"Moonrise" has been reappraised and its stature as a better than average Borzage movie has improved considerably despite its poor earnings when it was released. Visually the movie was impressive, but it is difficult to categorize or describe the movie. Lila Leeds, who was busted by the police along with Mitchum at a marijuana use at a party, has a minor supporting role in "Moonrise." While Mitchum's film acting career recovered after his jail term, Leeds was not so fortunate. Subsequent to the arrest, her movie career was quickly finished and her own personal life spiraled out of control.
on 8/31/2023, 7:05 am
Yesterday, the audiences were treated to a Western directed by Robert Wise ("Blood on the Moon") and an old fashioned romantic melodrama directed by Frank Borzage ("Moonrise"). Both directors were two time winners of the Academy Award for Best Director.
"Blood on the Moon" was adapted from a Luke Short novel. It was another solid outing for actor Robert Mitchum who had already appeared in another terrific noir Western "Pursued" which was directed by Raoul Walsh. "Blood on the Moon" included sequences filmed on location in Sedona, Arizona where the changing weather proved to be tricky for the film makers. These scenes were impressive.
I had read about "Moonrise" often enough without ever having had the opportunity to see it. My familiarity with Frank Borzage was limited to "History is Made at Night" which was released in 1937. The director was noted for his melodramatic romances and "Moonrise" definitely fits that same description. The cinematography of John L. Russell even seems evocative of a silent movie or an early talkie made at least a decade earlier when Borzage's career was at its zenith.
The production history of "Moonrise" was somewhat rocky as the rights to the Theodore Strauss novel passed through the hands of multiple producers and the project bounced around from Paramount Studios to a pair of independent producers who wound up being sued by William Wellman, who had been hired to direct the movie, when the duo failed to secure a completion bond. Eventually, the film, which had been advertised and promoted as big budget production, finally wound up being made by Republic Pictures, a Poverty Row Studio noted for its inexpensive "oaters" and Saturday matinee action and adventure serials. Much of the resulting film appeared to have been shot on a studio sound stage and a back lot.
The lead role ended up being played by Dane Clark rather than Burt Lancaster, Alan Ladd, Jimmy Stewart or John Garfield. I usually associate Clark with his somewhat forgettable low budget film noirs made in Great Britain by Hammer Studios in cooperation with the American producer Robert L. Lippert. In "Moonrise" Clark tries his absolute best to overcome his own limitations as an actor and do justice to the lead role. The presence of the tragic Gail Russell, a beautiful and insecure actress who eventually succumbed to chronic alcoholism before the age of forty, as the love interest helps elevate the production as do some fine supporting players such as Ethel Barrymore and Rex Ingram.
As a Frank Borzage film, the picture concludes with the unlikely suggestion of a possible optimistic outcome inasmuch as the troubled protagonist may be capable of redemption. Once again, one is left with a nagging sense that the movie might have been much better if casting changes were made and a studio other than Republic Pictures had tackled the production. Imagine Ida Lupino in the Gail Russell role for example. A major studio with greater resources definitely would have helped the production as well. The absence of exterior scenes makes the film appear to be a somewhat unreal.
Not surprisingly, given its troubled production history, "Moonrise" bombed at the box office upon its initial theatrical release. Borzage's film making career went on a decade long hiatus. He had only three more film credits after "Moonrise" was completed. Two of these latter productions were made after his lengthy absence from the movie industry. Borzage fell ill on his last film and had to be replaced. The Italian made "Journey Beneath the Desert" wound up being completed by Edgar G. Ulmer in 1961.
Dan
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