BAND OF ANGELS (Warner Bros. 1957) Warner Home Video

Legends do pass their prime, even if that never alters the legend for the rest of us. In the pantheon of truly great leading man, few could hold the proverbial candle to Clark Gable, one of the most charismatic actors who, under the aegis of MGM’s Louis B. Mayer, emerged from his diamond in the rough pre-Metro status as a rough-hewn baddie, into the hottest male animal to appear in pictures then. To be like Gable became a national obsession. When he disrobed in Frank Capra’s Oscar-winning classic, It Happened One Night (1932), revealing nothing but his clean-shaven brawn beneath, sales of undershirts plummeted. Throughout the 1930’s, Gable’s image as a larger-than-life stud endured, if, with those loving-cup ears frequently pasted to his head, and, the scandal of his false teeth, their stench reportedly repulsing many a leading lady whom he kissed kept under wraps; neither, to dissuade his ardent female fans in their admiration, nor, as it seems, to have turned off second wife, Carol Lombard, who, in typical Lombardian devil-may-care fashion, and, with a certain disregard for Hollywood’s inward desire to remain ‘holier than thou’ to the public paying their high-priced salaries, once told a reporter, “I’m just nuts about Clark…and not just about his nuts!”  

Lombard’s premature death in an airplane accident in 1942 devastated Gable, who shortly thereafter entered the war effort on his own terms, despite Mayer’s protestations, reportedly telling a friend, “I’m going now…and I don’t give a damn if I ever come back!” But Gable did return, making another 26 pictures after the bloom of his rakish charisma had worn thin, and, with the added detriment of being repeatedly typecast, still as the bucking bronco who could melt hearts with just a casual glance.  It is, in hindsight, rather sad to see what the years did to Gable’s reputation and physical stature; felled by a heart attack in 1961, and never to see his unborn son from his third marriage. Raoul Walsh’s Band of Angels (1957) made barely five years before that premature demise is, in fact, a grotesquely enfeebled attempt to revive Gable in his gala days in Dixie as the ‘Rhett Butler-ish’ rake of the Southern drama. In 1939, Gone with the Wind lionized Gable’s iconography as filmdom’s all-time hero and box office draw, despite the fact Gable had implored Mayer not to loan him out for another costume picture; Gable, having bungled another - Parnell (1937); one of those rare Gable pictures to lose money and slightly tarnish, though hardly blacken, his reputation.

Band of Angels is certainly NO Gone with the Wind. For starters, the screenplay patched together by John Twist, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts endeavors to make a big and splashy affair of Robert Penn Warren's more intimately structured novel, first published in 1955. The book, Warren’s first in 5-years, was well-received by the critics who called it ‘readable and dramatic’ with ‘thoughtful reflections about moral issues and psychological factors’ of the Civil War. In Sept. of that same year, Warren sold the film rights to Warner Bros. for a cool $200,000, with Frank Rosenberg assigned to produce it and, originally, Susan Hayward, on loan from 2oth Century-Fox to co-star. Frequent delays incurred over the next two years put the project in turn-around, and, in hindsight, may have had something to do with MGM’s decision to return to the moonlight and magnolia of Southern gallantry with Raintree County – a picture, ironically to debut the same year as Band of Angels and land with an even more epic thud at the box office. By 1956, Rosenberg had left Warner Bros. and the studio, desperate to restart their efforts and beat ‘Raintree’ into theaters, hired veteran, Raoul Walsh to direct. Gable’s assurances in the part of Hamish Bond, encouraged further development, and by December, Band of Angels had a new leading lady – Yvonne De Carlo, whose star had considerably risen since back to back performances in The Ten Commandments and Death of a Scoundrel. Casting was then completed with up-and-comer, Sidney Poitier in the pivotal role as Rau-Ru.

Production moved from the relative safety of the Warner back lot and soundstages, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where virtually all of the exteriors were shot. And while virtually everything from cast, crew and weather cooperated to ensure an unprepossessing production shoot, the resultant picture emerged as uneventful, if not more so, hitting screens with unfavorable comparisons drawn between it, and that ‘other’ Southern pic most closely associated with Gable’s enduring stardom. The general consensus was Warner Bros. and Gable had strained to rekindle the magic of Gone with the Wind, right down to hiring Max Steiner to write the score, coming up with a watered-down and foreshortened ghost flower of that aforementioned classic, even more hamstrung by Franz Bachelin’s transparently cheap and shoddy sets, objectified in cinematographer, Lucien Ballard’s muddy hues of Warnercolor. In reviewing Band of Angels today, one really cannot argue with those snap assessments. The picture lacks atmospheric touches, and the afterglow of iconic scenes, played to perfection by Gable and a female co-star worthy of inclusion. Yvonne De Carlo, while undeniably a handsome woman, is hardly of the caliber of a Vivien Leigh; nor is her Amantha Starr, able to convey even an ounce of empathy.

When first we meet, Amantha, she is the privileged daughter of a Kentucky plantation owner who, not unlike the heroine of MGM’s Raintree County, later discovers her own mother was one of her father’s black plantation slaves. Until then, Amantha has been reared as white, and eager to become engaged to Capt. Seth Parsons (Rex Reason) - a horrible prig. Now, stripped of her honor, and legally classified as property, Amantha is taken to New Orleans by the unscrupulous slaver, Mr. Calloway (Ray Teal) to be sold at auction. On board the riverboat, Calloway makes it clear he intends to rape Amantha, but abstains from his deflowering after she tries to hang herself. As a well-bred, cultured young woman who can pass for white, Calloway can at least recognize her intrinsic value. She should fetch a very handsome price. At auction, Amantha endures a crude inspection from a potential buyer, spared further indignation by Hamish Bond, who outbids everyone to claim Amantha as his own. Startled to be treated with compassion, even happily ensconced in the plush upstairs rooms of Hamish’s iron-wrought mansion, Amantha is introduced to her benefactor’s housekeeper and former lover, Michele (Carolle Drake) and Hamish’s disagreeable man servant, Rau-Ru. Although grateful for Hamish’s kindness and education, Rau-ru opposes its motives; namely, to keep him enslaved. Michele plots to aid in Amantha’s escape. But Rau-Ru, observing her stealth from a distance, and, under Hamish’s orders, returns Amantha to the mansion before she can get very far.

Eventually, Amantha and Hamish surrender to their mutual passion. Relocating his household to a plantation in the country, Hamish decides to give Amantha her freedom. Instead, she is resigned to remain at his side. In Hamish’s absence a neighboring planter, Charles de Marigny (Patric Knowles) tries to rape Amantha. Instead, Rau-Ru rushes to her aid and Charles is knocked unconscious. Certain to face a public execution – or worse – for striking a white man, Rau-Ru flees, but denounces Hamish for instilling in him his sense of honor, used to act as Amantha’s protector. Meanwhile, Hamish tells Amantha that they cannot marry, not because of her African heritage; rather, because in his youth he pillaged African villages and enslaved their people to profit by the slave trade. Repulsed by this revelation, Amantha retreats to New Orleans to become a music teacher. As the Civil War breaks out, Rau-Ru joins the Union Army, Hamish sarcastically labels as a ‘band of angels.’ The Union Army advances on New Orleans and occupies it. Union Lieutenant Ethan Sears (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) rescues Amantha after some of his own soldiers, believing themselves justified by General Butler's order, equating patriotic Confederate women to prostitutes, prove quite menacing. Shortly thereafter, Sears pursues Amantha romantically. Alas, his commanding officer is none other than Seth Parton, who now threatens to expose Amantha’s truth to Sears.

Retreating to the plantation, Amantha finds Hamish has joined the other planters in destroying their cotton crops to prevent them from falling under the Union’s jurisdiction. While the others are summarily rounded up to be hanged, Hamish escapes to a shack near the swamp, pursued by Rau-Ru, who knows every inch of this territory. Confronting Hamish in the swamp, Rau-Ru learns the real reason for Hamish’s kindness towards him; that long ago, while a slaver, he rescued an infant whose African mother – and also, Hamish’s lover – was ruthlessly murdered. That child was Rau-Ru. Genuinely affected, Rau-Ru gives Hamish the keys to his handcuffs so that he may escape his Union captors without any further suspicion cast upon Rau-Ru. An old seafaring friend awaits near the shore to provide Hamish with safe passage up north; Rau-Ru reuniting Amantha with Hamish so they can runaway together.

Band of Angels is woefully cliché-ridden, yet emasculated of its virtues by a tepid screenplay that downplays the majesty of the period. More leaden than incendiary, the melodrama lumbers along in dull and muddy hues of Warnercolor. Gable’s pedigree as Rhett Butler must have seemed like sound insurance for this outing. But he is older here, and deprived of that ‘sly dog’ vein of masculinity, withered into a thin shadow of its former self. Worse, Lucien Ballard has photographed the entire movie as though it were a one-hour television drama – flat, and, with none of the atmospheric elegance that might have, at least, appeared as true to period. Raoul Walsh’s direction is stiff, merely connecting the dots from points ‘A’ to ‘B’ before moving on to the next camera set-up. Walsh favors the two-shot, but builds zero intimacy within the context of the tale. Gable and Yvonne De Carlo have no chemistry here; she, constantly straining with twinges of rank anticipation or emoting passion and regret as though some goon is twisting her arm.

If only the Twist/Goff/Roberts’ screenplay did not anticipate a need to wallow in its chronically flawed depiction of the benevolent, though simple-minded ‘darkie’, while demonizing virtually every white face in the crowd, liberally to bandy about the ‘N’ word as though its inclusion somehow transcends pulp into high art, Band of Angels might have had a chance to at least be good – if not great. But the acting is second-rate, even from Gable, and most ironically of all, from Poitier, who usually could be counted upon to rise above a less than stellar screenplay. Worn well beyond his years, Gable emotes every line of dialogue as though it might be his last. But there is no emotional arc to his character, nor Poitier’s one-dimensional portrait of Rau-Ru; teeming with belligerence until nearly the last possible moment. If only the production had not relied so much on a clumsy juxtaposition of stock shots, location exteriors and some truly laughable sets to inspire its faux reality, we might have at least had some handsome production values to admire. Alas, no. Nothing about Band of Angels appears as anything more satisfying than a hand-me-down – and not even of the vintage heirloom ilk either.

Warner Home Video’s DVD is acceptable, given that the Warnercolor derivative of Eastman/Kodak’s single-strip color process was, bar none, and, in a word, the most abysmal ever to debut at the movies. There appears to be no stability to overall image clarity here; the Warnercolor, toggling between moments of superb refinement, wed to scenes and shots that could almost suggest a mis-registration of a 3D image; with dirty/gritty visuals dissolving into relatively smooth respites where sharpness, contrast and overall clarity are remarkably solid. Color density horribly waffles. At one point, Amantha’s dress fluctuates from orange, to red, to fuchsia. Flesh tones are always anemic and suffer from a yellow caste. Age-related artifacts are present, though not to egregious levels. The RCA mono soundtrack has been given a 1.0 Dolby Digital clean-up and sounds at least 10 years younger than these picture elements appear. There are NO extras. Bottom line: Band of Angels is not a good movie; at times, not even a competently made one. It plays with such pedestrian inefficiency for whole stretches of its 2 hr. 5 min. run time, one wonders what director, Walsh was thinking. Gable, likely preferred merely to cash his check and call it a day.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

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VIDEO/AUDIO

2

EXTRAS

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