DON"T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY.
The Seattle Public Library has a large, randomly rotating dvd collection, and the other day I ran across a dark brown, nondescript case with hard to read lettering, so I grabbed it up to my glasses for closer inspection. The back had chapter headings that made no sense to me...the front was partially obscured by a large SPL sticker and another tracking sticker. The title that I could read said "THE FUR***" and under that read "a film by Anthony (obscured)". Nothing was ringing a bell with me so I opened it up to try to find more info or actor names. Inside was a 36 page booklet! which clued me into the fact that this was a major reissue of some kind, and then on the dvd itself I saw "Criterion Collection" and the title The Furies. Most hardcore film fans know that anything from Criterion means a quality print, sound, restoration, and lots of usually good special features, so I was intrigued. I had to put down the dvd and open the booklet to find that Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Houston, Wendell Corey and Judith Anderson were the main stars, Hal Wallis (of many Western movies) was the producer and Anthony Mann (El Cid, Fall of the Roman Empire, and Man from Laramie et al) was the director. It was definitely time to TAKE A CHANCE ON THIS ONE.
The film turned out to be one of four psychologically tragic/dramatic/complex Westerns that Mann turned out in the early fifties, including Devil's Doorway and Winchester '73 and the afore mentioned Laramie and The Furies. Even thought I was familiar with some of Mann's films, I had not seen any of them. (!)
Walter Huston plays the dynamic, head-strong, aging King (Lear?) of the ranch, whose wife has died years earlier and now he must decide what to do with his empire. His mild mannered son is no good to him, but his strong-willed, smart, stubborn, loving daughter (played, naturally, by Stanwyck in her usual no-nonsense, mannish manner) is going to be the key to the future of his empire/ranch. Of course, she will have to marry the man of his approval. Unfortunately, her Mexican childhood sweetheart's family has been poaching (for a hundred years or more) on "his" property and cannot be run off easily, since Stanwyck won't have it. And just to spite Dad, she takes a fancy to a handsome speculator and gambler (Wendell Corey) whose father was shot by Dad. And if things weren't getting complicated enough, Dad has been paying off expenses and servants with illegal tender that he's printing!, and now intends to wed a lonesome rich widow (Judith Anderson) with an agenda of her own.
Thankfully this melodrama takes on tragic undertones thanks to the absorbingly subtle portrayals of the actors, especially the sly Anderson and the seething Stanwyck, which struck me as interesting since both actresses were outed in later years as lesbians and/or bisexuals. Their scenes together were the most intimate and intense, in spite of their distrust of each other's character. This makes a climactic maiming with "Mother's scissors" all the more effective....
The film includes themes of murder, patricide, interracial sex, revenge, and love--a good comparison to a Shakespearean tragedy. It kept Toni and I in rapt attention, and contains several very curious,surprising scenes. It's not a perfect film. Many scenes were (unnecessarily, in my opinion) set at night and the cinematographer uses the "night filter" which makes every thing look dark and murky but you can clearly see the shadows cast by the sun in all these scenes. Still, give me willful, complicated, overwrought characters any day compared to some of the drivel that passes for drama these days. I look forward to catching up to the next 3 complex psychological westerns that cemented Anthony Mann's reputation. And please Criterion--get some more effective packaging on your dvd's.