moonspinner55 Review of Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men (1939)

"You sure feel free when you ain't got a job...if you ain't hungry."

[6/10 · 13 April 2009]

Two ranch-hand cousins--one small and brainy, the other a dim, childish giant with uncontrollable brawn--migrate from job to job, always leaving trouble in their wake. Satisfying treatment of John Steinbeck's novel, distilled first through the stage production by Sam H. Harris before Eugene Solow adapted that translation into a screenplay. This genesis of Steinbeck's classic tale might explain why each of these characters get their big moment in the spotlight to sound off or wax poetic, the monologues (in close-up) often resembling old screen tests. The stagy theatricality one gets probably wasn't inherent in Steinbeck's material, but it has been played up here for an uncomfortable effect, and the performances suffer as a result (the actors are too eager, too ready at the bit, to be completely convincing). Lon Chaney, Jr. has some marvelous moments in the showy part of Lennie, kicked in the head by a horse as a child, now a lover of tall tales and dreams about a house in the country; Burgess Meredith's tough, wiry George is equally good, though both roles have been conceived as show-stoppers, and one becomes too aware of the obvious need to make these guys into anti-heroes (even their bad deeds are coated with sentiment). Screenwriter Solow also puts a great deal of emphasis on the needling desire of the characters to manipulate and use one another for personal gain. This exploitation can be excruciatingly sad or tender (especially when dealing with one-handed dog-lover Roman Bohnen), yet much of it is painful to watch. Director Lewis Milestone begins the film with an unexplained chase that set a movie precedent for hypothetical action in the prologue; he also does a reverse tracking-shot inside of a barn which stuns with the vastness it encompasses. Although the picture is not as surprising--nor as eloquent or mysterious--as one might like, parts of it do pack a punch, and the finale is a guaranteed heart-breaker. **1/2 from ****