☆ ☆ ☆
Desert Fury (1947) – L. Allen
Technicolor noir that looks great but tends toward
soap opera and fails to bring the bite that the best in the genre offer. Yet,
at the same time, this is one of the more brazen (or very thinly veiled)
portrayals of a gay relationship in Forties film. Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott) returns to her
small Nevada town after leaving or getting kicked out of college, much to the
displeasure of her mother, Fritzi (Mary Astor), who runs the local gambling den
and dreams of better things for her daughter. Better things, like being married
to ex-rodeo-star-turned-deputy-sheriff Tom Hanson (Burt Lancaster). However, when
racketeer Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak) and his “friend” Johnny (Wendell Corey)
return to town, Paula finds herself drawn to the gangster instead of the cop
(despite the rumours that he killed his first wife). Eddie and Johnny really do act like an old
married couple, bickering all the time. But it doesn’t take long before Johnny
tells Paula she’s butting in and that Eddie will never leave Johnny. Of course, Johnny’s just Eddie’s mentor and
buddy, right? Paula’s a bit too thick to
figure it all out and she tries to steal Eddie away. It’s good to see Mary Astor (The Maltese
Falcon, 1941) again in another hard-bitten but charismatic role. Lancaster doesn’t have much to do but his
star was on the ascendant by this time. Corey will be familiar to fans of Rear
Window. All told, Desert Fury is a
fascinating curiosity on one level but not too exciting on most other levels.
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