Whistle Stop

This movie doesn't quite make it into the ranks of noir. Although it's interesting to watch George Raft and Ava Gardener, there isn't any chemistry between them and their relationship is not believable.

Nevertheless, Gardner is amazing eye candy, a screen goddess, and steals every scene she is in. Frankly, she is so gorgeous that she is completely miscast in this little melodrama about small town hicks.

The story takes place in the post-depression era and contains a few nice plot twists. Victor McLaglen delivers a terrific performance as Raft's drinking buddy and partner in crime, but the rest of the cast don't do much for the movie except provide forgettable characters.

The direction and cinematography are okay but the biggest problem is the casting. None of the main characters except McLaglen fit their roles. The DVD (Classic Film Noir, Volume 2) is worth watching for Gardner and McLaglen, who sparkle in a movie that is otherwise quite ordinary.

There was a time when the studio system had the actors and actresses like Ava Gardner and Victor McLaglen making about 5 films a year. Actors and actresses in the studio system worked hard and some films never became brilliant but did entertain audiences. This film was on my compact disc with three other fair films with other actresses like Jane Wyman, Marilyn Monroe in a small role but still, and Joan Crawford in "Rain." One cannot stop looking at Ava Gardner playing Mary, a girl who returns to her small town life from the big city of Chicago which she left in a mystery. She returns to her boyfriend who is unmotivated gambler and meets a rich businessman who takes a liking to her. Ava steals this film hands down. It's not a great film but it's more about characters and story lines than anything else.

In the late 1930s, George Raft was at the top of the movie business. He had a lot of prestige at Warner Brothers and looked destined for greatness. However, after a very long string of insane career choices (rejecting the lead in such films as "High Sierra" and "The Maltese Falcon"--all of which made Bogart a top star), his clout suddenly vanished and he played out the 1940s in a string of progressively less prestigious and uninteresting films. When "Whistle Stop" debuted, he was already well on the way to becoming a second or third tier actor--and unfortunately, his performances generally looked second or third-rate as well. I've seen quite a few of these later films and can only describe his performances as 'wooden'.

"Whistle Stop" has a major handicap at the onset. Raft is cast opposite Ava Gardner as the love interest--though he was over 20 years older and seemed ill-suited and ill-at-ease in this romantic role. And, frankly, this wasn't all Raft's fault. I especially cringed at the flashback scene where they tried to make Raft and Gardner look like teenagers--his hairstyle was pretty funny and he looked like a 45 year-old man trying to be young and hip (which he was).

The film begins with Gardner returning to the small town where she grew up but had left in order to live in the excitement of Chicago. It soon becomes apparent that she and Raft (oddly cast as a small-town sort of guy) had a past history together...but was distracted by both the lure of Chicago and the tough and rich Tom Conway. And, ultimately, Conway and Raft fought it out for her. Raft won the fight, but she left with Conway...but now, years later, she is back. But can she pick up where she and Raft left off? One thing getting in their way is the directionless way Raft's life has become--as if he didn't care about tomorrow. Can he clean up his act and win the girl? And, will Conway make trouble for Raft now that he's apparently won Gardner? In addition to these actors, Victor McLaglen is on hand to play a bartender and Raft's pal. His character, frankly, is a bit hard to understand. Who his is and why he's there is pretty vague. Fortunately, this all becomes clear at the end--and it is a nifty one--making up for the general blandness of the rest of the film. The film has a few nice twists but also gives Raft a mostly passive sort of role for the leading man--and not a film that would help him regain his past prestige on the screen.

I wanted to see this movie because I had read the novel "Whistle Stop" which was written by Maritta Wolff when she was a college student and was recently republished. The novel gave a great presentation of the Post Depression era and Wolff's beautifully descriptive writing won her a prestigious award. The scriptwriter changed the story significantly. While one part would probably have been too sensitive for the time, I think today's movie writers would portray more of Wolff's imagery of life on both "sides of the tracks". I doubt if an author today would allow his or her book to be an inspiration to a screenwriter who would use some characters and some dialogue yet change the story so dramatically. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the movie AFTER reading the book as it was fascinating to see the similarities and the differences. I'd recommend reading the book and then enjoying the mid-1940's black & white film with the gorgeous Ava Gardner and a young Victor McLaghlin. This certainly isn't the best of '40's crime drama but it was fun to see. If you've already seen the movie, read the book!!

Whistle Stop (1946)

The style is pure film noir but the plot is not. A curious blend at the time of the first noirs at the end of WWII (this one is actually copyright 1945). It has two strong headliners, though some might argue this--George Raft is always a bit less than he wants to be and Ava Gardner is simply young and charming, before her great later roles. It does have a great idea--a beautiful woman has returned to the simple little town where she grew up wanting to see if her true love was still what she thought.

And so Gardner steps off the train at the whistle stop wearing furs, and mentioning her rich lovers left behind in Chicago. She looks at George Raft and thinks he's still a handsome guy, maybe it'll work. But she soon learns Raft is still a loser. And that another guy in town, with lots more money, still has the hots for her. It takes about one scene to switch her game plan.

It's called "Whistle Stop" because it's such a small town on the train line the train doesn't stop unless a signal is put out that a passenger is waiting. Then it blows its whistle and stops. (It also blew its whistle when it had a passenger, Gardner, who wanted to get off, so the whole town, if listening, would say, "Oh, the train's stopping." This becomes important later when Raft gets involved in a way to both make some quick major cash and get even with his rival.

But I should finally say the plot and direction are horribly put together. After awhile the four of us watching were speaking out, after a half hour of really rapt silence, saying, "What?" Or, "Now way." That is, the most improbable flip-flopping of emotions and inconsistent characters keeps adding up until you just can't quite get it. What's worse is it was all really avoidable with some minor thinking. You get the sense that maybe it got re-edited after shooting was done, maybe to create a different flow, or shorten it, or change the ending, and they just didn't have the pieces that needed to make it make sense. Whatever the reason, all these heartfelt, gritty, intense situations fall slightly flat. Just slightly--the movie is sort of watchable--but you have to like this period of movies to see all the great things going on otherwise.

Like the filming--great noir-ish darkness and high contrast, wonderful tight framing, and a few shots in a few scenes that you could study for their simple effectiveness. This is what keeps it going. And the whole scene is great, the little town, the back rooms and odd characters, the family at home. None of it is fully fleshed out, but it's all there to look at at least.

And a last point--the only copy I could find was streaming on Amazon, and it's a terrible print--there must be a hundred little gaps and jumps where both the sound and picture skip a second. Beware of that. Too. But Ava, well, she's got a career ahead of her, and she brings her scenes alive.