Another Fateful Climb
The Criterion Channel is doing a spotlight on Ida Lupino this month so last night I watched 1941's High Sierra, which I don't think I'd seen in 19 years or so. Lupino actually gets top billing which I think is more of a reflection of Bogart not being an A-lister yet than her own clout in Hollywood. Still, it's pretty impressive for a 23 year old actress from England. But she truly was showing herself to be a big talent.
Like a lot of films noir, there are two women, the Good Girl and the Bad Girl, Lupino playing Marie, the latter. But the Good Girl, Velma (Joan Leslie), starts to show a few shades of corruption while Marie is by no means as cutthroat as Kathie Moffat or Phyllis Dietrichson.
I wonder if the name of Humphrey Bogart's character, Roy Earle, is supposed to sound like "Royal". I suppose you could look at the movie as a Royalist allegory. Maybe Roy is Bonnie Prince Charlie. He is in command of the robbers and, in addition to that, he becomes a kind of king to Velma and her family. He's moved by pity before he starts to become attracted to Velma and even after she's rejected his marriage proposal he won't accept repayment for the surgery he'd paid for to fix her club foot. It's notable that Roy doesn't really make any big mistakes or unwise decisions throughout the movie, he just has colossally bad luck.
I think everything might have worked out if he hadn't lost control of his car after he robs the drugstore late in the film. The filmmakers could've done a better job making that more plausible. He just does a sharp turn into some shrubbery, thereby attracting everyone's attention. But the absurdity may have been part of the point, a subtle way of showing up the Hays Code.
It's hard to see how anyone could leave the theatre on the cops' side, though. Especially with the strikingly cowardly shot taken at Roy at the end.