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ironside 2012-05-25 17:58:05

"High Sierra" was the film that changed the course of Bogart's career and lifted him up to stardom…

"High Sierra" was the film that changed the course of Bogart's careerand lifted him up to stardom…As Earle, Bogart was expanding on the criminal characterization he hadalready mastered in a dozen earlier films, giving it greater depth byadding contrasting elements of warmth and compassion to compensate thedominant violence… Bogart helps a clubfooted girl, Velma (Joan Leslie), who repays himonly with disregard and indifference…Bogart's interpretation already showed signs of the special qualitiesthat were to become an important part of his mystique in a few morefilms…Here, for the first time, was the human being outside society's lawswho had his own private sense of loyalty, integrity, and honor…Bogart's performance turns "High Sierra" into an elegiac film… As a film, "High Sierra" has other notable qualities, particularly IdaLupino's strong and moving performance as Marie, the girl who bringsout Roy Earle's more human emotions… The movie was remade as a Western, "Colorado Territory," with JoelMcCrea and Virginia Mayo, and as a crime film in "I Died a ThousandTimes," with Jack Palance and Shelley Winters in the Bogart and Lupinoroles… Neither came up to the stylish treatment given "High Sierra" bydirector Raoul Walsh from an exceptionally good script by John Hustonand W. R. Burnett…

DKOSTY 2012-05-25 03:18:17

Movie That Broke Molds

This drama is one of the first to break the mold and make a bad guysomeone the audience has feelings for. Bogarts character does so muchgood in this one, that you actually feel bad when he is closed in onand dies at the end of the movie.There is no wonder about the quality of the film. Raoul Walsh directs afilm that breaks out of the typical gangster film of the 1930's. Hewould go on to break out of the typical western film with Dark Command.Walsh is one of the great directors which is why he has another allstar cast here. Bogart and Ida Lupino are two top stars and the storyis very good.Walsh's camera work of the Sierra mountains looks good here. While itis shot in black and white, the mountains still look good. The way thecharacters fit the story is just perfect.Bogart is the tough guy from the east who is sent for to pull a robberyat a mountain resort hotel to get millions of dollars in jewels fromthe hotel safe. Later you find out about each characters past as eachcharacter is revealed like taking the rings off an onion. That is whythis story works so well.

Piltdown_Man 2012-05-23 16:41:59

Lupino and Bogart classics...

This is a wonderfully "taut" film. It contains one scene which I thingis nearly perfect.As Bogart and Lupiono are leaving for "the job," Pard, the scragglylittle dog chases their car. Bogart stops and lets the dog in, thennotes how nuts he is about leaving with a woman and a dog. Lupino callshim on it, saying something like, "You're not so tough!" In a moment,Bogart's tough guy exterior fades; he smiles broadly, pats the dog'shead and they drive on. It is a wonderful bit of film-making...andacting by both leads.Ron

Frapples 2012-05-23 08:53:31

Not a classic

Just saw this on Turner Classic Movie fest tribute to Humphrey Bogart. I have to say I was not all that impressed. They were claiming this was the movie that launched him in to stardom but I just didn't see it.

classicsoncall 2012-05-22 17:46:54

"Brother when they hang that number one tag on you they shoot first and argue afterwards, I know."

By 1941, Humphrey Bogart had nearly a dozen gangster roles to hiscredit, but in "High Sierra" we get to see a criminal with a heart.That aspect of Roy Earle's (Bogey) nature is played out with the chancemeeting of Pa Goodhue (Henry Travers) and his pretty niece Velma (JoanLeslie). Though their age difference is plainly visible, Earleexperiences a pang of feeling for Velma, even though she is handicappedwith a clubfoot. The story within a story of Roy's white knight effortto cure Velma's malady and find a way out of his life of crime iseventually derailed, but not before the viewer gets a chance to observea tough guy's soft side.But then there's his hard side. Fresh out of Mossmoor prison, Roy Earlewastes no time in hooking up with former gangster friend Big Mack(Donald MacBride) who had arranged his early release, and has alreadylined up Roy's next big payday. Roy will have to get heavy handed withtwo rookie sidekicks (Arthur Kennedy, Alan Curtis), who between themare juggling a pretty "dime a dance" girl along for the ride. The wouldbe moll is Marie Garson (Ida Lupino), who with one look at Earleinstinctively knows her two companions are in over their head. Roytries to keep his distance from Marie, but when Velma makes it clearthat she's marrying another man, Earle's romantic interest in Marie isdriven up a notch.The film makes good use of Warner Brothers stock players. BartonMacLane is on hand as a rogue cop who's taken up with Earle's boss BigMack. Henry Travers is put to good use in a role that serves as a warmup for that of Clarence the Angel in "It's A Wonderful Life". CornelWilde and Jerome Cowan find themselves in limited roles, Wilde as thesmarmy Mendoza who sets up the hotel heist, and then rats out Roy tothe authorities. And let's not forget Old Pard, the friendly mutt withan attraction to people who wind up dead. Pard had a good acting coach,he was Bogey's real life pet dog Zero.The newspapers hang a 'Mad Dog' tag on Roy following the botched hotelheist and Earle's shooting death of Jack Kranmer (MacLane). Presumablyseeing Marie off to safety, he finds himself on the run and seekingrefuge in the shadow of Mt. Whitney. Reacting to a radio broadcast,Marie retraces her steps back to witness Roy's stand against thepolice, knowing that he'll never allow himself to be taken alive.However Earle's final defeat doesn't have the defiance of Cagney's in"White Heat", no 'top of the world Ma' challenge to incite theauthorities. In the end, a big time hood falls in disgrace. By then,you get the feeling that Marie already knows the answer to her ownquestion when she asks a reporter - "Mister, what does it mean when aman crashes out?"You may be surprised as I was to learn that Ida Lupino was actually topbilled over Humphrey Bogart in "High Sierra"; I'd be curious as to thepolitics involved in that decision. Though her performance is verygood, her actual screen time is considerably less than Bogey's. Lupinoalso excelled in another team up with Bogart, that of the vile andconniving wife who murdered her husband in "They Drive by Night". Catchthat one for her intense courtroom scene, it's a blast.

Petri Pelkonen 2012-05-22 09:56:30

Free...

Roy Earle (Bogart) gets a pardon only to go back to the world ofcrimes.But tough guy finds two sides of himself when he meets thecrippled Velma (Joan Leslie) and Pa (Henry Travers).He falls for thegal and wants to help her walk properly.But there's Marie (Ida Lupino)who falls for him.Raoul Walsh is the director, John Huston andW.R.Burnett the writers of High Sierra (1941).This is a movie that madeHumphrey Bogart a star.He does a highly memorable role work as RoyEarle.Ida Lupino shows her talent as Marie.Joan Leslie is anotherwonderful female in this picture.Henry Travers is fantastic asalways.Willie Best and Pard the dog bring some comedy there.There aremany scenes to remember in this classic.The final scene leaves youspeechless.Movies used to be something else in the olden days.

2012-05-19 17:12:09

not a great film, but has great moments

t's hard to imagine Humphrey DeForest Bogart as something other than a movie star. Yet for ten years, he treaded water in supporting roles, spending much of that time doing imitations (albeit good ones) of his memorable Duke Mantee performance from The Petrified Forest.And then came High Sierra and everything changed.Before America had other things to worry about (ie: Adolf Hitler), it was still working out its love/hate relationship with pseudo-Robin Hood, depression-era hoodlums (John Dillinger and the like). By 1941, Warner Brothers had practically cornered the market deifying and demonizing these "angels with dirty faces." Raoul Walsh had humbly served the cause in his previous The Roaring Twenties; here, he directs Bogie in the role of existential anti-hero Roy "Mad Dog" Earle. It would be a defining film in the transition from the James Cagney-style gagster pictures to the dawning era of film noir (which Bogart would come to define).Newly-released from prison, Roy has a debt to settle with the crime boss to whom he now owes his freedom - payment, as it so often does, comes in the form of one last score. There's apparently thousands of dollars of jewelry in need of stealing and no one but Roy qualified to make sure it gets done right. Per custom, things do not go according to plan as Bogie falls in love (twice), people get shot, and our Mad Dog faces destiny on the doomed high sierra from which the film takes its title.It's not a great film. Bogart talks in his sleep during a crucial scene, which is probably the most overused narrative cheat in the history of celluloid. Man's best friend figures much too prominently and awkwardly in the plot as a literal harbinger of doom (both the film's "dogs" are cursed); additionally, there some "I'se be catchin' ma feets nah, Boss" style racial stereotyping that is just plain embarrassing.There are some great moments, though. Earle's emotional castration at the hands of the formerly club-footed Velma (Joan Leslie) is painful to watch (an aside: Bogie would later revisit this device - the transformative power of miracle surgeries - in Dark Passage; it's worth rememberinh that Bogie's father was a successful surgeon and rumor has it Bogart himself had botched surgery on his lip after an incident in the navy). Bogart, consistently sympathetic notwithstanding some unsavory violent acts (no easy feat) is always a pleasure to watch - it's easy to forget how ground-breaking his naturalistic performances were at the time...until you watch some of his co-stars ham it up with the overly-theatrical line delivery popular at the time.Thankfully, they're not the show - Bogart is, despite getting second billing under co-star Ida Lupino. In the same year, Bogie would re-team with the writer of this film - John Huston - for the iconic director's first feature, the noir classic The Maltese Falcon. A year later, Bogart and Michael Curtiz got together in Casablanca, and the rest, as they say, is history.Interesting footnote: Walsh, Bogart, and Lupino previously collaborated on the schizophrenic They Drive By Night, probably best known for Lupino's bizarre courtroom outburst "the doors made me do it." Incidentally, Ida Lupino was somewhat of a trailblazer for female directors. Only the second woman to be admitted into the DGA, her 1953 film The Hitch-Hiker is considered a minor classic of film noir. It has been chosen for preservation by the National Film Registry.

2012-05-19 09:16:48

Bogey's Breakthrough Film

Prior to "High Sierra", Humphrey Bogart had been playing heavies, secondleads and the occasional lead in a "B" feature. Beginning with this film,there would be no looking back for Bogey. Although it is Ida Lupino who received top billing, it is Bogart's pictureall the way. He plays pardoned convict Roy Earle who is "sprung" by Big Mac(Donald MacBride) to lead the robbery of an exclusive resort. In Bogey'sgang are Arthur Kennedy and Alan Curtis as his two inexperienced cohorts,Cornel Wilde as the nervous "man on the inside" and Lupino as a "dime adance girl" who ultimately ends up as Bogey's moll. A stray dog named "Pard"who seems to bring bad luck to all who adopt him, is also along for theride. Also in the cast is veteran character Henry Travers as "Pa", Joan Leslie asVelma, the crippled girl whom Bogey helps and falls in love with, Henry Hullas Doc and Bogey's old nemesis Barton MacLane as a gangster who tries tomuscle in on the score. Willie Best in a typical racial stereotype of theperiod, provides comedy relief as Algernon. Bogart's performance dominates the film with able support from thesupporting cast. It was with this film, that Bogey established his tough guyimage, a part he would play, with little variation for the rest of hiscareer.

centurion12 2012-05-19 13:31:38

Humphry Bogart classic

If you like old black/white movies (1941), cops & robbers, or if youare a Humphry Bogart fan, then this is a great movie. The story moveswell and gets you absorbed quickly. Bogy's performance as a gangster isclassic. This film was made early in Bogy's career and helped establishhimself as a star. Also the 1940s locations are interesting to see. Ithought this movie was well done. The acting was good, also gooddirection, and photographed very good. An "updated" color version ofthis movie is "I Died A Thousand Times," starring Jack Palance. Thismovie is just as good as the original, and goes to show you can't messup a good story.

viktor x 2012-05-19 01:42:28

Bogarts best performance

This is definitly the best crime film of all time. Let alone Humphrey bogart the rest of the cast also give star performances this is as good as movies get

2012-05-18 14:00:07

IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH BOGIE.

As gangster pictures go, this one has everything: speed, excitement, suspence and that ennobling suggestion of futility which makes for irony and pity. Bogie plays the leading role with a perfection of hard-boiled vitality, and Ida Lupino, Arthur Kennedy and Alan Curtis handle their lesser roles effectively. Lupino is outstanding as the adoring moll. I just viewed the colorized version of this film and it was very life-like. Although Joan Leslie and Bogie don't really click and their attraction for each other seems unlikely, this is one of Bogart's best performances. Ida Lupino and Bogart seemed a good match; they would have been great together in other films of the genre. As a greying criminal whose time is short, Humphrey pursues the final caper because that is the only thing he knows. This was Bogie's first solid role as a sympathethic lead & his career skyrocketed from here.

jotix100 2012-05-18 06:03:51

Pard steals the show

"High Sierra", based on a W.R.Burnett novel, gets the royal treatmentfrom the screen play that John Huston wrote. Raoul Walsh directed withhis usual cinematic style. The film remains interesting even after morethan sixty years since its original release. Mr. Bogart owes his filmcareer to Mr. Huston, the man that was instrumental in making him oneof the biggest stars of all times.There are things that don't make much sense in the film. First of allis the way Velma, with her club foot, at the beginning of the film,gives Roy Earle the illusion she cares for him; standing next to Velma,Roy appears to be her father! When in a matter of days, Velma isoperated, she becomes another woman. Velma undergoes a transformationthat is hard to believe, but one figures that for a film, concessionsmust be made, but give us a break, an orthopedic operation of thatnature requires a lot of therapy in order to be able to dance! There isalso the credibility of Roy's pardon and release from prison inIndiana. He gets off easily, something than in real life, doesn'thappen at all.Roy attracts Marie, the girl he didn't want to keep around; they end upin loving one another. We realize from the start Roy is doomed becausecrime doesn't pay. As we watch the botched robbery at the resort hotel,we realize Roy's days are numbered.Aside from all minor reality lapses, "High Sierra" is a fun film towatch. Humphrey Bogart, who went to do "The Maltese Falcon" for Mr.Huston right after this film, has a great opportunity to shine in themovie. Ida Lupino, a much bigger 'star' than Mr. Bogart, at the time,is splendid in her take of Marie. Arthur Kennedy, a distinguished actorof the American stage and screen doesn't have much to do.Ultimately, the real star of the film is Pard, the cute dog that stealsthe picture.

2012-05-16 15:49:01

TOUGH GUY GET BURNED - GREAT LOOKING DVD!

"High Sierra" is the story of an convict who is makes parol only to find himself thrown back into the hopper of organized crime. Bogie is the bad guy, tough as nails and raw as meat in a butcher's window. He's got a soft side though, and in this movie it's for Ida Lupino - a largely forgotten but extremely talented actress who's hooked up with two small time operators who are planning a hotel robbery job in the Sierra mountains. Great action and suspense!TRANSFER: VERY NICE! Warner's usual sterling quality is at work here. The credit sequence is a bit rough and there is a bit of instability in the original camera negative but over all this is one fine looking transfer. The gray scale is impeccably rendered. Blacks are black. Contrast and shadows are well balanced. There appears to be very little in the way of age related artifacts. There are NO signs of digital compression. The audio is MONO but nicely rendered.EXTRAS: A featurette that manages to cover a lot of ground in a very short time and provides a succinct look at the film's backstory. BOTTOM LINE: This Bogart classic is an absolute must for anyone who appreciates great performances and wonderful story telling. Ah yes, I remember why it is that I fell in love with the movies!

2012-05-16 08:16:57

Bogie Goes From Bad To Good Guy

Here is the film that launched stardom for Humphrey Bogart and changed him from the perpetual villain to the "good guy."The movie doesn't feature a lot of action but it keeps your interest. You have two women in here: the hard-boiled Ida Lupino and the soft-and-sweet Joan Leslie. Both are entertaining to watch and both demonstrate a few surprises in the personalities of the characters they are playing. Bogart does the same: goes back and forth between tough guy and softie.Another key member of this unusual crime story/film noir is "Pard:" a little dog! Human supporting roles are supplied by some familiar and solid actors such as Arthur Kennedy, Alan Curtis, Henry Hull, Henry Travers, Barton MacLane and Cornel Wilde. There are so many different angles to this story, it's always interesting to see.

2012-05-16 10:37:37

Bogie near the peak of Super-Stardom!

"High Sierra" released in January of 1941,gives us Bogart after having climbed that acting mountain for many years,just in hairs reach of the peak of super stardom.A classy tale of a heist gone wrong with lots of action and good acting throughout.The story concerns one Roy Earle,a criminal who is sprung out of the pen by his old boss Big Mac(Don McBride).He has one last big job for him and wants him to take charge of a group of characters,none of which Roy really trusts.On the way out he meets up with a kindly family led by Pa(Henry Travers)and his granddaughter Velma(Joan Leslie).Roy falls for the granddaughter whom he later helps out by giving the funds necessary to correct her clubbed foot.But Roy's love in the end is unrequited and in the end chalks his good deed up to experience.He reaches a camp where the "gang" are holed up waiting for the job to begin.One of the two men Babe(Alan Curtis) has brought along a girlfriend by the name of Marie(Ida Lupino),whom he periodically roughs up,much to the chagrin of Roy.After one such incident Roy gets rough with Babe and puts him in his place.Roy has wanted Marie to leave but in the end recants and Marie starts to fall for him.Roy finally meets up with Big Mac who is in serious trouble,health wise.Big Mac gives Roy a letter to be opened if anything should happen to him.The day of the big job finally comes and Roy and company rob the safe of a very up-scale hotel.The front desk clerk Mendosa(Cornel Wilde) is their inside man who leaves the safe purposely unlocked.The job is taking a little longer than expected when a security guard making his rounds stumbles in on the heist and gets shot by Roy.While fleeing in seperate cars,Roy and Marie witness their three partners accidentally run off the road and seemingly killed.However Mendozza lives and eventually squeals on Earle.By this time Roy has reconnected to hand over the jewels that were heisted,only to find that Big Mac has died.As instructed in the envelope he goes to another fence who tells Roy to return for his cut when he hears from him.When he gets the word and tries to collect he is discovered and the chase is on.He ends up in the Sierra Mountains and in the end,with Marie watching,dies there.He is now "free",as Marie,teary-eyed but comforted that he's in a better place(her identity as Roy's moll now confirmed),is led away by the police.The screenplay was co-written by John Huston,the famous director to be of such super hits as "The African Queen","The Maltese Falcon" ,"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and so many more.The film was directed wonderfully by venerable director Raoul Walsh of "Sadie Thompson"(1928) fame and many other good pictures of the 20s and 30s.Bogie as mentioned was just near super stardom and after his next gig "The Maltese Falcon", would come "Casablanca" and the rest is history.Ida Lupino was a classy actress in these years and plied her trade skillfully.It wouldn't be until the late 40s that her star would rise to its' peak, but in the meantime she learned about directing and between that and acting would continue to work well into the 70s.Character actor Henry Travers("Ball of Fire",the angel in"It's a Wonderful Life",and so many more),is a welcome addition to the cast playing a very affable Pa.Also a welcome addition is Willie Best giving some comic relief as Algernon,the camp caretaker and keeper of a little dog by the name of Pard.Pard was in fact Zero,Bogie's OWN dog!Also here is a young 15 year old Joan Leslie in her first major movie role and the first time using that name(she was billed in bit parts at MGM using her real name of Joan Brodel!).Finally we see 25 year old Cornel Wilde,almost unrecognizable,at the start of his career in a bit part as the inside man at the hotel(Mendoza)who rats out Roy later in the picture.This DVD has been transferred very well and the print,while exhibiting some flaws in keeping with its' age and condition,is generally in pretty good shape.Extras here are slim with just the theatrical trailer and a featurette about the movie.Wonderfully acted and directed, with a good script with well fleshed out characters,"High Sierra" makes for very entertaining movie fare and has never failed to disappoint.A good addition for your DVD library.

Melvin M. Carter 2012-05-15 22:55:12

The Last of the Outlaws

Bogart's Roy Earle is a Forerunner/offspring of William Holden's PikeBishop from "The Wild Bunch". Both are charismatic bandit leaders whohave no place to go in a world closing in on them, both have asentimental streak in them, but it is firmly wrapped in steel. It iswhat's appealing and frightening about these human wolf pack leaders.Earle is not cut out for the world of the Corleones, he's anindependent who gives his loyalty to those he feels are worthy of itand not out of fear. His sentimentality involving the farm family andthe crippled girl , Velma, in particular clouds his mind with visionsof a life that he can't have and wouldn't endure- foreclose his place?Better bring the National Guard. A professional surrounded by thehotheaded youngsters the crime is doomed from the beginning but hecarries his part through. Only his "fast stepping" girl played by IdaLupino can understand him. That and a little dog who is a reminder of alost youth.

SoftKitten80 2012-05-14 22:30:26

Run of the mill gangster movie

Humphrey Bogart shows his romantic side in true form in this movie. IdaLupino is barely believable as the moll, as her classy exterior justcan't hide in this movie. You can almost picture her going home andspending the evening at an elegant Hollywood party with literary types,after a day on the set of High Sierra. There is not much chemistrybetween her and Bogart. He has some natural chemistry with Joan Leslieand you genuinely believe he is charmed by her. With Ida Lupino theyseem to be two actors saying their lines back and forth to each other.They never quite connect. Joan Leslie is somewhat more believable as ayoung girl who is repelled by the thought of romancing Humphrey Bogart.She just wants to have a good time as a normal girl. The ladies clothesare surprisingly well cut in this movie. The end dragged on a bit. Butdefinitely a must see for early noir.

Rajiv 2012-05-14 13:22:22

A Touching Gangster Tale

The movie follows the life of 'Mad Dog' Earle over after his release from prison through as heist and ultimately to his death. The movie is touching as it shows the human side of the gangster through his dissappointments in love, his tenderness and his humaneness. Humphrey Bogart stars as a weathered old robber and Ida Lupino as a ex-bar girl. Both performances are understated and impressive. Perhaps this is the movie that brought Humphrey Bogart critical acclaim and further roles as a leading man.A very good film - a compelling watch. Most recommended.

2012-05-13 23:56:51

A Nice Transition from Gangster to Noir

Firstly, I think Koehler's review is largely spot on in its criticism of this movie. The blatant racism made me cringe several times (thankfully, though, the filmmakers had enough taste not to use a white man in black paint), the sleep-talking scene does seem like a cop-out, and the dog is too explicitly a vehicle for fate. On top of that, I'll add that some key moves in the end are hard to understand--why did Earl give all the money to Marie? Why did he subsequently rob a store without filling up with gas first (presumably the reason for the robbery in the first place)? This movie is by no means perfect.But it does have, I think, a good bit of substance to outweigh all these relatively minor detriments. The innovation of a complex gangster, for instance, is very enjoyable and already sets the tone for the "decent fellow forced into corrupt ways" nature of film noirs that was right around the corner. There is quite a bit of similarity in this respect between High Sierra and, say, Criss Cross, The Urban Jungle, or Out of the Past, where the main characters also are fundamentally decent and are trying to get back on the straight path by pulling off one final dirty deed. To my pleasant surprise, the female lead here is even better than in most classic noirs. Not only is she in my opinion much prettier and a better actress than most, but her character is actually more realistic. In a genre that typically features one-dimensional femme fatales whose job is only to lure the male protagonist into further corruption (think Out of the Past or Criss Cross), Marie shows more than a single impulse, and what's more important, even genuine affection for Earle. She's not in it just for the money like so many of the female characters.Lastly, there is a somewhat campy allegory involved here with the use of the mountains and the theme of busting out of jail to freedom. It's as subtle as a hammer in the way the director brings it up, since the characters talk about it a number of times (and Marie even brings up quite bluntly at the very end), but it adds a very pleasant element to the ending and makes it feel much more fulfilling. The tragic ending is still here, and the protagonist couldn't escape his fate/past, yet there is still a feeling of restored balance that most noirs lack (those who have seen the ending of The Asphalt Jungle will know what I mean).The disc itself has little beyond the movie--just the theatrical trailer and a 10-minute documentary on how High Sierra figures into the cinematographic scene. The latter, however, is aptly done and is very informative.This movie is on the brink of getting five stars from me, but some things simply fall short. An excellent way to spend the night nonetheless.

2012-05-13 07:18:17

Good acting; weak plot

Humphrey Bogart is always a pleasure to watch. Here, he's the tough but sensitive guy who has just been issued a parole and returns for another jewel heist. Along the way he falls in love with a sweet farm girl with a club foot, pays for her operation and pals around with her old-timey family in between meeting mobsters to plan for the job. The yokels he's been assigned to work with him have picked up a dime-a-dance girl in LA. (Ida Lupino). He wants her to go home but somehow she convinces him to let her stick around. Then, a very cute, but allegedly bad-luck dog attaches himself to Earle(Bogart). Earle proposed marriage to Velma, the farm girl, after her foot is fixed but she is improbably attached to a slick guy with a pencil mustache (always a bad sign in these pictures) who drinks too much and she tearfully refuses Earle's proposal, much to the dismay of Pa who knows who's who. So Earle falls back on Marie, the dance hall girl and quickly falls in love with her. Well, he's been in prison for eight years so I guess he's sorta vulnerable in the romance department.Mixed in with this human-interest strain of the plot, is the actual crime. It goes from bad to worse, no doubt due to the presence of Pard, the bad-luck dog, and Earle finds himself stranded in a cranny of the highest peak in America, with an audience of hundreds, including Marie, awaiting the outcome at the bottom.It's a pretty bad story and the only reason I hung in there were the nice performances of both Bogart and Lupino. Lupino, especially, was very convincing as the tough but pathetic girl who had nothing in the world but this criminal she met up with in the motel in the Sierras. If you can stand the plot, or if you are a died-in-the wool Bogart fan, you will probably like this. He certainly made better films later.