Frank Borzage was classic Hollywood’s most romantic filmmaker. Between 1927 and 1929 he made several highly successful movies with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. The best known of these was 7TH HEAVEN. The central theme of these films were poor couples redeemed by the power of love. However by the mid-1930s his redemptive romanticism was going out of style as the upscale, wise cracking screwball comedy became the norm for male-female relationships. In the space of 10 years he went from being one of the most highly regarded of directors to a journeyman for several studios whose movies came and went without notice.
World War II came along and Film Noir was rapidly becoming the new genre of choice. Borzage absolutely despised it. The doomed protagonists, the femme fatales, and the downbeat endings went against his cinematic nature. By 1948 he found himself at Republic Pictures, the top name among the Poverty Row studios famous for Westerns and Serials. However studio head Herbert J. Yates was attempting to raise his studio’s prestige by hiring big name directors. In addition to Borzage, he enlisted John Ford, Lewis Milestone, Fritz Lang, and Orson Welles to make the movies they wanted as long as they stayed on schedule and on budget.
Set in a small Virginia town, MOONRISE is about a young man (Dane Clark) whose father had been hanged for murder when he was a child. Years later he accidentally kills the town bully (Lloyd Bridges) in self-defense and hides the body in a nearby swamp. He then tries to date a local schoolteacher (Gail Russell) but lives in fear of the body being discovered. His only real friend is an old black man (Rex Ingram) who lives in the swamp and raises coon dogs. He discovers the body but doesn’t turn the young man in. After visiting his grandmother (Ethel Barrymore) and buoyed by her advice and the love of the teacher, he turns himself in to the sheriff.
The first hour of the movie looks and feels like any other film noir being made at the time with dark, brooding photography and intense performances. In the last half hour though, Borzage asserts his personality and his philosophy so that MOONRISE ends on an upbeat and even triumphant note. Clark and Russell are fine as the romantic leads but its the supporting players who make the film memorable especially Ingram as the swamp dweller Mose and a young Harry Morgan as the deaf mute Billy. Lloyd Bridges is effectively nasty as the town bully while Ethel Barrymore makes the most of her one big scene.
This Criterion release is up to their usual high standards. The transfer captures every detail of John L. Russell’s stark cinematography (he would also do Orson Welles noir version of MACBETH right after this) while the soundtrack is clean and clear. As is always the case with any Criterion release, subtitles are included. There is also a foldout booklet with plenty of background information on the film and the director. As a final note, the title comes not from some atmospheric set piece but rather from a jitterbug dance tune that is played and sung early on in the movie. MOONRISE is a forgotten gem.
The Capsule Critic 