The Power and the Glory

A precursor to "Citizen Kane" in its analysis of the life of a just deceased tycoon, here reviewed by his faithful secretary in a series of interlocking flashbacks. In Spencer Tracy's 15th film he already looks middle-aged even in the scenes where he is meant to be young!

A little silent-screen type emoting is understandable given the vintage but this is a most enjoyable, well-written drama.

After despised railway tycoon Spencer Tracy (as Tom Garner) dies, boyhood pal Ralph Morgan (as Henry) recounts his friend's life. As we flashback, the young lads become friends during a near-drowning incident. Growing up illiterate, Mr. Tracy meets his perfect match in schoolteacher Colleen Moore (as Sally). Alas, Tracy's life is filled with triumph and tragedy. With Ms. Moore's edging, he rises to the top but becomes corrupt. Despite denials, "The Power and the Glory" provided Orson Welles with the blueprint for a revered classic; he needn't have worried, this does not diminish "Citizen Kane" (1941) in any way. Proving films can inspire without being innately inspirational, "The Power and the Glory" has the prerequisite flawed classic qualities...

Tracy is terrific, but does not really excite; however, this is a technical concern. A former "silent movie" star taking a few years off, Moore contributes a notably adroit supporting performance. Director William K. Howard gets to work with photographer James Wong Howe and an innovative Preston Sturges story. The non-linear narrative was new to talking films, and thus disarmed contemporary viewers. There looks to have been an unwelcome studio-ordered edit as the story seems shortened; and, of course, Mr. Wells (and I) would have ended it differently - the scene with Tracy kneeling by his bed, bathed in sunlight, with son Phillip Trent (as Tommy) and Mr. Morgan, should have ended with a close-up of the scar on Tracy's outstretched hand...

******** The Power and the Glory (8/16/33) William K. Howard ~ Spencer Tracy, Colleen Moore, Ralph Morgan, Helen Vinson

Paauline Kael--who made many claims, mostly unfounded, about the "true origins" of 'Citizen Kane'--was by no means the first to mention Sturges' script for 'The Power & the Glory' as a forerunner to Welles & Mankiewicz.

Jorge Luis Borges, in his 1941 review of 'Kane' in the periodical Sur, noticed the similarity in storytelling: "A kind of metaphysical detective story ... the investigation of a man's inner self, through the works he has wrought, the words he has spoken, the lives he has ruined. The same technique was used by Joseph Conrad in 'Chance' (1914) and in that beautiful film 'The Power & the Glory': a rhapsody of miscellaneous scenes without chronological order."

Of 'Kane' Borges also said: "In a story by Chesterton ... the hero observes that nothing is so frightening as a labyrinth with no center. This film is precisely that labyrinth." (Translation by Suzanne Jill Levine, from "An Overwhelming Film" in Borges, 'Selected Nonfictions,' Penguin 1999.) Famous remarks from a famous review, at least in the non-Anglo-Saxon world ... though Borges was critical of 'Kane' as well as complimentary.

This movie, apart from its innovative narrative style and a few great scenes, is rather disappointing. It tells the story of a millionaire, Tom Garner, by inter-cutting between two series of flashbacks, one telling the story of him as a young man -- his rise; the other of him as an old man -- his fall. The inter-cutting, though innovative, doesn't serve much purpose, and seems haphazard. Moreover, it concentrates too much on him as an older man, on the lurid melodramatic tale of how he and his wife meet similar ends through suicide brought on by the adultery of their respective spouses. Hardly as much time is spent fleshing out the character of Tom himself. No scenes are given to the development of the adult friendship between Tom and Henry, Tom's best friend who also serves as narrator of the film. This makes a scene where Henry argues with his wife that Tom was a good man seem pretty hollow; it's hard to take a stand, since so little insight is given into what made Tom truly tick. If this film served as an inspiration to "Citizen Kane," at least those behind Kane remedied the main flaw of "The Power and the Glory," by fully realizing and exploring its main character. 6/10

When I first saw Colleen Moore it was in the excellent series about silent films called "Hollywood". There she was in 1980, her hair defiantly bobbed as it was in the Twenties, a sparkling, witty and charismatic elderly lady - the very definition of "presence". Then I saw her fabulous silent comedy work in films like "Ella Cinders" and "Orchids and Ermine". Then the disappointingly sombre talkie "The Scarlet Letter". And now here she is in "The Power and the Glory" giving a performance of staggering power, working expertly alongside one of the talking cinema's finest actors - Spencer Tracy.

I found the movie a little lack lustre story-wise, but Moore and Tracy give such brilliant performances that the story hardly seems to matter. Both actors age from youth to old age in the course of the film - and this is done mostly through acting alone with minimal make-up and hair changes. Moore is almost unrecognisable as the elderly wife, and the scene where she finds out her husband is seeing a younger woman is one of the most magnificently performed scenes I have ever seen. She does most of the scene without dialogue, which is where her silent acting experience gives her the edge, even over Tracy. Contrast this with her delightful comic playing in another silent sequence when she is a young woman and Tracy is struggling to propose to her. Astonishing! What this film reveals more than anything else is how shameful it is that Hollywood let this remarkable actress slip through its fingers and spend most of her life in retirement.