Martín Eden

This certainly is as remote from Jack London's 1909 novel "Martin Eden" as the title - the novel's title doesn't promise an adventure - the movie's plot bears no resemblance to the novel - with the framing story of a brutal ship's captain seemingly borrowed from London's 1904 novel "The Sea-Wolf" - within that frame - the movie dwells on Eden's efforts to succeed at writing - but in the movie's case - it's a barely forgivable distraction from his real duty - to get his friend out of jail

the novel's fascinating recounting of Martin Eden's struggles to succeed at writing (based on Jack London's own journey) - lacks the high drama the movie has - which explains why the movie probably strayed so far from the novel - a faithful rendering of it would have been more quiet and intellectual - and probably would have drawn fewer paying customers

yet i fidgeted thru out the movie - it was too alien to my memories of the novel - i missed the early 1900s setting of the novel with its slower paced life - contrasting with the frenetic 1940's film noir milieu of the movie - and i missed the widening intellectual perspectives that Eden's' self-education brought about

in and of itself - the movie's okay - with a simple plot that's predictable all the way to the end - with an occasional fresh twist - and the actors are up to the script - but there's almost nothing reminiscent of Jack London or Martin Eden

Glenn Ford gives a rousing performance as the title character. This was still early in his career, before the actor settled into his more familiar low-key film persona. But his spirit here is well placed since Eden has to struggle against social forces far stronger than he. Based on Jack London's autobiography, the screenplay shows how narrow the literary parameters were in London's day. Fiction served mainly as escapism for the leisure class and was a long way from the kind of raw reality Eden sought to portray. Naturally, the moneyed class didn't want to read about how tough life was for the industrial workingman. Thus, more familiar types of literary realism, such as London-Eden's, were generally suppressed. This is an important part of the screenplay and offers a glimpse of the barrier certain kinds of authors faced in getting published.

The movie's central crux, however, is Eden's having to choose between staying with his working class roots, symbolized by Connie (Trevor), or ascending to the moneyed class with Ruth (Keyes). On a more abstract plane, it's also a contest between Truth with a capital T, on one side, and social position, on the other. Thus, it's also a movie of conflicting ideals.

Basically, the movie starts fast, sags somewhat in the middle, and rev's-up for the climax. In fact, the first part, aboard ship, amounts to a hard act to follow. Frankly, I could have done without some of the ritual brawling with Raglan (MacDonald), which seems added mainly for action's sake. Nonetheless, it's a revealing little film with an energetic turn from headliner Ford and a good glimpse of the literary world, circa 1900.

The story begins with a man (Stu Irwin) about to be sentenced for leading a mutiny. An idealistic crew member, Martin (Glenn Ford), stands up and announces that he has evidence which could exonerate the accused. But, inexplicably, the judge, prosecutor and EVEN THE LAWYER FOR THE DEFENSE refuse to hear Martin. This seemed odd to say the least.

In the next scene, Martin storms a fancy party being held by the head of the shipping company he and the convicted man worked for during the mutiny. He demands that the owner listens to him...which he seems reticent to do. But a famous author is at the party as well as a young lady...and they leave with Martin to hear his evidence. The evidence is Martin's own diary...which makes you wonder if the diary is important at all, as Martin could just as soon could have testified what he knew instead of insisting folks read his diary.

Martin then reads the diary and there is about a 15 minute flashback scene. In it, the captain of the ship is shown as a cruel man. He's violent, physically and verbally abusive and feeds the crew literal garbage. It's not at all surprising when the crew rebels after the captain ended up killing a young mate aboard the craft. Yet, inexplicably, no board of inquiry investigates the case (or at least it's never mentioned in the film). Surely, in 1942 a captain killing a crew member would have necessitated SOME sort of hearing!! And, with the crew insisting the captain was a murderer...well that couldn't just be swept under the rug in the 20th century! This wasn't the 1700s and the famous Mutiny on the Bounty!! And, the court refusing to hear testimony from the crew in the trial simply made no sense. But the famous author apparently never thought of any of these things and he encourages Martin to forget about everything and try writing fictional stories that make people feel happy!! Huh?!

This story apparently was INSPIRED from a Jack London novel...the same guy who wrote "The Sea Wolf". Perhaps this story, at least in its original form, might have made sense. In fact, I read a summary of London's serialized story...and NONE of this that I mentioned above was in his story!!!! The screenplay just left me asking too many questions...and the plot simply resembled Swiss cheese since it had so many holes! I am sure many watching it in 1942 also felt the same way...and despite some good acting and Columbia Pictures' polish, the script isn't even second-rate...that would be an improvement. It's simply illogical. So illogical that the love story and Martin's writing career just didn't seem important.

"Martin Eden" was not my favourite novel by Jack London but rather the contrary, one of the few I enjoyed and liked the least. The film is different as actually an effort to bring out all that is good in the book and give it a better conclusion. Although Jack London's widow approved of Glenn Ford as Martin Eden, I don't think Jack London himself would have approved of the way his book was altered.

It's a bleak and rather egocentric story of the struggle of a budding author who only finds adversities, disappointments and injustice in life and allows this kind negative realism to get the better of him, refusing any other way out than fighting hard against it in an uncompromising personal crusade with his life full of only reasons for bitterness as a self-consuming never-ending fuel. In the film Martin Eden himself does not commit suicide, but his admired idol and senior mentor Carl Brissenden does, when he finds himself betraying his own ideals of being true to the truth. That scene is actually the most interesting one in the film and most worth considering. The film is well made, being consistent in its rough hardcore brutality and dark and bleak realism, but there are other Jack London films as well that also focus on the rough and brutal side of Jack London's life and likewise fail to make any sucess. You can't make a success on stubbornly persistent self-centred fixation like some fanaticism of the ego, which everyone who bets on this horse never seems to learn. Martin Eden of the book ultimately commits suicide. Glenn Ford as Martin Eden in this film does not, and it might be a better solution to the story, but it is not Jack London.

Glenn Ford is a sailor with literary ambitions. When fellow sailor Stu Erwin is found guilty of mutinying against skipper Ian MacDonald, the inhuman conditions which impelled the crime are not mentioned. McDonald goes to prison, while Erwin goes to jail. Ford quits the sea, to write, with the support of social activist Clare Trevor; meanwhile, the woman he loves, Evelyn Keyes, is the daughter of shipping line owner Pierre Watkin, for whom MacDonald works. Ford wants to become a successful writer, and Miss Keyes gives him a year to do so. But that's a tough course to manage, when he has no name, and tries to tell true stories that don't fit usual story-telling practices. He also tries to sell a manuscript about the mutiny to clear Erwin, to no avail.

Ford and Miss Trevor are terrific in this tale, even though the ending is unrealistically flamboyant. The copy I looked at was, alas, pretty poor, but through the murky print I could see that great care had been taken in art direction by Lionel Banks. With Dickie Moore, Heinie Conklin, Charles Lane and Charles Halton.