Arrowsmith

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On his blog, James Wolcott says, "Self-Styled Siren has a marvelous tribute to John Ford's Arrowsmith, recently shown on TCM." I read it, and it's surprising. Arrowsmith has belonged to those long-forgotten films, and it's good to read Siren's tribute to it. Here's a snippet below.

"The film seems to grow more visually sophisticated as it progresses, though the Siren has no idea if it was shot in sequence. The superb, Metropolis-like views of New York give way to the the Caribbean islands and the most beautifully shot scenes in the movie, as a misty, Defoe-like procession of biers and mourners continually moves past the doorway of Arrowsmith and his wife. Later, there's an extraordinary shot of a doomed Helen Hayes sinking into a cane-back chair to smoke a cigarette, as light slants through a shutter and around her hair. Here Ford is already working out his vocabulary, and despite its many flaws, that is the best reason to see Arrowsmith."

Read the entire piece at Siren, now included on my blog roll. (Sinclair Lewis wrote the novel, and he too has been denigrated over the years. The reading group I'm in won't touch him with a ten-foot pole. Too bad).