The Walls of Jericho

If you like watching movies that are easy to predict and formulaic...well, this film is not for you! The plot has many unusual twists and turns and it's one of the more unusual Hollywood films of the era.

The story is set in the town of Jericho. Dave Connors (Cornell Wilde) is a very decent man...working hard as a county prosecutor. And, he's easy to like and you find yourself rooting for the guy. The problem is that he's married to a nasty drunk (Ann Dvorak), but he makes the best of it. Even when an old lady friend of his returns to town and she clearly is in love with him and vice-versa, he resists the urge and avoids the woman because he is a faithful, decent man. In addition to this lady coming back to Jericho, an old friend (Kirk Douglas) comes with his gorgeous wife (Linda Darnell)...and she, also, seems very interested in Dave. So where is this all going to end? I bet you couldn't predict it in your lifetime unless you see the film!

I give this film high marks for originality and acting. While Wilde never rose to the upper echelons of actors, he was excellent here...as was everyone. An interesting and often overlooked film from Twentieth Century-Fox that deserves to be seen.

Cornel Wilde is a county attorney married to alcoholic Ann Dvorak. Wilde's best friend is firebrand newspaper editor Kirk Douglas. Kirk returns to town after a lengthy trip with new bride Linda Darnell in tow. She's a gorgeous society lady who immediately takes a liking to Cornel, but those affections aren't returned by the stoic Wilde. Linda doesn't appreciate the rebuff and sets out to undermine Cornel in any way she can, pushing him away from his friendship with Douglas, and even sabotaging his nascent political career. Cornel is also falling for nice-girl attorney Anne Baxter, but they won't consummate their affair due to Cornel's marriage.

This was based on a novel by Paul Wellman, and it has that slightly clunky feel of a larger work having been whittled down to fit a feature-length script. Certain secondary characters, like those of Henry Hull and Marjorie Rambeau, don't amount to much in the finished work. That being said, I liked this more than most soapy dramas of the time, and all of the leads turn in excellent work. Darnell gives one of her best performances as the scheming manipulator. She's sporting lighter-than-usual hair (blonde? redhead? It's B&W), but she's still beautiful. Dvorak's role is complicated, and while it's smaller than the others, it, too, is one of her best. Wilde is broad-shouldered and quietly dignified, and Douglas, in only his second film, does what he can with a slightly secondary part.

In spite of the title ,the movie has nothing to do with Joshua and the Bible ;it's closer to film noir than to melodrama ,like "leave her to heaven " which already featured Cornel Wilde ; but in spite of its high rating , it cannot be mentioned in the same breath as the Stahl /Wilde/Gene Tierney's tour de force in 1946 ;even "the foxes of Harrow (1947) had a better screenplay .

It pits Wilde /Baxter 's idealism against Darnell/Douglas' careerism ;in consequence,the movie really takes place in the second part of the movie, when poor Marjorie might be sacrificed to political ambitions : here the movie thoroughly belongs to Anne Baxter ,who alone against the world of the high and the mighty ,shows an unexpected stamina and strength of character :at a time when ,most of the time, women had minor roles in the courts of justice ,the movie can be considered ,from that point of view, a successful effort.

Holy Marcel! What a soap opera! Going into this film, you would think this was a film with Cornel Wilde and Kirk Douglas battling each other. Not at all. Its about the ladies - and they are magnificent.

First there is dipsomaniac Ann Dvorac. She is stuck in an unhappy marriage with Wilde, but won't let him go.

Then there is Anne Baxter. She has loved Wilde since childhood. Wilde falls in love with her. Its 1910. They can't do anything about it.

Then there is Linda Darnell. She is married to Kirk Douglas. He is Wolfe's former best friend and thanks to his ambitious wife, his political rival. She also loves Wilde, but when he rebufs her advances she wants revenge. She does this through ambition, gossip and slander. She accomplishes all this with subtlety, which makes her twice as dangerous.

Of course this all ends up going in circles. What do they do in soap operas to keep the drama going? Throw in a murder trial and a shooting!

All three ladies are stunning in appearance, style and performances. Kirk Douglas doesn't bother fighting for a place or even seem to question, "What's Cornell got that I haven't?"

I applaud any movie that has a lot of dramatic incidents but doesn't spill over into melodrama. This is one that fits the bill! Between the alcoholism, unhappy marriages, potential adulterous affairs, town scandals, and a murder trial, it was never overdone or overacted. There are a lot of familiar faces here (Cornell Wilde, Anne Baxter, Kirk Douglas, Linda Darnell, Ann Dvorak, barton MacLane) and they all play their parts well.

Anyone would want to see these walls of Jericho come tumbling down ("Where are you, Joshua?"), ones that keep you in a bad marriage, make you the victim of vicious gossip, and keep you from someone you love.

The ending is left rather ambiguous, as the way it's shown, you're not quite sure if it's going to be happy or sad. I'm opting for happy!