Thunderbolt (1929 film)

Last updated

Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt (1929 film poster).jpg
Full-bleed theatrical release poster
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Screenplay by Jules Furthman
Herman Mankiewicz
Story by Charles Furthman
Jules Furthman
Produced by B. P. Fineman
Starring George Bancroft
Fay Wray
Richard Arlen
Tully Marshall
Eugénie Besserer
CinematographyHenry W. Gerrard
Edited by Helen Lewis
Color process Black and white
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • June 20, 1929 (1929-06-20)(U.S.)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Thunderbolt (also released as At The Gates of Death) is a 1929 American pre-Code proto-noir film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring George Bancroft, Fay Wray, Richard Arlen, Tully Marshall and Eugenie Besserer. It tells the story of a criminal, facing execution, who wants to kill the man in the next cell for being in love with his former girlfriend.

Contents

The film was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Joseph L. Mankiewicz (titles) and Josef von Sternberg from the story by Jules and Charles Furthman. [1]

Bancroft was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. [2] [3]

Plot

Thunderbolt Jim Lang (George Bancroft), wanted on robbery and murder charges, ventures out with his girl, "Ritzy" (Fay Wray), to a Harlem nightclub, where she informs him that she is going straight. During a raid on the club, Thunderbolt escapes. His gang shadows Ritzy and reports that she is living with Mrs. Moran (Eugenie Besserer), whose son, Bob (Richard Arlen), a bank clerk, is in love with Ritzy. Fearing for Bob's safety, Ritzy engineers a police trap for Thunderbolt; he escapes but is later captured, tried, and sentenced to be executed at Sing Sing. From the death house, he successfully plots to frame Bob in a bank robbery and killing. Bob is placed in the facing cell, and guards frustrate Thunderbolt's attempts to get to his rival. When Ritzy marries Bob in the death house, Thunderbolt confesses his part in Bob's conviction. He plots to kill the boy on the night of his execution, but instead at the last minute his hand falls on Bob's shoulder in a gesture of friendship.

Cast

Rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Production

Sound

“Josef von Sternberg has suffered perhaps more than any other director from the vagaries of film criticism; on the one hand he has been seen as a mannered, self-indulgent stylist with a trivial and dehumanized vision of the world, and on the other as a cult figure largely associated with the mystique of Marlene Dietrich, with whom he made seven films, beginning in The Blue Angel in 1930 and ending with The Devil is a Woman in 1935.
—Film historian Claire Johnston - "Sternberg’s Thunderbolt" - in Focus on Film, 1970 [4]

Thunderbolt was Sternberg’s first film using synchronized sound technology. Two versions of the film were produced, including a silent version for theatres that had yet to be adapted to sound. [5] [6]

The technical innovation of synchronized dialogue in the film raised concerns among directors as to its potential influence on the visual techniques available to directors. Internationally, filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Alfred Hitchcock, and Dziga Vertov wished to avoid oppressive forms of ”theatrically-influenced dialogue” even as audiences clamored for the novelty of naturalistic speech. [7] [8]

Sternberg welcomed sound as a means to achieve complete control over his picture - "no longer at the mercy of movie house organists" - and eschewing any "atmospheric" or background music. Thunderbolt (as well as his next three sound films) used source music that arose directly from the mise en scène. [9]

Sternberg experimented with asynchronous sound effects which served to augment or supplement the visual effects, or as he framed the process, “To be correctly and effectively used, the sound had to bring to the image a quality other than what the lens included, a quality out of the range of the image. Sound had to counterpoint or compensate the image, add to it – not subtract from it.” [10] Throughout Thunderbolt, Sternberg “uses sound to paint audio images” through “complementary and contrapuntal juxtaposition.” [11] [12] Rather than the external and complementary musical accompaniment of silent films, Sternberg’s scores arise organically with the mise-en-scène and form a key component of the film.

The music off-screen does not recede in deference to the on-screen dialogue, but competes with it. Off-screen, voices comment on the visual action, but are not identified visually until later in the film sequence, contributing to an “unrealistic cadence” that characterizes the film’s dialogue. [13] Film historian Andrew Sarris describes it as "a startling experiment... his use of sound and music for mood effects, and the very unreality of his style seems to justify the unusual density of his sound track." [14] Sternberg also uses sound expressionistically, such as the erratic start-stop of a sewing machine or the “sinister” squeaking of a dog’s ball toy, squeezed by the condemned criminal in the hours before his death. [15]

Reception

Mordaunt Hall writing for The New York Times (June 21, 1929) described the screenplay as “a musical comedy plot striving to masquerade as drama.” [16] Film critic Andrew Sarris would echo that assessment in 1966, writing “Thunderbolt is, in some respects, as much a musical as a melodrama.” [17]

Film historian Janet Bergstrom points out that “reviewers were relieved that Sternberg had returned to the gangster genre he had invented and made popular", as in this review entitled “Thunderbolt Registers Hit” from Norbert Lusk of the Los Angeles Times (June 30, 1929):

”Those who applauded [Sternberg’s] Underworld and The Drag Net find new pleasure well worth their patronage…As in previous undertakings of Josef von Sternberg, lighting and direction have brought forth critical praise though in some quarters the observation is made that these more or less synthetic crook stories are unworthy of his ability. However, there is no denying the skill he employs in assembling the various elements of box-office entertainment…” [18]

German filmmaker Ludwig Berger contacted Sternberg via telegram with lavish praise: "I saw your film Thunderbolt and congratulate you with all my heart. It is the first fully realized and artistically accomplished Sound film. Bravo!" [19] [20] [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Docks of New York</i> 1928 film

The Docks of New York is a 1928 American silent drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring George Bancroft, Betty Compson, and Olga Baclanova. The movie was adapted by Jules Furthman from the John Monk Saunders story The Dock Walloper.

<i>Morocco</i> (film) 1930 film by Josef von Sternberg

Morocco is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Adolphe Menjou. Based on the 1927 novel Amy Jolly by Benno Vigny and adapted by Jules Furthman, the film is about a cabaret singer and a Legionnaire who fall in love during the Rif War, and whose relationship is complicated by his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who is also in love with her. The film is famous for a scene in which Dietrich performs a song dressed in a man's tailcoat and kisses another woman, both of which were considered scandalous for the period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josef von Sternberg</span> Austrian-American film director (1894–1969)

Josef von Sternberg was an Austrian-born filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the silent to the sound era, during which he worked with most of the major Hollywood studios. He is best known for his film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich in the 1930s, including the highly regarded Paramount/UFA production, The Blue Angel (1930).

<i>The Last Command</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

The Last Command is a 1928 silent romantic drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, and written by John F. Goodrich and Herman J. Mankiewicz from a story by Lajos Bíró. The film stars Emil Jannings, who won the first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1929 ceremony for his performances in this film and The Way of All Flesh, the only year multiple roles were considered. Evelyn Brent and William Powell co-star.

<i>The Blue Angel</i> 1930 German musical comedy-drama film

The Blue Angel is a 1930 German musical comedy-drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann, with uncredited contributions by Sternberg, it is based on Heinrich Mann's 1905 novel Professor Unrat and set in an unspecified northern German port city. The Blue Angel presents the tragic transformation of a respectable professor into a cabaret clown and his descent into madness. The film was the first feature-length German sound film and brought Dietrich international fame. It also introduced her signature song, Friedrich Hollaender and Robert Liebmann's "Falling in Love Again ". The film is considered a classic of German cinema.

Underworld is a 1927 American silent crime film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Clive Brook, Evelyn Brent and George Bancroft. The film launched Sternberg's eight-year collaboration with Paramount Pictures, with whom he would produce his seven films with actress Marlene Dietrich. Journalist and screenwriter Ben Hecht won an Academy Award for Best Original Story.

<i>Macao</i> (film) 1952 film by Josef von Sternberg, Nicholas Ray

Macao is a 1952 American adventure film noir directed by Josef von Sternberg and Nicholas Ray and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix, and Gloria Grahame. Shot in black-and-white, it was distributed by RKO Pictures.

<i>The Wedding March</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

The Wedding March is a 1928 American synchronized sound romantic drama film written and directed by Erich von Stroheim. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film stars Erich von Stroheim, Fay Wray and ZaSu Pitts. Paramount Pictures forced von Stroheim to create two films from the footage, the second being The Honeymoon. The Honeymoon is now considered lost, the only known copy destroyed in a fire in France in 1959.

<i>The Devil Is a Woman</i> (1935 film) 1935 American film directed by Josef von Sternberg

The Devil Is a Woman is a 1935 American romance film directed and photographed by Josef von Sternberg, adapted from the 1898 novel La Femme et le pantin by Pierre Louÿs. The film was based on a screenplay by John Dos Passos, and stars Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero, Edward Everett Horton, and Alison Skipworth. The movie is the last of the six Sternberg-Dietrich collaborations for Paramount Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugenie Besserer</span> American actress

Eugenie Besserer was an American actress who starred in silent films and features of the early sound motion-picture era, beginning in 1910. Her most prominent role is that of the title character's mother in the first talkie film, The Jazz Singer.

<i>Dishonored</i> (film) 1931 American film

Dishonored is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic spy film directed and edited by Josef von Sternberg, who also co-wrote the film with Daniel N. Rubin. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Gustav von Seyffertitz, and Warner Oland, and follows a female spy (Dietrich) for Austria-Hungary during World War I. Costume design was provided by Travis Banton, in one of his several collaborations with Dietrich.

<i>Sergeant Madden</i> 1939 film by Josef von Sternberg

Sergeant Madden is a 1939 film noir forerunner directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Wallace Beery. The supporting cast in this dark police crime drama, noted for its imaginative and evocative cinematography, includes Tom Brown, Laraine Day, Alan Curtis, and Marc Lawrence.

<i>Jet Pilot</i> (film) 1957 film by Josef von Sternberg

Jet Pilot is a 1957 American Cold War romance film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh. It was written and produced by Jules Furthman, and presented by Howard Hughes. Filming lasted more than eighteen months, beginning in 1949. The last day of shooting was in May 1953, but the Technicolor film was kept out of release by Hughes due to his tinkering until October 1957, by which time Hughes had sold RKO. Universal-International ended up distributing Jet Pilot.

<i>The Case of Lena Smith</i> 1929 film

The Case of Lena Smith is a 1929 American silent drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Esther Ralston and James Hall, and released by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Anatahan</i> (film) 1953 film by Josef von Sternberg

Anatahan (アナタハン), also known as The Saga of Anatahan, is a 1953 black-and-white Japanese film war drama directed by Josef von Sternberg, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The World War II Japanese holdouts on Anatahan, then part of the South Seas Mandate of Imperial Japan, now one of the Northern Mariana Islands of the United States, also inspired a 1998 novel, Cage on the Sea.

<i>Paramount on Parade</i> 1930 pre-Code revue film

Paramount on Parade is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf, Frank Tuttle, and Victor Schertzinger—all supervised by the production supervisor, singer, actress, and songwriter Elsie Janis.

<i>The Coast of Folly</i> 1925 film by Allan Dwan

The Coast of Folly is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Gloria Swanson in a dual role as mother and daughter. Richard Arlen had a small part in the film but his scenes were cut before its release. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Coningsby William Dawson, and adapted for the screen by James Ashmore Creelman.

<i>The Drag Net</i> 1928 film

The Drag Net, also known as The Dragnet, is a 1928 American silent crime drama produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures based on the story "Nightstick" by Oliver H.P. Garrett. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg from an original screen story and starring George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent.

<i>An American Tragedy</i> (film) 1931 film

An American Tragedy (1931) is an American pre-Code drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on Theodore Dreiser's 1925 novel An American Tragedy and the 1926 play adaptation. These were based on the historic 1906 murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette at Big Moose Lake in upstate New York.

<i>The Sea God</i> 1930 film

The Sea God is a 1930 American pre-Code adventure film written and directed by George Abbott. The film stars Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Eugene Pallette, Ivan Simpson, Maurice Black, and Bob Perry. The film was released on September 13, 1930, by Paramount Pictures.

References

  1. Sarris, 1966. p. 23
  2. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30 by The American Film Institute, c.1971
  3. Thunderbolt at silentera.com
  4. Williams, 2009
  5. Williams, 2009
  6. Axmaker, 2005.
    Baxter, 1971. p. 61
  7. Williams, 2009
  8. Sarris, 1966. P. 23
  9. Weinberg, 1967. p. 57
  10. Williams, 2009.
  11. Axmaker, 2005
  12. Williams, 2009.
  13. Dill, 2012
  14. Axmaker, 2005
  15. Williams, 2009
  16. Williams, 2009
  17. Sarris, 1966 p. 24
  18. Bergstrom, 2007. p. 80-81
  19. Axmaker, 2005.
  20. Williams, 2009
  21. Dill, 2012

Sources