Tonight I watched Edward G. Robinson in "Brother Orchid" (1940), a gangster movie with twists not only in it's plot but in style as well. Robinson plays "Little John" Sarto, the leader of a gang of hoodlums that includes Humphrey Bogart. Bogie doesn't get much screen time in this film, but his role will be pivotal later on. He acts loyal to Robinson, but has designs on becoming The Boss himself.
As the film opens, the gang is meeting in a secret apartment. A squealer has just been arrested in connection with a crime committed by Robinson's boys. Edward G. thinks it's time for the gang to disperse for a while. He announces his plans to leave for Europe until the heat is off. While there, he intends to pick up some culture and class, values he is aware he is lacking. The use of humor in the script is apparent from the beginning, and once Ann Sothern shows up at the hideout, as Robinson's girlfriend, the patter turns Screwball. I have only seen Sothern in a few roles, but she was an expert at the rapid-fire timing of farce comedy. She also had the blonde cutie-pie looks of a 1930s comedienne. It's a wonder she wasn't a bigger star, but I suppose she did pretty well for a while.
When she is onscreen she takes over the movie. Edward G. tells her that he will be going to Europe alone, because in reality he is only stringing her along, but she snaps right back by telling him that she is involved - "only financially" she says - with a rich Oklahoma rancher (Ralph Bellamy) who is helping her to purchase a nightclub. Now Robinson is jealous........well, sort of.
Really he isn't, because he is a self-centered criminal with a scheming mind. Now, this is being presented as light comedy, so when Edward G. does go to Europe, in search of "class", he comes back empty handed, having been scammed at every turn. He has purchased diamonds and famous paintings, well known pieces of furniture, all to show himself as a Man Of Taste and to distance himself from his gangster image. But every piece he has purchased turns out to be a fake.
He returns home to New York broke and ready to rumble. Class is for chumps, he decides. He is back to take charge of his gang once again and do what he does best, which is crime. But in the five year interim, while he was away in Europe, moves have been made. Humphrey Bogart has taken over the leadership of the gang and he lets Robinson know this in no uncertain terms. Eddie's old girlfriend Ann Sothern is now romantically involved with Ralph Bellamy, her wealthy cowboy money pot.
Robinson has returned to America to discover that he is left with nothing. His empire has crumbled and he is pissed. Now the movie is about to turn from Screwball to drama, and rather solemn drama at that - but still lightly humorous.
First, things get serious. Robinson is shot after being set up to meet Bogart for a gangland "peace treaty". The meeting was a trick, Edward G. was taken out to the woods, and though he is grievously wounded, he manages to crawl his way to the doorway of a stone edifice in the middle of nowhere.
A monastery, of the Order of The Fleuristic Brotherhood, or something to that effect.
The monks grow flowers to sustain their existence and to provide for charity. They are headed up by the great Irish character actor Donald Crisp as their "Brother Superior". They take Edward G. Robinson in, heal his bullet wounds, and as he recovers and becomes aware of his new surroundings, he begins to see the monastery as a great place to hide out from the law. He even takes to the spartan lifestyle of the monks and becomes one of their most productive workers, even though he speaks in "gangster talk" to them, and even though he still seems to think that their whole setup is a scam in itself.
He is such a thoroughly dyed-in-the-wool hoodlum that he can't believe any group of men, even monks - who he is not familiar with - could possibly be sincere in their motives. At first, he thinks they are scammers like himself, and the way Edward G. pulls this off in his dialogue is a gem of understated comedy.
He just can't believe the monks are for real. They've gotta be putting on an act.
As the days pass, he learns otherwise as he is assigned various chores in the garden and the milking of the cows. He has never met any group of people like the monks, nor has he ever participated in a group lifestyle dedicated to giving rather than taking.
Thus, at the halfway point in the 87 minute picture, the story takes a 180 degree turn, and the character of the film goes from farcical gangster to serious message movie.
Can a career criminal become a devout Christian?
This is the gist of the message, though it is not presented in a heavy handed way. Hollywood was too smart for that, so they used light comedy, and an actor with the rubbery-faced talent of Edward G. Robinson to convey every shift in emotion.
"Brother Orchid" is on the surface a fast paced crime farce for the first half, then it becomes a pious drama with comedic undertones, and finally it returns to it's roots, for the above mentioned showdown between Bogie and Edward G.
I give "Brother Orchid" Two Very Big Thumbs Up. In the halcyon days of Organised Crime, Hollywood made pictures that tried to show the outcome of such a lifestyle. In this movie they contrasted it with that of monks, infused it with humor and had Edward G. Robinson send himself up against his image as a Tough Guy......and it all works to perfection.
I loved "Brother Orchid", a light hearted but complex story about one man's journey to redemption.
Highly recommended. /////
T'was 106 degrees today. This year I am gonna count the days when we have 100+ temperatures, just to see if we get a real summer or not. So far we've got three days. I will set an arbitrary goal of 25 days of 100+, to be reached by the end of September. That will constitute a Real Summer, even though in the old days we would have had twice that much.
Yeah, I know I'm nuts, but c'mon.....Summer Rules, and it's gotta be hot and not wimpy.
That's what makes it Summer. ////
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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