Film Review
Frank Sinatra never forgave Marlon Brando for snatching the lead part
in Elia Kazan's
On the Waterfront (1954) away
from him after he had accepted the role. He exacted a revenge of
sorts when he learned that Otto Preminger was considering Sinatra and
Brando for the lead in his next film,
The
Man with the Golden Arm. The script was nowhere near
completed but Sinatra was so enthusiastic about the project that within
24 hours of reading the first fifty pages he persuaded Preminger to
give him the part. Not only did Sinatra win a golden opportunity
to prove himself as an actor in his most challenging role to date, but
he was also able to lend his support to an issue that was close to his
heart, to warn the public, especially youngsters, of the dangers of
drug abuse.
The Man with the Golden Arm
was always going to be a controversial film. The Hollywood
Production code tacitly prohibited any reference to drug addiction and
so far no mainstream American film had broken this taboo. By the
mid-1950s narcotics abuse had become a serious social malaise and
director Otto Preminger was certainly justified in defying the
censors. By this time, the Production Code, conceived in
the early 1930s, was looking increasingly dated and its authority was
being challenged in various quarters. Preminger's film would be
one more nail in the coffin.
Although the film proved to be highly profitable, taking over four
million dollars at the American box office, it was a daring piece of
cinema that broke new ground, both in its style and subject
matter. It provoked the critics and shocked audiences with its
harrowingly authentic depictions of drug addiction and
withdrawal. Two sequences stand out as being particularly
courageous - one where the lead character Frankie (Sinatra) receives
his fix at the hands of a ruthless dealer; another where the same
character subjects himself to the ordeal of cold turkey in attempt to
cure himself of his addiction. In both of these sequences,
Sinatra gives an extraordinarily convincing performance, of the kind
you would only expect to find in the grittiest of social realist
dramas. The actor was nominated for an Oscar for his work on this
film but on the strength of these two scenes alone he clearly deserved
to win the award (instead he lost out to Ernest Borgnine for
Marty).
The Man with the Golden Arm
was a long-overdue reminder of the dangers of drug abuse and motivated
many other filmmakers to tackle the same subject, often with far
greater realism. The central flaw with Preminger's film is
that it often feels too cautious about causing offence. It lacks
the abject bleakness of Nelson Algren's novel on which it is
based. Algren was originally hired to write the screenplay for
the film, but was dismissed by the director after just three
days. The author was appalled by resulting film and was incensed
with the tagged on happy ending which he felt destroyed the central
message of his story, that drugs destroy lives. In Algren's
novel, the central character fails to overcome his addiction and
ultimately kills himself. Preminger presumably felt that such a
grim ending would be too hard for an American film audience and so
opted for the more palatable Disney-style denouement in which everyone
lives happily ever after (apart from the villains, who deserve all they
get).
Had it not been for the Production Code and the fact that he knew he
was treading uncharted territory, Preminger
may have been more inclined to
make a much darker film. At times,
The Man with the Golden Arm feels
like a film noir melodrama (of the kind that the director had
previously excelled in) struggling hard to embrace the tenets of social
realism but not quite making it. Some of the performances
(notably the two female leads) are as wooden and unconvincing as the
stage exteriors and the ending is so painfully contrived that it almost
appears to have been swiped from another film. Yet it is the
film's stronger points that win through in the end. Solid performances from
Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin complement Sinatra's own remarkable
tour de force turn; Sam Leavitt's stylish noir-like cinematography
subtly emphasises the sheer unremitting bleakness of the oppressive world
in which the hero Frankie exists; and Elmer Bernstein's unforgettable jazz score is the perfect
accompaniment to the film's darkest moments. Not quite a
masterpiece but a memorable and hugely significant film in the history
of American cinema, and arguably Frank Sinatra's finest hour in front
of a film camera.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Otto Preminger film:
Saint Joan (1957)
Film Synopsis
Frankie Machine returns to his home town after a spell in prison where
he was cured of his heroine addiction. He soon runs into
his old friend Sparrow, who earns a crust by selling stray dogs, and
Schwiefka, who used to employ him as a dealer in illegal poker
games. Frankie rejects Schwiefka's offer of more work of the kind
that landed him in jail. He is determined to start a new life and
make an honest living as a jazz drummer. However, his
wheelchair-bound wife Zosh doubts whether he has the ability to become
a professional musician and, in urgent need of cash to pay for medical
attention, she pleads with him to make use of his real talent, as a
card dealer. Frankie's ex-girlfriend Molly is more supportive and
allows him to practice his drum-playing in her lodgings, at the risk of
upsetting her jealous boyfriend. When he meets his former drugs
dealer Louis, Frankie once more succumbs to the craving he thought he
had kicked but swears this will be his last fix. On the day
before he is due to attend an audition with a jazz band that could seal
his future, Frankie is persuaded by Schwiefka to deal in one more poker
game. The game runs for far longer than Frankie had anticipated
and, at the end of it, he is exhausted and in desperate need of another
heroine fix. When Louis refuses to give him the drug, Frankie
attacks him and hurries away to attend his audition, which proves to be
a disaster. Now frantic to obtain money to pay for his next
shot of heroine, Frankie returns to Molly. They learn that Louis
has fallen to his death at Frankie's boarding house and that the police
suspect Frankie of his murder. Molly convinces Frankie that his
only hope of convincing the police of his innocence is if he is cured
of his drug addiction. Frankie has no option but to go cold
turkey. But is he strong enough to survive this ordeal...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.