's obsession with Hodiak and his jealousy over Scott threatens to boil over at any minute and in the film's tense finale, it does. Mary Astor as Scott's unyielding mother gives the best performance but the usually wooden Scott manages to drum up enough enthusiasm to actually give a performance. The assured direction is by Lewis Allen (THE UNINVITED) from a screenplay by Robert Rossen based on the novel by Ramona Stewart. Music by Miklos Rozsa.

The DV1 DVD from Australia is a vivid transfer in the proper 1.33 aspect ratio.

Lizabeth Scott really shows her stuff in this old classic. I enjoyed this movie many times and I'm sure it'll be one of your faves.