Tête chaude

East Of The River is your typical Warner Brothers urban drama which that studio had down as a formula. Though the plot might not be recognizable at first, it's taken from The Charge Of The Light Brigade where Olivia DeHavilland switches her affections from Errol Flynn to younger brother Patric Knowles. More than any other major studio, Warner Brothers was big on recycling stories if they worked.

The two brothers are John Garfield and William Lundigan. As no one would believe these two are blood kin, there is a prologue where the orphan who grows up to be Lundigan is placed in the care of Marjorie Rambeau the Italian immigrant mother and she raises him as her own. Lundigan turns out to be a real straight arrow, college degree and all. Garfield however continues in his hoodlum from childhood and he's just getting out of prison on the West Coast when he goes east to see Lundigan graduate from college and he takes his moll Brenda Marshall with him.

Garfield also has a score to settle with Douglas Fowley and Jack LaRue who framed him into the joint though the film ain't real clear on how they did it. The fact he's losing Marshall to Lundigan cramps his style though.

Of course it all works out in the end and East Of The River doesn't exactly break any new ground. James Cagney passed on this one, he'd done it all before and Garfield was only in his third year at Warner Brothers.

Both Marjorie Rambeau and George Tobias played all kinds of ethnic characters in their careers and they do well in their silver screen Italian parts. Marshall does well also as the girl reaching for something a lot better than Garfield can give her.

John Garfield's most devoted fans won't rate East Of The River as one of his top performances, but the film does showcase Garfield at his urban best.

A wonderful heartwarming movie especially the differences between the son and the adopted son!

East of the River (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Predictable Warner film tells the story of two friends who go different ways in life. One becomes a good guy while the other, played by John Garfield, can't seem to stay out of trouble. We've seen this story countless times so I'm going to guess Warner just used one of their old screenplays to give Garfield something to shine in. We've seen this story in countless gang pictures from the studio so if you've seen at least one of them then this film won't offer you anything new. As usual, Garfield is given a boring screenplay but he makes the film watchable due to his great performance. He's very strong in the film and allows us to feel sorry for him as well.

It is 1927 New York City. Joey Lorenzo is a kid who gets into trouble. He and his friend Nick batter a railroad worker. The cops track them down. The Judge is ready to send them both to reform school. Joey's mom convinces the Judge to give them a second chance and she agrees to take on the orphan Nick. Nick grows up to be a great student and the perfect son. On the other hand, Joe Lorenzo (John Garfield) grows up to be a bad student and a criminal although his mother doesn't know that part. He comes home with his criminal girlfriend Laurie Romayne.

This idea of a triangle upon a triangle is interesting. It's the two boys and their mother in one. The other one is the boys with the girl. I never really felt for Nick or quite frankly Laurie although her progression is more interesting. Big momma is doing big momma things and she dominates. As for Garfield, he does fine as the urban hood. I believe it sometimes. I'm not sure about the ending, but that's kind of a Hollywood safe ending. All in all, I like some parts and less with other parts.

In this hammy melodrama from Warner Brothers and director Alfred E. Green, Italian immigrant "Mama" Teresa Lorenzo (Marjorie Rambeau) struggles to raise her son Joe on her own. Despite the hardship, she even agrees to adopt Joe's orphaned, homeless friend Nick. As the boys grow into men, Nick (William Lundigan) stays on the straight and narrow, graduating from college. Meanwhile, Joe (John Garfield) has fallen into a life of crime, which he keeps secret from Mama. When Joe returns home with new girlfriend Laurie (Brenda Marshall), the stage is set for conflict as Nick falls for the gal, too.

This is yet another substandard film that Garfield had to endure, and this one is further hampered by some bad acting and a cliche script. Rambeau is just terrible as the stereotypical "Mama", sporting one of the most exaggerated phony accents ever committed to celluloid. George Tobias, too,lays it on thick, but one expects that of his generally boisterous performances. Marshall makes for a bland leading lady, and I had a hard time figuring out why both guys went crazy over her.