The Petrified Forest is originally written by Robert Sherwood as a hit play on Broadway. Adapted into film in 1936, this suspense drama is starred by original cast members Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Howard. The story is set in an old roadhouse café in the desert where Bette Davis plays a young woman, a waitress, who dreams of getting away from being stuck in a life with her father and a would-be suitor. Coincidentally, there was a penniless wandering poet (Howard) who comes along, out of the sands from a symbolic journey of emptiness for all the mistakes he made in life. The waitress is instantly captivated by the poet and they both decided to head out and see the world together. However, they did not have to for the world came to them in form of escaped criminals whose leader Duke Mantee (Bogart), who secretly makes a pact with the poet to fulfill the wish of the latter’s own demise.
Director Archie Mayo (The Great American Broadcast) expertly directs the film. Although the film was bound to the set of the café and the tension not enough, the film’s undeniable overture relies on the main performances: Bogart’s perplexed menace, Davis’s sexy desperation, and Howard’s refined aura. Despite the fact that the story and the film feel a little smug, the actors nonetheless make it convincing.
–Tom Keogh