White Savage (1943)
Key Largo (1948)

April 16, 2011 - 2:00 pm

Billy Wilder Theater

White Savage (1943)

Directed by Arthur Lubin

For a time, Brooks toiled on B-movie fare like this trifle of South Seas hokum. Feisty island princess Maria Montez is wooed by shark fisherman Jon Hall, who needs access to her plentiful fisheries. Helpful island boy Sabu lends logistical support to the ambitious Hall. Angry gods and scurrilous side characters round out the picture, a commercial success but a critical failure. Frustrated by his career at this phase, in 1944 Brooks left Hollywood to join the Marine Corps.

Universal Pictures. Producer: George Waggner. Screenwriter: Richard Brooks. Cinematographer: Lester White. Editor: Russell Schoengarth. Cast: Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Sabu , Thomas Gomez, Sidney Toler. 35mm, Black and White, 76 min.

Key Largo (1948)

Directed by John Huston

With John Huston, Brooks adapted Maxwell Anderson’s 1939 play about an everyman defending a war hero’s family from marauding bandits; here the action was transposed to post-World War II, and the theme of personal responsibility heightened. Thematically, the story shares genetic material with films as diverse as Storm Warning, Crossfire, Lord Jim and even White Savage. Critically, it was one of Brooks’ greatest successes up to that time. Claire Trevor won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a washed-up nightclub singer and gun moll.

Warner Bros. Producer: Jerry Wald. Screenwriter: Richard Brooks, John Huston. Cinematographer: Karl Freund. Editor: Rudi Fehr. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor. 35mm, Black and White, 100 min.

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Looking for Richard Brooks: An Appreciation

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White Savage (1943) Key Largo (1948)