lborok

The original Body and Soul (1947) is a masterpiece. John Garfield, Ann revere, Lilli Plmer, William Conrad, Canada Lee...and filmed by one of the greatest cinematographers to ever grace the screen..James Wong Howe. This remake is abominable. In spite of the presence of Rod Steiger, Joe Mantegna and Jennifer Beals there is nothing of value here and it is a shame this product bears the same title as the brilliant original. Only the main character's name, Charlie Davis, is the same in both films. I don't think there are any redeeming qualities in this remake. I am amazed that Rod Steiger participated. This may be the only bad film he ever made. Maybe he needed the paycheck.

In 1972 a man walked into my Flying Tigers Operations office at LAX and asked for help picking up a shipment. I recognized Royal Dano immediately, both face and voice. I asked one of my warehouse men to get the shipment, and then I told Mr. Dano I had just seen Face of Fire on TV, and that I was struck by it. I noted his character was a sympathetic role, opposed to what he usually did. And, I said I thought the cinema photography was excellent. He agreed, and we talked about the film and the Swedish cinema photographer for another 30 minutes. It was a wonderful experience. Years later I considered that Mel Gibson's The Man Without a Face might have derived from Royal Dano's film.