 "Mob Mentality Yes, But This Film is Also About "The Other"" | 2007-07-24 |
| - Reviewed By toddincharge |
I agree with the many reviewers who focus on the lynching aspect of the morality tale spun so expertly by Fritz Lang. But having watched this recently, I also found much that was directly relevant to our modern times. In particular, the film really exposes how the heartland, the community, can be exclusionary and vicious to those it perceives as "the Other," whether that person is a suspected kidnapper, a gay person, or some other person selected by the town elders to be the subject of ridicule, disdain, and marginalization.
Consider those who raised objections to the war in Iraq, and how they were treated by the media and the "town elders" in Washington. They were reviled, shunned, marginalized, and forgotten, victims of a mob mentality that drove us to war and to celebrate on the nightly news our conquests and destruction.
Lang's point is a larger one, and one that applies as much today as it did when the noxious practice of lynching was rampant across our country. As the barber slyly notes, it is the "impulse" that must be controlled, lest it burst out and consume us all. |
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| "INDICTMENT OF MOB RULE!" | 2006-04-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: AGLDQK4S01KPH |
| German born diector Fritz Lang's first American film tells the story of how mass hysteria can led to tragic results.Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) driving West,from Chicago,to meet his bride-to-be Katharine,touchingly played by Sylvia Sidney,is arrested on kidnapping charges.Lies and whispers spread thru the small town which leads to a mob marching on the city jail,which results in Tracy being lynched(?),a body is not found and the "leaders" of the mob are put on trial.Lang,who also co-wrote the screenplay,captures the essence of small town bigotry and the effects that"group think" can have a society,large or small.Edward Ellis,Walter Brennan,Bruce Cabot,and Frank Albertson lend excellant surpport.Commetary by Peter Bogdanovich,with inserts from director Lang,culled from interviews,over the years,by Bogdanovich is OK. |
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| "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" | 2006-03-18 |
| - Reviewed By mirobonbooks |
Spencer Tracy is an innocent man accused of kidnapping, and then he becomes the victim of mob violence: a crazed town mob storms the jail he's being held in and burn it down. But, unknown to the mob, Tracy escapes and goes into hiding; when the real kidnapper is caught, a defense lawyer brings 22 of the townspeople up on murder charges. After an exciting courtroom trial, most of the 22 are found guilty - at which point Tracy strolls into court "unable to live with myself."
Fritz Lang directed (his first American movie), and it helped make Tracy a star. The first half hour is slow and a bit hokey as Tracy and his bride-to-be (played by the rather mediocre Sylvia Sidney) establish for the audience how much they love each other and how decent they are. Things pick up after Tracy is arrested, though Lang's stagey connection to German Expressionism is still in the forefront during the mob violence scenes. The trial is excellent, and we are kept in suspense as the townspeople perjure themselves to save their necks. The ending is somewhat hokey again. Graham Greene called the movie "great" at the time it came out; that's a bit of an overstatement, but it's a classy, well-made movie just the same. |
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 "Blind "Fury"" | 2006-02-27 |
| - Reviewed By thetoughcritic |
Are people essentially good or evil? This is an age old question that Fritz Lang's movie tries to explore. But it's a difficult question to answer. Take a look throughout history and it seems to be filled with violence, wars, and assassinations. But then an event like 9\11 or hurricane Katrina happens and we see an outpour of goodwill and generosity. And again we must ask ourselves are the fundamental impulses of man good or evil?
"Fury" tells the story of Joe Wilson (Spence Tracy) a man who is about to get married to Katherine (Sylvia Sidney). Katherine has found a high paying job in another town and has agreed to take it so she can save up enough money for the two to get married. Joe promises once he gets enough money as well he will travel out to Katherine. A year goes by and the two are still apart. But through Joe's hard work he finally has enough money to marry Katherine.
Early on in the film the theme of right and wrong is presented. Joe is a nice guy. Always trying to do the right thing. When we first meet his brothers, who he lives with, one of them is doing work for the mob (though this is never really played out) and the other brother comes home drunk. Joe strongly protest their behavior. Joe even saves a stray dog in another scene.
Now when Joe drives out to Katherine he is pulled over and suspected to be involved in a kidnapping scandal that has affected the small town. Things are made worst when the find out Joe eats peanuts, because so does one of the kidnappers. And of course there can only be room for one person in the world to eat peanuts. I wonder if peanut sales went down after the release of this picture? And Joe is found with a five dollar bill that matches the serial number on one of the bills that was given for the ransom.
As soon as people find out about Joe a frenzy starts. The town's people want to take matters into their own hands and kill Joe. An absence of law and order ensues. The govenor decides not to send help to the police station because it is an election year and it might not be a good move for his re-election. So the people try to lynch Joe. Sadly all of this is done in front of Katherine.
To reveal more of the plot would be a very big mistake. But the movie is clearly taking on some very big issues. The whole subject of lynching is definitely contoversial. Historically we tend to think of lynching as race crime. I'm sure everyone is aware of the large amount of African-Americans who were lynched in the past. There was even a song written about it called "Strange Fruit". Also one has to wonder is Lang making a statement about the Nazis. It should be pointed out this was Fritz Lang's first American film. He left Germany as the Nazis started to gain more power. Was Lang saying it's wrong to side with the masses when they lead to violence?
This all sounds very serious and yet the story was based on one written by Norman Krasna called "Mob Rule". Krasna actually wrote many comedies. "Lets Make Love (a rather poor Marilyn Monroe vehicle)", "Bundle of Joy" and a Ronald Reagan comedy "John Loves Mary (which is actually pretty good)". But there are no laughs to be found here.
The downside of the movie is the ending. We understand what is going to happen to these characters but it ends to abruptly in my opinion. And seems slightly preachy. Although this is the only time I thin it does that. Some might agrue the entire movie is an editorial but I don't find it to be so.
In the end there is very little to dislike about this picture. I feel it is one of the greatest movies ever made. Definitely one of the greatest films of the 1930's, which makes it all the more the shame the movie was nominated for only one Oscar, "best screenplay". Where were the nominations for "Best Picture", "Director" and "Actor"? Oh well, the Academy blows anyway.
Bottom-line: One of Fritz Lang' greatest films and one of the greatest movies ever made. The movie makes a powerful comment on the nature of human impulses but does so without be preachy. The performances are excellent and Lang's directing is spot on. |
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| "Dead Man's Revenge" | 2006-01-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2XRZV63X79YSJ |
Fury is three pictures in one. It starts off as a romance. Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracey) and his girl Katherine (Sylvia Sidney) are engaged but are waiting until they get enough money. He lives in Chicago and she in Washington. Joe is a straight shooter and will not do anything dishonest to get ahead, so it takes time for Joe to save any money.
Finally, Joe and his brothers save enough to buy a gas station and be their own bosses. Joe saves enough is going to fetch his bride. On the way to her in California, he is stopped and arrested in a small town on suspicion of kidnapping. The word spreads in the town and a mob surrounds the jail. The townspeople will not let an outsider get away with such a crime (a crime that did not happen in their town nor affected their town.) They break into the jail but cannot get past the bars to the prisoner. They set the jail on fire and when that doesn't yield the prisoner; they throw dynamite in the fire to bring the jail down.
This is where you might expect the film to end. But it doesn't this is no ordinary film about the mob mentality and death of an innocent man. It turns out that Joe wasn't killed but the dynamite broke open the jail and he escaped. But no knows this and he wants revenge. He goes back to his brothers and gets them to have the state prosecute those at the lynching under a statute that equates lynching with first degree murder. This is easier said than done as the town wants to forget their shame and rallies round those accused. But the DA is able to prove their identity through newsreel footage.
Katherine begins to realize that Joe is alive but cannot believe that her honest guy could do this.
This was the American directorial debut of the great German filmmaker Fritz Lang. You can see the influence of his earlier work like M in this film. But you can also see that many of his collaborators really did not understand his vision so the film constantly seems off kilter. But the story is interesting and it's great to see early performances by Spencer Tracey (the greatest film actor of all time in an early starring role), Silvia Sidney and the greatest character actor Walter Brennan before his record three supporting actor Oscars.
DVD EXTRAS: Commentary by Peter Bogdonovich with interview excerpts from Fritz Lang.
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| "A Daring Film, Far Ahead Of Its Time." | 2006-01-09 |
| - Reviewed By joecapuana |
In 2005, courtesy Turner Classic Movies
(TCM), I had the pleasure of seeing one
of the most remarkable films ever made.
It was remarkable because of the subject
matter, the time of its creation, the
principal players who brought it to life,
and the director who made it all work,
despite the odds.
The film is FURY, starring Sylvia Sidney
and Spencer Tracy. Made in 1936 for MGM,
it was the work of noted German director
Fritz Lang, the filmmaker who revolutionized
the entire field with his Speculative classic
METROPOLIS, and jolted the field further with
the chilling social indictments delivered in
M.
FURY, in fact, was his first American film,
a towering introspective look into the heinous
nature of lynching, the evil the very act
inflicts upon all involved, and the cancerous
ramifications that such deeds hold for the
well-being of anyone, whether conspirator or
survivor. Indeed, the most ingenious point about
FURY is its compelling way of showcasing how
such roles can turn in upon themselves, showing
that no one is impervious to hatred, and its
terrible cost.
Point is, of course, that Hollywood-bound
filmmakers were not making films against lynching
in 1936, when the libelous melodrama of D. W.
Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION yet held sway over
an entire period of lawlessness, where even
Universal monster films had glorified mob rule
as a righteous therapy for a disgruntled grass
roots.
For such a conscientious social drama to be done
at MGM, the home of glitter, glamour, andgiddiness
was a sure sign of the lack of industry perception
and respect that FURY would be subjected to upon
its release, and ever since.
Yet the brilliance of the film speaks its own cause
quite eloquently. It cuts through the bilge that
mob rule comes chiefly from "outside agitators",
that lynching is a spectator sport, and that such
activities come solely from men. Too, FURY is far
ahead of its time in pinpointing the fuel placed
on such volatile matters by a news media more
concerned with highlighting a spectacle for rank
viewership than pinpointing the Truths and Lies
at hand.
Sadly, these are points that are apparently lost
upon noted filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, whose
commentary for the Warner Bros. DVD release seems
more preoccupied with citing Lang's technical prowess
while persistently denying his ability to deliver
emotional impact. A look at the charged passions
at play in FURY renders such opinionations absurd.
In utilizing camera angles to show a subject's
detachment from pleas of the heart or points of
sobering common sense, Lang avoids mawkish melodrama
and brandishes cinematic artistry of the highest
order; letting the narrative -and its hapless
participants- speak its own absorbing
piece.
Indeed, one of the film's strongest points
-totally ignored by Bogdanovich- is the presence
of African Americans in FURY. While it could
certainly be argued that FURY's absence of Black
people in principal roles is a glaring omission
in a film whose subject has involved the murder
of untold masses of Black people in this country
over the course of centuries, the fact is that
any Hollywood film which depicted African
Americans as something to be respected -even
in a symbolic light- was one hell of a daring
move in 1936!
It would have been informative had some light
been shed upon these handful of Black actors
spotlighted in something other than the period's
coonshine caricatures; particularly the young
lady hanging her laundry while singing a wistful
song about freedom, or the bartender whose
comments help to set the film toward its
pulsating climax.
Certainly, having a young shoe-shine boy dash
out the way of a raging lynch mob -in itself-
makes an emotionally ironic point which was not
lost upon FURY's viewers... or its worst
detractors.
Great work from a marvelous array of character
performers -among them Bruce Cabot and Walter
Brennan- add to the intricate depiction of the
issues and people involved, and a sharp score
from composer Franz Waxman heightens the depth
of tensions tightening its beckoning noose. Most
of all, Tracy and Sidney are superb in their
depiction of hard-working lovers fighting the
despair of post-Depression America, fraught with
racketeers, political graft, and a dangerous
complacency.
Master Tracy is brilliant as the working man
striving to make an honest living, only to be
imperiled by blind Fate and civic irresponsibility.
Equally the master, Sidney is dynamite as the
sharp teacher who stands as the film's single
voice of unwavering compassion and clear
wisdom.
If the film's period stands out as the years
move on, it matters little. Almost any of the
finest films made will reflect the times from
which they came. Look at the films of Cagney
and Bogart. Yet, the tale and its impact
carries its point of origin proudly, while
effectively addressing untold generations
across the span of decades. Too, the fact
that Lang had considerable conflict with
many parties over FURY's conception does
not lessen the immense success of this
probing story. One might as well deny
the genius of SPARTACUS because Director
Stanley Kubrick fought with star & Executive
Director Kirk Douglas over the nature of
that film's content. As was the case in
SPARTACUS, behind-the-scenes conflicts
seem to have actually contributed to a
momentous, visionary effort with FURY.
It is an effort which deserves its just due as a
milestone in one of the most turbulent careers
in the history of motion pictures. No mere
cinematic curio, Fritz Lang's FURY is a powerful
drama which entertains serious thought about a
subject which still rears its ugly head to mock
decent people, and true civilization, everywhere. |
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| "Tracy at his best" | 2004-01-16 |
| - Reviewed By johnbugeja |
This is easily my favourite Spencer Tracy movie. Altough quite a different story line to his Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Tracy uses a similar technique when he changes his personality in Fury from the young easy going loving man on a journey to visit his fiance, to a bitter twisted vengence seeking man.
Although you could not blame him for this |
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| "FRITZ LANG & SPENCER TRACY: WHAT A TEAM!" | |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| A very unusual M-G-M film from 1936: because of its theme of social consciousness, it seems much more a likely candidate for Warner Brothers. It's a dilly with an outstanding performance by Tracy as the wrong man: En route to see his fiancee, Katherine (Sylvia Sidney) Joe Wheeler (Spencer Tracy) is arrested as a suspected kidnapper and is jailed pending trial. The evidence against him is strickly circumstantial: he possess a bill from a ransom statement. Then a mob forms around the jail, but Sheriff Ellis (Walter Brennan) manages to disband them & send them home... And that's all I'm going to give out plot-wise. Obviously, there is a whole lot more to this famous film in which Fritz Lang made is American directorial debut. This was Lang's favourite American film - and rightfully so: it demonstrates his directorial genius in wasting NOT A FRAME of film, telling his story with sharp cross-cutting between victims and tormentors, while unravelling the mindless and murderous passion of a mob out of control. Sylvia Sidney is excellent as usual as Katherine: this was her sole role for M-G-M. The film awakened America to what the reality of mob violence means. The original working titles for the film were THE MOB & MOB RULE. For a great companion piece, view the excellent Lang production YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney made the next year, in 1937: it's available on video. |
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| "A real thriller" | |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film features Spencer Tracy as a man falsely accused of a crime and attacked by a lynch mob. He survives and comes back, seeking revenge. Pretty heavy stuff, and a pretty thrilling film. |
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