Monday, 28 June 2010
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 48: The Other Fugitive
In previous posts I've talked about the 1930s studio system and how big stars were attached to them, during the decade Warner Bros' biggest stars was a name that isn't well recognised today - Paul Muni. Muni was one of the only actors at the studio who was allowed to pick his parts and was probably one of the first actors who the term character actor could be attributed to. I've previously watched his Oscar winning performance in The Story of Louis Pasteur and he also features in 1938 Oscar Winner The Life of Emile Zola but at the 1934 ceremony he was also nominated for Best Picture contender I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.
In
the film Muni's James Allen finds himself constantly trapped. To start
off with he is trapped in the army when he finally leaves he is taken
into a job at a constricting factory something he hates. He starts to
look for construction work outside but as he travels the country he
cannot find anything. While travelling he meets a man in a hostel and is
tricked into being an accomplice in a robbery and is sentenced to life
on a chain gang. He eventually escapes and gets away where he gets his
construction job and soon climbs up the ladder becoming a foreman and
coming up with ideas about building a bridge. However he becomes trapped
into a loveless marriage with his landlady after she finds out about
his past through a letter from his brother. After James finds love with
his secretary he asks for a divorce but his wife shops him in and he
agrees to go back to prison as a deal is made for him to be pardoned
after three months. However the pardon never comes and he is once again
on the chain gang. He again escapes by using dynamite to blow up one of
the bridges he helps to construct. The final scenes see him meet up with
Helen and when she asks him what he does for money he tells her - 'I
steal'.
This final scene is probably the
film's most famous as the screen goes dark before James delivers the
line. Apparently this was a mistake and the lights failed or were turned
off earlier than they should've been but the studio was so impressed
that it was kept in the film. Like many of these films Fugitive failed
to win any Oscars as well as actor and picture it got nominated for its
sound. But I have to say I very much enjoyed the picture with the
central theme of if a man has done so much good is he bad. In fact James
throughout the film really only wants to do good and it is the justice
system that at the end forces him into a life of stealing. I was very
much impressed with Muni's performance, more so than his Louis Pasteur,
but I'm guessing it just wasn't his year. Meanwhile I think that maybe
this was the biggest challenger to Cavalcade's winning status so far but
I still think I enjoyed that more.
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