I had never seen this film until a couple of days ago and it was an interesting experience. I enjoyed John Steinbeck's narration of the five O'Henry stories. It was obvious he greatly respected William Sidney Porter as writer and as human being.
The segments are nicely done. Charles Laughton has a fabulous turn as a gentlemen tramp who's just simply looking for his room and board for the winter by trying to commit a minor infraction that will give him jail time during what looks like a rough winter coming. Anne Baxter and Jean Peters are also good as a pair of sisters one of whom has convinced herself she'll die if the last leaf falls off of a bush. Fred Allen and Oscar Levant do nicely as a pair of confidence men turned kidnappers who have the tables turned on them by their victim. You have to have confidence to be a confidence man is Allen's advice to Levant. Nice to see that legendary radio comedian on the big screen. And Farley Granger and Jeanne Crain are touching in the classic Christmas story
The Gift of the Magi.
The only jarring note comes from one of my favorite actors, Richard Widmark. He and Dale Robertson do a turn as a bad guy and cop
respectively in a short story called The Clarion Call. Widmark has committed a murder and Robertson knows it, but can't bring himself to arrest him because of a monetary debt from years past.
The O'Henry stories are set in the gaslight era of New York. Widmark does not do anything original but just repeats his Tommy Udo character from Kiss of Death. He even dresses like him, the standard black dress shirt and white tie are jarringly out of place here. The director of this segment was Henry Hathaway who did do Kiss of Death as well so
that might offer an explanation. But it just looks ludicrous.
Other than this segment the film is fine. 7 out of 10.
The segments are nicely done. Charles Laughton has a fabulous turn as a gentlemen tramp who's just simply looking for his room and board for the winter by trying to commit a minor infraction that will give him jail time during what looks like a rough winter coming. Anne Baxter and Jean Peters are also good as a pair of sisters one of whom has convinced herself she'll die if the last leaf falls off of a bush. Fred Allen and Oscar Levant do nicely as a pair of confidence men turned kidnappers who have the tables turned on them by their victim. You have to have confidence to be a confidence man is Allen's advice to Levant. Nice to see that legendary radio comedian on the big screen. And Farley Granger and Jeanne Crain are touching in the classic Christmas story
The Gift of the Magi.
The only jarring note comes from one of my favorite actors, Richard Widmark. He and Dale Robertson do a turn as a bad guy and cop
respectively in a short story called The Clarion Call. Widmark has committed a murder and Robertson knows it, but can't bring himself to arrest him because of a monetary debt from years past.
The O'Henry stories are set in the gaslight era of New York. Widmark does not do anything original but just repeats his Tommy Udo character from Kiss of Death. He even dresses like him, the standard black dress shirt and white tie are jarringly out of place here. The director of this segment was Henry Hathaway who did do Kiss of Death as well so
that might offer an explanation. But it just looks ludicrous.
Other than this segment the film is fine. 7 out of 10.