When I was growing up in the 1950s and the early 1960s, I remember reading about this film in TV GUIDE (remember when it was a staple in every home?) and looked forward to seeing it. Unfortunately in those pre-cable/streaming days, it was never shown on a channel that could be picked up on the family TV. By the end of the 1960s it had disappeared from TV showings and became one of those lost Fox Film movies that were made before the merger with Darryl F. Zanuck’s 20th Century Pictures in 1935 (in fact it was the last pre-merger production).
A massive warehouse fire in 1937 desroyed virtually all of the original negatives of the Fox Films made up to that time. Only those of Shirley Temple & Will Rogers, the company’s two biggest stars, were still readily available. Spencer Tracy appeared in over 20 movies at Fox beginning in 1932. Some of these were very highly regarded (ME & MY GAL & THE POWER & THE GLORY to name two) but few were box office successes. His later fame from his movies at MGM coupled with the warehouse fire have kept most of his early work from being seen. Hopefully that will be remedied with the Fox Cinema Archives series starting with this DVD-R release of DANTE’S INFERNO.
This film was Tracy’s last for Fox and it was a grand production directed by Harry Lachman who was a celebrated post-Impressionist painter. His eye for detail can be seen throughout the film but nowhere more than in the silent 10 minute “Hell” sequence which was patterned after Gustave Dore’s illustartions for THE DIVINE COMEDY. The story of an unscrupulous carnival barker who eventually gets his comeuppance and a chance at redemption (shades of LILIOM / CAROUSEL) was tailor made for Tracy who reportedly hated the movie yet it never shows (it never did).
Claire Trevor does a good job in the unchallenging role of his wife and it gives us the rare opportunity to hear the wonderful voice of stage actor Henry B. Walthall who began his career in the silent era and is best known for BIRTH OF A NATION. The young dancer in the casino boat sequence at the end is a 16 year old Rita Hayworth billed under her real name of Rita Cansino. Filled with personal drama, spectacular sets and effects as well as a riveting climax, DANTE’S INFERNO is not a great film but it’s an excellent example of early Spencer Tracy and the work of the artisans at pre-20th Century Fox.
The Capsule Critic 