Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Frank Lampard This is one of Bogart's first roles and boy does he steal the film. He has a presence that dominates the film. His "Duke" character is gangster at gangster's best. The problem with this film is the irritating performance of Leslie Howard. His character is so repulsive and obnoxious. Not an ounce of reality or common sense to the character. I just kept saying, come on Duke, kill him already. Come to think of it, there were a a few unbelievable and irritating characters in this film that just made overall enjoyment of this film impossible. This is the classic example of a play trying to make the transition to the big screen and failing quite uncomfortably. However, the film reveals the early brilliance of the legend that is Humphrey Bogart.

elvircorhodzic PETRIFIED FOREST is a bit strange version of gangster drama. It was created based on the homonymous theater play by Robert E. Sherwood. Similarly evoked. Dramaturgy is good and all the characters are in some way dissatisfied with their lives. They are constrained to make a key step towards a goal.This version is a really good combination of forms of theater and film media. The entire drama takes place in an imaginary indoors. The concentration of people in general is shown as being slaves and closed, conditioned by the achievements of money, power and security. In one night the whole drama played out with two characteristic of men (Alan - L.Howard, and Duke - H.Bogart), which seems to have been the cornerstone orbiting ellipse society that is built on democratic foundations, the traces of legendary heroes and war triumph. The two outlaws in different roles, one is actually a poet, the other a criminal. Deep within the society is well camouflaged, tinted and prohibited frustration that we call humanity. The margins and marginal aspects are also thematic coverage. The story is interesting. It rises and falls in the dialogue.Leslie Howard as Alan Squier is a young passerby, traveler and writer who wanders aimlessly. Depressed at odds with the whole world looks for meaning that can be among other things, love and death.Bette Davis as Gabrielle Maple is a girl who dreams of romantic dreams and read poetry. Falls in love with a man who tells her exactly what she wants to hear. With him, she can escape from reality. Bette Davis is terribly charismatic.Humphrey Bogart as Duke Mantee is a gangster and a murderer on the run. In his story the women and around her all spinning. Duke has resigned. This is crucial Bogart role in his early career.Characters are in a particular vortex of frustration and self-pity. The troubles are becoming aware of each other. Seen from a philosophical point of view this is a good movie. Acting suffer a little, while Cinematography is suffering far more.

utgard14 It's very apparent when watching The Petrified Forest that it was designed as a stage play. Bette Davis can't seem to lower her voice to save her life and Leslie Howard, while a great actor, waxes poetic like an inebriated Lord Byron. If you can stand Davis' yelling, Howard's soliloquies, and Dick Foran's large man-breasts, grossly accentuated by his tight-fitting shirt, then you might find this to be an enjoyable little movie. Humphrey Bogart steals every scene he's in, which isn't as many as you may be led to believe. All of the film's best moments feature Bogart. If you're a Bogart fan, this is a must-see. Otherwise, unless you enjoy films of the 30's, particularly ones that seemed like filmed plays, you might want to watch something else.

edwagreen Leslie Howard stole the show here as the philosopher-writing drifter who drifts into the lonely life of Bette Davis, a waitress with aspirations of going to Paris, in this 1936 film.Howard, who tells his tales of woe, talking about winning the war with nature and finding brief, but tragic love with Davis.As Davis's grandfather, Charley Grapewin, Uncle Henry of "The Wizard of Oz," fame brings comic relief as an old-timer obsessed with old days of Jesse James.Humphrey Bogart, as Duke, the crazed killer enters the film with his gang in taking over the diner and hurling all sorts of people into the dingy place as hostages.Frustrated with his life and wanting to give Gabrielle (Davis) an opportunity, Howard asks Duke to do something which the crazed killer complies with at film's end.This is a film of emotional turmoil, of dreaming beyond your dreams. That desert atmosphere with the gusting wind tells you what this film is all about.