Key Largo

The tough, unyielding Edward G. Robinson, the cynical, disillusioned Humphrey Bogart, the acid - tongued but loyal Lauren Bacall are unquestionably three characters ever created. All three are brought together by John Huston, who directed and co-wrote (with Richard Brooks) this adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's stage play. Frank McCloud (Bogart) travels to an island in Florida keys to visit the widow of a war buddy. At the hotel where he stays, he encounters crass gangster Johnny Rocco (Robinson). Rocco and his henchmen have taken over the hotel. McCloud must decide whether to become involved when the opportunity presents itself or to remain aloof. John Huston has given us a KEY LARGO which is a paradigm of sub-tropical desolation. The stage is set for a rich confrontation between Robinson, who is forcefully oppressive and the man who can do something-Bogart. Bette Davis provides an acting tour de force as a frustrated spinster who is pushed into a nervous breakdown by her domineering mother, is cured by psychiatry to emerge as a poised and beautiful woman, only to be trapped in a doomed romance with a married man. Now Voyager provided Davis with one of the best - and most popular - roles of her career and she dominates the screen with a stunning performance that deservedly won her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress and she turns what could have simply been a high class soap opera into a believable and moving emotional experience. Gladys Cooper gives a searing performance as her mother which also earned her an Oscar nomination, Claude Rains could not have been bettered as the psychiatrist and Paul Henreid, playing the architect with whom Davis has her affair made history ( and set a new style in smoking habits) when he lit two cigarettes in his mouth at the same time. And the film's final line, spoken by Davis, 'Let's not ask for the moon when we have the stars' is rightly a cinematic classic. Variety accurately summed up the film's appeal when it commented 'Better Davis is the perfect choice for the role...turning in a moving performance filled warmth and colour to catch audience sympathy. Irving Rapper again marks himself as a director with an understanding for searching, human drama, capturing the sweep of emotion that distinguished the Olive Higgins Proutly novel. Casey Robbinson displays his craftsmanship in the screen adaptation.' And Max Steiner won an Oscar for his romantic and emotional musical score. © Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc