Flamingo Road

After three especially strong films to start her career with Warners (Mildred, Humoresque, and Possessed), Flamingo Road is a bit of a letdown. It's a well-paced, dramatically interesting film (her second and final film with her Mildred director Curtiz), but it's also more of a potboiler told in shorthand rather than an actually seriously good movie.

Joan plays "Lane Bellamy," an aging carney "girl" who stays behind crooning "If I could be with you..." alone in her tent after her carney is driven out of town because she's "tired of running." A weak-willed Deputy Sheriff (Zachary Scott as "Field Carlisle"), assigned to making sure the carney has cleared out, finds Lane there and immediately asks her to dinner (standing up his longtime "proper" girlfriend) and begins an affair with her (and gets her a cafe job), much to the chagrin of the town's political potentate (Sydney Greenstreet as "Titus Semple"), who is intent on making Field his candidate first for State Senate and then for Governor---but only if Field marries appropriately AND proves appropriately amenable to Titus's control.

There are plenty of subsequent plot machinations to make for an interesting film: Lane, as she states, is tired of running---once Titus stymies her relations with Field and has her fired from her cafe job and then arrested for prostitution, she finds solace not only in her own anger but in Lute Mae---the owner of Lute Mae's roadhouse where all the local politicos, including Titus, hang out. Lute Mae (Gladys George) is a tough old gal, who's not afraid of Titus or anyone because she's aware of all of their peccadillos. It's through this establishment that Lane meets "Dan Reynolds" (David Brian)---a political powerhouse to counter Titus.

There are two strains running through this film: "Good Government vs. Bad Government" (though Dan Reynolds is as power-hungry as Titus, he nonetheless proclaims a mild interest in non-corruption; the town's paper editor shows up sporadically to back him up, in accordance with the day's liberal principles); and then "Lane vs. Titus," which is, of course, the more interesting----we viewers want to see the Lane/Titus confrontations!

Joan is good here. A little too old to be a "carney girl," and a little too genteel in her speech for a carney girl. But she's also warm in her relations with both Field and Dan, and honest in her relations with both. Her short time at the "Women's Prison Farm" also generates a good line from her fellow prisoner: "My boyfriend cut himself on a knife I was holdin'." And, of course, we like seeing her triumphant in fur in the nightclub, when Dan and Field and Titus all run into each other.

Zachary Scott is appropriately weak-willed as "Field." And David Brian, as "Dan" in his first credited screen role (he'd later go on to co-star with Joan in The Damned Don't Cry and This Woman Is Dangerous), is a down-to-earth good-egg tough guy, grateful to Lane for fixing him a whiskey sour and making him breakfast the morning after a bender, then for buying him a soda (no one had ever given him anything since he was a kid).

The star of the show, though, is Sydney Greenstreet's "Titus Semple"--- "We had better-looking people than that in our side shows" says Lane upon first viewing him. Other highlights of his appearances are his bizarre tale of plugging up the holes in a warehouse to keep the rats from gnawing on his toes (which earns a double-slap from Lane, since she's figured out that she is one of the "rats" that he's referring to), and, of course, the final confrontation when Titus and Lane are both wrestling for the gun. Why is everyone so mad? According to Titus himself, he's "just an easy-going, friendly fat old man"! Greenstreet's seemingly benign malevolence is tremendously entertaining and truly the highlight of the film in every scene he appears in. Joan and Brian and Scott are perfectly competent, but this is actually a Sydney Greenstreet film.

Flamingo Road (1949) tells the story of Lane Bellamy, circus dancer, played by Joan Crawford. Lane is left high and dry in the town of Boldon and runs afoul of Sheriff Titus Semple (Sydney Greenstreet). Along the way, La Crawford romances deputy sheriff and political aspirant Field Carlisle (Zachary Scott) and Semple's political rival (David Brian).

I watched this right after Harriet Craig and enjoyed Flamingo Road much more, though a little less than The Damned Don't Cry, among the few but growing post-MGM Joan movies that I've seen. Lane Bellamy is the type of Joan character I like. She's from the wrong side of the tracks, but by guile, hard work, and sexiness is going to make it to Flamingo Road, the ritziest address in town! In the process, her fling with Brian turns from convenience to one of love. Field, knowing that he missed his chance with Joan, is driven to despair. That's Our Joan---driving men crazy, breaking hearts, and looking like a million bucks while doing so.

I give this film 4.5 stars. The story is a good one. At 90-or-so minutes, it's terse and moves along. The supporting cast is very, very good. About the only one I didn't like was Annabelle (Virginia Huston), the spoiled rich girl whom Field marries to advance his career. Greenstreet is his typical excellent self, a seeming teddy bear of a man who exudes evil without histrionics. I don't know whether to pinch his cheeks or slap him. (Joan chooses the latter!) Scott and Brian do a good job as their characters regress and progress as they fall out of and in love with Lane, respectively. I very much enjoyed Gladys George as Lute-Mae, the spunky owner of the roadhouse who takes a shine to Lane. If you look closely, you can see pre-Code hottie Alice White in her final film role as Gracie. The movie is directed and scored by greats, Michael Curtiz and Max Steinberg, respectively.

In what implied expiration point at Warners, the somewhat scatological Flamingo Road is among the weakest of Joan Crawford pictures post-Mildred Pierce. The moment our heroine, Lane Bellamy, is introduced to us onscreen while writhing in her gypsy garb, the reality that Joan Crawford is at the wrong end of her forties playing a carnival girl becomes an unshakeable distraction throughout the rest of the running time.

The plot is bedecked with the machinations of the standard Crawford role: Lane, a girl on the wrong side of the tracks, gets herself a job as a waitress and falls in love with a more affluent other half -- in this case, Zachary Scott's wilting political player Fielding Carlisle. Unfortunately, her mere presence draws the ire of Titus Semple, a corrupt town sheriff (a magnetic Sydney Greenstreet) who not only sabotages her relationship with his protege but also tries to run her out of town completely. Crawford wrangles her fortunes upward, snagging a wealthier man in David Brian's Dan Reynolds (who provides the waving-of-the-wand duties by transforming Crawford from common frump to glamorous candour) and locking in a deathly feud with Semple.

It's difficult to knock one of life's true tryers, and Crawford sure as hell gives the ruddy script all she's got, but with all its dull twists and daft narrative, Flamingo Road leaves an embarrassing impression: a 45-year-old woman clinging to a long- vapoured girlish earnestness. Sydney Greenstreet steals the show as the mean-spirited political hack, and many of his scenes with Crawford bristle with uneasy tension. Zachary Scott and David Brian, as lovely as their screen personalities are, reap up too much script time for such little character work, and the opportunity to explore Semple's corruption and particular antagonism of Crawford feels wasted.

Flamingo Road is the type of vehicle that most likely would have provided an upcoming ingenue her first Oscar nomination. For Crawford, however, it seemed to mark the beginning of many roles that required delusion of youth to play with a straight face. Save for the odd quip sold with razor-sharp timing, avoid this turkey at all costs.

“I’m not a carnival girl anymore!” Miss Crawford shouts to fat, mean Sydney Greenstreet, then slaps him hard twice in the face. “I know,” I say to myself. "You are 45 years old and the script was for a Lizbeth Scott, Virginia Mayo, or Gloria Grahame or Ida Lupino." I’ll be damned if she pulls it off, and she gets to take a few people down!

Love is the theme here; it is used in every angle of the script: falling in love, using love, jealous of love, thinking you're in love, wanting to be loved, and looking for love... all of which unleashes a tremendous amount of hate and hurt and murder and suicide!! And that’s not all!! The characters are motivated by success and money. Love works its way into politics and all sorts of maneuverings, just like life really is. I guess it makes for wonderful trash. This movie is fantastic in the correct meaning of the word. That is why it is intriguing. It even has its own theme song that plays throughout the nefarious “goings on." Just like a true love story! (Miss Crawford gets a chance at torching it up in a few scenes when Max is taking a break...la la la!)

This film is about acceptance. Just like when you get lost on the road and lose your way, you are going to lose some time, but what you come across may be worth it despite how frustrating the experience becomes. Remember all things have an ending. Feelings and relationships are no different.

Number One reason this is a must-see film is Sydney Greenstreet!! Call him a sleaze, a monster, a fathead, a meanie, a gloating bloating bossy pig. He is a great actor to match Miss Crawford, and she is fortunate to have appeared with him. He is a complete professional and made Warner Brothers and film noir carry on! He takes over the movie, but I don’t mind. The confrontation scene with Miss Crawford is what films are about. It is a great climactic scene. I won’t quote the lines people say to his character. When you hear them for the first time, they are bitingly hilarious.

Rumor has it bad editing (Folmar Blangsted) lost the original flair of the intended shooting script. I can see that to a point, but what is left is comforting for my Friday-night thrills; it matches with Bette Davis in a few of her movies. You just have to watch them.

Number Two reason for seeing this film is the wonderful glimpses of Gladys George. Her scenes are done so well, you want more of her. She is a hell of an actress. Another victim of not getting enough chances to prove herself, but when she does get a role it is always worth your viewing time. (Sadly, she died a few years after this film, and the cinema lost a great lady. I often wonder what roles and what movies she would have been in if she had lived longer. I hate being cheated.)

Miss Crawford matches well with everyone. I like David Brian; he plays a semi-villain, but he’s the kind of guy women fall for, and underneath his shady business and gruff manner, he is a sentimental man and, yep, just wants to be loved. Zachary Scott is paired again with “Mildred,” and director Curtiz works with Scott's craft and gets a strong portrayal out of him. Even if you think Scott is a weak wimp, his acting is in high order. A sweet little thing, Virginia Huston ("Sudden Fear"), definitely got chopped out of a few scenes but does get to give a bit of credit to her “senator’s daughter,” in love with a rake and an alcoholic. (Gosh this is like real life.)

Miss Crawford is given class-A treatment by Mr. Warner as long as her gams are holding out. The technical crews are some of the most experienced artists of the time. Designer Sheila O’Brien (Oscar-nominated for "Sudden Fear"), making her Crawford film debut, gave the star a new look that also fit with the script.

When you want to get out of the dirt and grime of the city and relax in a small town, check out Boldon and Miss Crawford’s constant struggle for love.