The dead lives

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Movie
German title The dead lives
Original title Johnny Eager
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 106-107 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Mervyn LeRoy
script John Lee Mahin
James Edward Grant
(based on Grant's original story)
production John W. Considine Jr. for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Bronislau caper
camera Harold Rosson
cut Albert Akst
occupation

The Dead Lives (Original Title: Johnny Eager ) is an American gangster melodrama from 1941 directed by Mervyn LeRoy . Robert Taylor can be seen as Johnny Eager, head of a gangster gang, who takes advantage of the infatuation of the prosecutor's stepdaughter, played by Lana Turner , in order to go about his dark business undisturbed. Other leading roles include Edward Arnold and Van Heflin , who was awarded an Oscar for his role .

action

It's almost impossible to want to see through Johnny Eager. After he has served his prison sentence, he acts outwardly as a reputable taxi driver, but secretly acts as the head of a gang of gangsters that is just as involved in the unclean business of a powerful gambling syndicate as it is their latest business idea, founding a dog Race track company. After Johnny leaves the office of his probation officer AJ Verne, he runs into sociology student Lisbeth Bard, a beautiful young woman. Both are attracted to each other. She seems to be the exact opposite of Johnny's current girlfriend, Garnet. It turns out Lisbeth is the stepdaughter of District Attorney John Farrell, the man who once got Johnny behind prison walls. However, he doesn't even think about explaining to Lisbeth completely about his past, but especially about what he's doing now. Liz, as he calls her, is so intrigued by Johnny that she breaks her connection with the aristocrat Jimmy Courtney.

It doesn't take long for Farrell to get in touch with Johnny and give him no-nonsense instructions to stay away from Lisbeth. Johnny has now been warned, but does not even think to obey Farrell's orders. On the contrary, he devises a plan that involves tying Lisbeth's hands even closer to himself and her stepfather at the same time. With Julio, a member of his gang, he stages a life-and-death fight before Lisbeth's eyes. The young woman believes the man she loves is in mortal danger and reaches for the gun that happens to be in front of her and shoots Julio. That's exactly how Johnny planned it. Lisbeth, however, is horrified when she has to believe that she has become a murderer. Johnny has achieved his goal, prosecutor Farrell can do nothing more against him, because it appears to him as if his stepdaughter has committed a murder, which Johnny is now covering.

Within his gang, however, Johnny has not been the undisputed boss for a long time, several gang members are shaking his position. Jeff Rankin, one of them, even tries to kill Johnny. With the help of his only real friend, Jeff Hartnett, an alcoholic, brilliant and cynical at the same time, Johnny turns the tables and kills Jeff. An adversary who could have been dangerous to him, less. Within the gang, however, more and more resentment paves the way for the ruthless leadership of Johnny Eager.

Lisbeth, however, is only a shadow of herself. Johnny no longer cares about her and her feelings of guilt eat her up. Her family's attempts to help her also bounce off the young woman. It is Jeff Hartnett who intervenes and brings Johnny to visit Lisbeth after a difficult fight that has put the men's friendship to the test. This visit is not without consequence, because Johnny suddenly realizes what is important in life and he can no longer deny that he loves Lisbeth. He tells her about the fictitious murder and that his accomplice Julio is not dead at all. Lisbeth would like to, but cannot believe him. She says he just wants to take away her guilt and help her. Johnny assures her that he will arrange a confrontation with Julio so that she can see with her own eyes that she has not murdered anyone.

Together with Jimmy Courtney, Lisbeth goes to the meeting point agreed with Johnny that evening. The moment Lisbeth sees Julio and is released from her guilt, an inferno breaks out on the street. Although Johnny was able to get Julio to appear at the specified location, he does not know that the latter has now sided with the renegades with whom he is now fighting against Johnny. Johnny manages to shoot Julio and two other opponents before he himself is fatally hit by a bullet from a police patrol that has since arrived. He dies in the arms of his friend Jeff.

Production, background, soundtrack

The film recordings were made between September 2 and October 28, 1941 at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City , California .

According to The Hollywood Reporter , director Mervyn LeRoy created the film's "T'nT" slogan - "Together'nTerrific" for the pairing of MGM stars Taylor and Turner, for whom it was the only film together. During the shooting, both are said to have had an affair. However, Turner only spoke of a romance in her autobiography, as she did not want to jeopardize Taylor's marriage to Barbara Standwyck, while Taylor is said to have even asked his wife for a divorce. Lana Turner's performance in this film benefited from her full trust in Mervyn LeRoy, having promoted her early in their careers when they were both under contract with Warner Bros.

According to MGM records, the film only cost $ 651,000 to make. In the end, The Dead Lives in the United States and Canada realized $ 1,596,000 in revenue, with an additional $ 990,000 from other markets. With a cumulative total box office income of $ 2,568,000, the studio was able to realize a profit of $ 1,110,000 in the end.

For a Lux Radio Theater broadcast on January 21, 1946, Robert Taylor and Van Heflin took over their roles from the film again, Susan Peters took over the role of Lisbeth and Cy Kendall, who had played Bill Halligan in the film, acted as Marco. In an article in the Saturday Evening Post under the heading, "Which role you played in the film did you like the most?" Heflin was quoted as saying that his role in Johnny Eager was his favorite.

Soundtrack
  • Melancholy (1912), also known as Melancholy Baby and My Melancholy Baby , music: Ernie Burnett
    • played during the opening and closing credits, by the band as dance music and very often as background music

Theatrical release

  • USA: December 9, 1941 Premiere in Los Angeles, California
  • USA: January 17, 1942 in theaters generally
  • Mexico: September 24, 1942 under the title La senda prohibida
  • Portugal: December 16, 1942 under the title Vidas Queimadas
  • Sweden: July 23, 1945 under the title Johnny Eager , alternatively Johnny Eager - Utpressning
  • Italy: December 21, 1946 under the title Sorvegliato speciale
  • Hong Kong: September 4, 1947 under the original English title
  • France: June 30, 1948 under the title Johnny roi des gangsters
  • Spain (Madrid): March 14, 1949 under the title Senda prohibida
  • USA: March 15, 1950 (re-release)
  • Finland: March 31, 1950 under the title Väärin eletty vapaus
  • Federal Republic of Germany: April 5, 1957 under the title The Dead Lives
  • Australia: May 10, 1957 under the original English title
  • Denmark: September 11, 1970 under the title Gangsterens sidste offer
  • Argentina under the title La senda prohibida
  • Austria under the title The Dead Lives
  • Brazil under the title Estrada Proibida
  • Greece under the title Aihmalotoi tou pathous

criticism

At the start of the film, the New York Times said that gangster melodramas were not in great demand at the moment, but MGM had found a perfectly fitting setting for Robert Taylor and Lana Turner in the film Johnny Eager . Under Mervyn LeRoy's strong direction, Taylor acts in cold blood and sounds like it, and Miss Turner tailors her performance to him and is good at her portrayal of an unhappy woman whose love for an outlawed man is her undoing. Lucrative for the box office result of a film is simple and poignant and a kind of unwritten tradition, if in the story it can be concluded that the hero (in this case Johnny) is a misguided genius and would have developed very differently in a safe childhood. It also said that Taylor and Turner would spark their desperate love. Van Heflin delivers a malicious portrait of Johnnys Boswell, full of long words and fancy quotes. The performance of Edward Arnold, Robert Sterling and Lou Lubin was also praised, who are excellent in their smaller roles.

Variety found that while there were a few twists and turns in the story, it was, by and large, the familiar story of a slippery gangster faced by an innocent rich girl. Van Heflin's performance as Taylor's almost only drunk companion was "excellent".

Dennis Schwartz was of the opinion that the film was structured in the style of a film noir, but could not consistently maintain this claim and ultimately failed. LeRoy is not to blame for the self-inflicted turnaround, as he still gets the best out of the bad script.

The Forum Cinema Noir was of a completely different opinion , which found that the film was "one of the great moments of early film noir in the USA", since here the separation between good and bad is no longer strictly enforced and also no longer the measure of all things be. It was also said that The Dead Lives is one of the films that were once far ahead of their time. From today's perspective, it is easy to see to what extent fundamental achievements “of film noir were already inherent in them”.

In the film magazine Cinema it was said: "A little bit limestone, but played engagingly."

Frank Ehrlacher from the Film-Lexikon said: “Although Robert Taylor is definitely convincing in the main role, long stretches of the film are lengthy. There was still an 'Oscar' for Van Heflin as Johnny Eager's 'alcoholic conscience'. Lana Turner - at that time a kind of dream couple with Robert Taylor - almost degenerates into a staffage ... "

The lexicon of the international film read: “A chamber play-like, effectively staged gangster melodrama with a sure sense of tension. Unmotivated the attached end with a far-fetched compensatory justice. "

Award

Van Heflin was awarded an Oscar in 1943 for his role in the film in the category "Best Supporting Actor" .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Johnny Eager hints at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ Johnny Eager Articles at TCM (English)
  3. ^ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library Center for Motion Picture Study (English).
  4. ↑ TS: Johnny Eager (1941) In: The New York Times . February 20, 1942. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  5. ↑ Review: 'Johnny Eager' In: Variety . 1940/1941 (English). Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  6. ↑ Dennis Schwartz: Johnny Eager - Nothing can save this syrupy crime melodrama from its eagerness to please as a romantic sudser in Dennis Schwartz: Ozus World Movie Reviews , December 25, 2004 (English). Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  7. ↑ The dead man lives at film-noir.de (including film posters, film stage), accessed on January 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ The Dead Lives at cinema.de (with 14 pictures), accessed on January 19, 2016.
  9. ↑ The Dead Lives In: film-lexikon.com, accessed on January 19, 2016.
  10. ↑ The dead lives. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 31, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used