The Sound of Fury | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Cy Endfield |
Screenplay by | Jo Pagano |
Based on | The Condemned 1947 novel by Jo Pagano |
Produced by | Robert Stillman [1] |
Starring | Frank Lovejoy Kathleen Ryan Richard Carlson |
Cinematography | Guy Roe |
Edited by | George Amy |
Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Robert Stillman Productions [2] |
Distributed by | United Artists [3] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $410,000 [4] |
The Sound of Fury (reissued as Try and Get Me!) is a 1950 American crime film noir [5] directed by Cy Endfield and starring Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson. [6] The film is based on the 1947 novel The Condemned by Jo Pagano, who also wrote the screenplay.
The Pagano novel was based on events that occurred in 1933 when two men were arrested in San Jose, California for the kidnapping and murder of Brooke Hart. The suspects confessed and were subsequently lynched by a mob of locals. The 1936 film Fury, directed by Fritz Lang, was inspired by the same incident. [7]
Howard Tyler is a family man from Boston, living in California with his wife and boy, who has trouble finding a job. He meets charismatic small-time hood Jerry Slocum, who hires Howard to participate in gas-station robberies. Later, Jerry concocts a plan to kidnap Donald Miller, the son of a wealthy man, to receive a large ransom. Things go wrong when Jerry kills the man and throws the body into a lake. Howard, who did not know that his and Jerry's criminal exploits would include murder, reaches his emotional limit and begins drinking heavily. He meets a lonely woman and, while drunk, confesses to the crime. The woman flees and informs the police.
When the two kidnappers are arrested, a local journalist writes a series of vicious articles about the two prisoners. A vicious mob assembles outside the police station, overpowers the guards and storms the building, seizing the two men in order to kill them. [8]
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther panned the film, writing: "Although Mr. Endfield has directed the violent climactic scenes with a great deal of sharp visualization of mass hysteria and heat, conveying a grim impression of the nastiness of a mob, he has filmed the rest of the picture in a conventional melodramatic style. Neither the script nor the numerous performances are of a distinctive quality," [9] and that audiences had "to expend pity and resentment towards society in the cause of a common thief." [10]
Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton, in a work on American film noir, wrote that "the prison assault remains one of the most brutal sequences in postwar American cinema." [11]
In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100. [12]
The film was mentioned in Thom Andersen's 1996 video essay documentary Red Hollywood . [13]
Nominations
Among the final films made in the U.S. by blacklisted writer/director Cy Endfield before he relocated to England, The Sound of Fury has been restored by the Film Noir Foundation. [14] [15] The restored version was aired for the first time on Turner Classic Movies on January 25, 2020, and was introduced by Eddie Muller.
Cyril Raker Endfield was an American film director, who at times also worked as a writer, theatre director, magician and inventor. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he worked in the New York theatre in the late 1930s before moving to Hollywood in 1940. His film career was interrupted by the Hollywood blacklist, and he resettled in London at the end of 1951. He is particularly known for The Sound of Fury/Try and Get Me! (1950), Hell Drivers (1957) and Zulu (1964).
The Ladies Man is a 1961 American comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was released on June 28, 1961, by Paramount Pictures.
Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir The Hitch-Hiker and for starring in the radio drama Night Beat.
The Lady from Shanghai is a 1947 American film noir produced and directed by Orson Welles that stars Rita Hayworth, Welles and Everett Sloane. Welles's screenplay is based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King.
Cry of the City is a 1948 American film noir starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, and Shelley Winters. Directed by Robert Siodmak, it is based on the novel by Henry Edward Helseth, The Chair for Martin Rome. The screenwriter Ben Hecht worked on the film's script, but is not credited. The film was partly shot on location in New York City.
Raw Deal is a 1948 American film noir crime film directed by Anthony Mann and starring Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor and Marsha Hunt. It was shot by cinematographer John Alton with sets designed by the art director Edward L. Ilou. An independent production by Edward Small, it was distributed by Eagle-Lion Films.
Kathleen Ryan was an Irish actress.
The Underworld Story is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea. Da Silva plays the loud-mouthed gangster Carl Durham, one of his last roles before becoming blacklisted.
Universal Soldier is a 1971 film directed by Cy Endfield and starring George Lazenby as a mercenary. It was the final film of Endfield, who also has an acting role in it. The title came from the 1964 song of the same name by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Lover Come Back is a 1961 American Eastmancolor romantic comedy film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Delbert Mann. It stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson and is their second time working together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas.
O. Henry's Full House is a 1952 American anthology film made by 20th Century Fox, consisting of five films, each based on a story by O. Henry.
Film gris, a term coined by experimental filmmaker Thom Andersen, is a type of film noir which categorizes a unique series of films that were released between 1947 and 1951. They came in the context of the first wave of the communist investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee, often made by associates, fellow travellers and supporters of the convicted Hollywood Ten.
Smilin' Through is a 1932 American pre-Code MGM romantic drama film based on the 1919 play of the same name written by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin under the pseudonym of Allan Langdon Martin. It was adapted from the play by James Bernard Fagan, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ernest Vajda and Claudine West. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin and stars Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Leslie Howard and Ralph Forbes.
The Sound and the Fury is a 1959 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt. It is loosely based on the 1929 novel of the same title by William Faulkner.
The Lawless is a 1950 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey and features Macdonald Carey, Gail Russell and Johnny Sands.
711 Ocean Drive is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Joseph M. Newman and starring Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru and Otto Kruger.
The Naked Street is a 1955 American crime film noir directed by Maxwell Shane. The drama features Farley Granger, Anthony Quinn and Anne Bancroft.
Eight Iron Men is a 1952 American World War II drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Bonar Colleano, Arthur Franz, Lee Marvin, Richard Kiley and Mary Castle. Lee Marvin's powerful performance as the squad's leader ratchets up the suspense along with Dmytryk's noir style direction and J. Roy Hunt's deft cinematography.
They Gave Him a Gun is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Spencer Tracy, Gladys George and Franchot Tone. The picture bears a resemblance to later films noir, with its dark theme regarding the struggles and failures of a man trying to take a criminal shortcut to the American dream. The screenplay was written by Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum and Maurice Rapf, based on the 1936 book of the same name by William J. Cowen. On March 20, 1937, director W.S. Van Dyke "announced Henry Mahan was cast in 'They Gave Him A Gun', joining Sam Levene and Teddy Hart, the three swell comedians in the film version of Three Men on a Horse", but none of these actors appear in the final cut.
Woman in Hiding is a 1950 American melodrama thriller film starring Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally. It was directed by Michael Gordon, with cinematography by William H. Daniels. Peggy Dow, John Litel, and Taylor Holmes, appear in support. Some observers regard the picture as a film noir, a view not universally embraced.