Whistle Stop (1946 film): Difference between revisions

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==Production==
==Production==
The film was based on the debut novel by 23 year old Maritta Wolff who wrote it in her senior year at the University of Michigan. In 1940 this novel won a $1,000 Hopwood Prize at the University of Michigan.<ref>HOPWOOD PRIZES GO TO 18 AT MICHIGAN New York Times 1 June 1940: 21. <ref> In was published in May 1941 with [[Sinclair Lewis]] calling it "the most important first novel of the year".<ref>Books -- Authors
⚫
Philip Yordan bought the film rights to the controversial 1940 novel and wrote a screenplay. He got Seymour Nebenzal to produce and remained associate producer in exchange for 50% of the profits.<ref>HOLLYWOOD WEIGHS ITS RESERVES: Gangsters Again THE HOLLYWOOD WIRE Fixing the "Whistle" Nice Place Albion in Films
New York Times ]24 Apr 1941: 19. </ref> The ''New York Times'' praised its "rich, raw vitality".<ref>A First Novel of Distinction: Maritta Wolff's "Whistle Stop" Is an Individual and Arresting Piece Of Work WHISTLE STOP. By Maritta M. Wolff. 449 pp. New York: Random House. $2.50.
⚫
By FRED STANLEY. New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 08 July 1945: 15.</ref>
By EDITH H. WALTON. New York Times 18 May 1941: BR6. </ref> The ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' called it "a remarkable novel."<ref>BOOKS: Thomas Mann Art Wasted on Farcical Story
Butcher, Fanny. Chicago Daily Tribune 11 June 1941: 24. </ref> The book became a best seller.<ref>Best Sellers of the Week
New York Times 23 June 1941: 15. </ref>

The novel's publishers, Random House, got Owen Davis to turn it into a play.<ref>Owen Davis Dramatizes Novel, "Whistle Stop"
Chicago Daily Tribune 21 Sep 1941: f3. </ref>

Philip Yordan bought the film rights in November 1944<ref>OFF THE HOLLYWOOD WIRE: MORE ABOUT HOLLYWOOD
By FRED STANLEY New York Times 5 Nov 1944: X1</ref> and wrote a screenplay. In February 1945 he told the project to producer Seymour Nebenza.<ref>Selznick, Vivien Leigh Battle Will Continue
⚫
Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 28 Feb 1945: A7</ref> Yordan remained associate producer in exchange for 50% of the profits.<ref>HOLLYWOOD WEIGHS ITS RESERVES: Gangsters Again THE HOLLYWOOD WIRE Fixing the "Whistle" Nice Place Albion in Films
⚫
By FRED STANLEY. New York Times 8 July 1945: 15.</ref>


The film was financed by a bank in Palm Springs.<ref name="raft">Everett Aaker, ''The Films of George Raft'', McFarland & Company, 2013 p 118</ref>
The film was financed by a bank in Palm Springs.<ref name="raft">Everett Aaker, ''The Films of George Raft'', McFarland & Company, 2013 p 118</ref>


Filming started June 129, 1945. Ava Garner was borrowed from MGM and Tim Conway from RKO.<ref>SCREEN NEWS: Victor McLaglen Named to 'Whistle Stop' Part Of Local Origin
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. 13 June 1945: 27. </ref>
==Reception==
==Reception==
===Box office===
===Box office===

Revision as of 00:47, 8 February 2020

Whistle Stop
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLéonide Moguy
Screenplay byPhilip Yordan
Produced bySeymour Nebenzal
StarringGeorge Raft
Ava Gardner
Victor McLaglen
Tom Conway
CinematographyRussell Metty
Edited byGregg C. Tallas
Music byDimitri Tiomkin
Production
company
Nero Films
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • January 25, 1946 (1946-01-25) (United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Whistle Stop is a 1946 crime film noir directed by Léonide Moguy and starring George Raft, Ava Gardner, Victor McLaglen, and Tom Conway. The screenplay was written by Philip Yordan, based on a novel by Maritta M. Wolff.[1]

Plot

Away for two years, a woman named Mary (Ava Gardner) returns to her home in a small town (a 'whistle stop'). She attempts to reconcile with Kenny Veech (George Raft), her former romantic interest, but he is jealous and bitter, particularly after she takes up with Veech's mortal enemy, nightclub owner Lew Lentz (Tom Conway).

Gitlo (Victor McLaglen), a friend of Kenny's who works for Lentz, talks him into a scheme to rob and kill Lentz at a train station as he leaves for Detroit, then hide his corpse to make Mary believe he chose not to return. Mary manages to foil Veech's plans, but she remains torn between the two men.

Seeking vengeance, Lentz tries to pin a murder on Veech and Gitlo, who barely make a getaway. Gitlo and Lentz end up killing one another, and Mary finds Veech recovering from a gunshot wound to the arm he had suffered while making his and Gitlo's escape. The movie ends with them arm-in-arm, walking away to live happily ever after.

Cast

Production

The film was based on the debut novel by 23 year old Maritta Wolff who wrote it in her senior year at the University of Michigan. In 1940 this novel won a $1,000 Hopwood Prize at the University of Michigan.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The New York Times praised its "rich, raw vitality".[2] The Chicago Daily Tribune called it "a remarkable novel."[3] The book became a best seller.[4]

The novel's publishers, Random House, got Owen Davis to turn it into a play.[5]

Philip Yordan bought the film rights in November 1944[6] and wrote a screenplay. In February 1945 he told the project to producer Seymour Nebenza.[7] Yordan remained associate producer in exchange for 50% of the profits.[8]

The film was financed by a bank in Palm Springs.[9]

Filming started June 129, 1945. Ava Garner was borrowed from MGM and Tim Conway from RKO.[10]

Reception

Box office

The film was a box office hit.[9]

Critical response

When the film was released, film critic Bosley Crowther, dismissed the film, writing, "A slice of sordid life in a small mid-Western town was somewhat faithfully reflected in Maritta Wolff's novel, Whistle Stop, but the same can't be said for the picture, based upon it, which came to the Globe on Saturday. This plainly remote and artificial concoction lacks flavor, consistency, reason and even dramatic suspense. And it is also abominably acted—which covers about everything ... The film was directed by Leonide Moguy, late of France. Don't ask us why."[11]

Variety, however, was more positive in their review. The staff wrote, "Heavy melodrama, adapted from the Maritta M. Wolff novel of same title, is somber melodrama, vignetting a seamy side of life in a small town. Production and playing are excellent and the direction strong, although latter is given to occasional arty tone ... Gardner displays her best work to date as the girl who must have her man. McLaglen hits top form as the not too bright bartender, and Conway is smooth as the heavy. Score is an aid in projecting the somber mood."[12]

Recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz was harsh in his review, writing, "A low-level B film on the seamy side-of-life, that revolves around a bitter love triangle. It's directed without too much skill by Leonide Moguy (Paris After Dark/Two Women/Diary of a Bad Girl) ... The wannabe film noir is dumber than dumb. The convoluted storyline has about as much going for it as the risible loser performance does by a miscast George Raft, who never looked quite as stiff as he does in this stinker. All the main characters are unsympathetic, and the plot is brainless. It's one of those somber films about the human condition that has nothing important to say about the human condition, but is unintentionally funny when it tries to be the most serious."[13]

In popular culture

In 2000, Bay-Tek Incorporated released an arcade skill-game under the name "Whistle Stop".[14] In a 2015 interview with Noah Simmons, the artist who worked on the designs for the game, it was revealed that a main inspiration for the theme of the game was the "...elements of noir genre found in the 1946 film 'Whistle Stop' ... but most influential to the development was the train-station scene." The game borrows multiple sound effects from the film.[15]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Whistle Stop at the TCM Movie Database.
  2. ^ A First Novel of Distinction: Maritta Wolff's "Whistle Stop" Is an Individual and Arresting Piece Of Work WHISTLE STOP. By Maritta M. Wolff. 449 pp. New York: Random House. $2.50. By EDITH H. WALTON. New York Times 18 May 1941: BR6.
  3. ^ BOOKS: Thomas Mann Art Wasted on Farcical Story Butcher, Fanny. Chicago Daily Tribune 11 June 1941: 24.
  4. ^ Best Sellers of the Week New York Times 23 June 1941: 15.
  5. ^ Owen Davis Dramatizes Novel, "Whistle Stop" Chicago Daily Tribune 21 Sep 1941: f3.
  6. ^ OFF THE HOLLYWOOD WIRE: MORE ABOUT HOLLYWOOD By FRED STANLEY New York Times 5 Nov 1944: X1
  7. ^ Selznick, Vivien Leigh Battle Will Continue Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 28 Feb 1945: A7
  8. ^ HOLLYWOOD WEIGHS ITS RESERVES: Gangsters Again THE HOLLYWOOD WIRE Fixing the "Whistle" Nice Place Albion in Films By FRED STANLEY. New York Times 8 July 1945: 15.
  9. ^ a b Everett Aaker, The Films of George Raft, McFarland & Company, 2013 p 118
  10. ^ SCREEN NEWS: Victor McLaglen Named to 'Whistle Stop' Part Of Local Origin Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. 13 June 1945: 27.
  11. ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, March 18, 1946. Accessed: July 19, 2013.
  12. ^ Variety. Staff film review, 1946. Accessed: July 19, 2013.
  13. ^ Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, July 21, 2010. Accessed: July 19, 2013.
  14. ^ [1]. 'Whistle Stop - Arcade by Bay-Tek Incorporated', web, September 3, 2000. Accessed: December 15, 2015
  15. ^ Elements of 1940's Noir in Popular Culture', documentary, March 13, 2015. Accessed: December 15, 2015.

Bibliography

  1. Franz Marksteiner: You Don't Know Mary. Whistle Stop, von Leonide Moguy (1946). In: Christian Cargnelli, Michael Omasta (eds.): Schatten. Exil. Europäische Emigranten im Film noir. PVS, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-901196-26-9.

External links

Streaming audio

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