Frank Borzage
(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi | Legal restrictions - Termini d'uso )

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Grande lirico del rapporto sentimentale, Frank Borzage seppe sempre collocare i due amanti, stretti in un ideale eterno abbraccio, in mezzo alla folla di tutti i giorni; il suo trascendentalismo procedeva in tre direzioni: realismo intimista, realismo sociale e psicologia erotica. Esaltando i valori del focolare domestico e biasimando gli orrori della guerra, tratteggiò un sogno immerso nella realtà, con una strana delicata toccante grazia lo tenne in sospeso sull'abisso della depressione. Al centro delle sue storie è sempre la situazione precaria di una coppia; il tono del racconto è fra l'ironico e il patetico; l'ambiente spazia dagli uffici di Berlino (Little Man What Now, 1934) a alle fogne di Parigi (Seventh Heaven, 1927), dal fronte italiano (A Farewell to Army, 1932) ai sobborghi dei disoccupati (A Man's Castle, 1933), dal cuore della foresta (The River, 1929),

Stranded (1935) is a minor love story.

An old man arriving to the big city on a boat doesn't know where to go. He has no money. He refuses charity from a volunteer but then collapses to the floor (and later dies at the hospital). The woman, Lynn, is asked by her boss Grace to accept as housemate a new volunteer, Velma, who is the daughter of a wealthy woman: the charity organization desperately needs money. It turns out that Velma was just looking for a way to move out of her mother's house so she can date her lover Jack. The following day a rude business man, Mack, inquires at Lynn's information booth about one of his employees. Lynn recognizes him as the first man who kissed her, when she was still a teenager.
At work Mack, who runs a construction company building a new bridge, is being blackmailed by the boss of an "association" who wants money or will cause "plenty of trouble".
Lynn and Mack go out on a date and meet Velma and Jack who are also on a date in the same club. Mack falls in love with Lynn. He follows her on her charity errands and finds it hard to be alone with her.
Mack has problems of his own, with the racketeer who gives him a deadline to pay or else... They confront each other and the racketeer pulls out a knife and wounds him.
Lynn wants Mack but on equal terms: she is not willing to give up her job. He commands her to quit. She doesn't. They part.
When one worker dies on the bridge, because he was walking drunk on the scaffolding, the racketeer wants to organize a strike to bring down Mack's company. Lynn hears of it and rushes to Mack's workplace. Mack does not want to interfere with the workers' meeting because he trusts his men. However, Velma's father, one of the investors in the bridge, wants him to make personally sure that there will be no strike. First Lynn enters the assembly hall and addresses the workers trying to convince them that they are being manipulated. Then Mack stops the racketeer who is trying to kill one of his own men, the one who got the worker drunk. Mack exposes the racketeer to the workers and leaves him there for them to beat him up. Mack and Lynn leave the room together.

alla metropoli alienante (The Big City, 1937); e la coppia è tipica di tale ambiente: un tassista lotta contro la mafia e contro l'estradizione della moglie straniera, il soldato americano e l'infermiera inglese(A Farewell to Army), l'operaio delle fogne e la ragazza sfruttata (Seventh Heaven), il boscaiolo e l'amante (The River), il giovane disoccupato e la giovane affamata (A Man's Castle), il commesso e la moglie (Little Man What Now), il tassista e l'esule russa (The Big City), il gangster e la sua donna (Strange Cargo, 1940).

Strange Cargo (1940) is a moral parable.

Verne (Clark Gable) is a criminal who has been sentenced to life and is deported to a penal colony in Guyana. He is attracted to Julie (Joan Crawford), a young woman who lives in the nearby town and works at the saloon (a prostitute?). He escapes from the prison just to go and see her in her room, but the sleazy Pig, who loves Julie, alerts the warden. When the guards storm the saloon, Julie, annoyed by Verne's arrogant attitude, turns him in.
Verne then finds out that a group of inmates are planning to escape. He asks to join them, but they initially refuse. Then another convict, Cambreau, offers them money to take both Verne and him with them. Cambreau talks like a prophet and seems very interested in Verne's fate.
Julie is trapped in that horrible town and can't wait to find a way to get out. Pig offers to help her, but she is disgusted by the coward. So she accepts another man's offer to give her a ride on his boat. This man is not any better: he takes her to his house and keeps her there as his sex slave. She even tries to kill him but a mysterious voice stops her and leaves money for her. In the meantime, the convicts escape and trek through the jungle. Verne is betrayed and left behind and has to trek by himself. He stumbles on the house where Julie is de-facto kept prisoner. He and Julie despise each other, but she is happy to run away with him in order to escape from her captor. They argue all along, but they continue together through the jungle. Cambreau is taking care of the others: he finds food and he finds a boat. As the convicts are about to board the boat, Verne and Julie also reach the beach. After a confrontation with the convict who betrayed him, Verne and Julie board the boat with the others and take off. The journey turns out to be a journey in hell.
Cambreau becomes their spiritual oracle: he shows them who they are, and what they are doing, and what is likely to be of them. They end up in a boat adrift in the ocean, and start dying. But Cambreau leads them to salvation: a hut on the coast, and the owner has a boat. Verne gets excited at the idea that he could soon sail towards a foreign country. Julie is madly in love with Verne, but she also hates him for being so selfish and evil. She only wants to go to America.
In the meantime, the warden has decided that they all died in the ocean, but the sleazy Pig (Peter Lorre) finds a bracelet that tells him Julie is alive. The wind is rising: a storm is on the way. Pig finds Julie and follows her: he wants her back. Verne leaves the cabin after a last kiss to Julie. Pig walks in to take advantage of Julie's distress. But Verne has sensed something and walks back in: finding them together, he draws the conclusion that they are together and they are planning to betray him, a conclusion reinforced when she stops him from killing Pig (Cambreau has told her to "save him", meaning "save Verne", not Pig). Incapable of explaining, Julie follows Pig out. Now Verne and Cambreau are alone. The storm rages on. Cambreau tells Verne that he will not follow him: Cambreau is basically calling his bluff. Verne kicks him out of the boat, and then yells at him while Cambreau is drowning. Verne even screams that he is God, because Cambreau's life now depends on him. But when Cambreau's body goes underwater, Verne jumps and saves his life. Redeemed, Verne looks for Julie and (the storm having subsided) boards the ship she wanted to take for America. As Cambreau leaves, the fisherman smiles and makes a cross on his chest.

Il presente è il grande nemico dell'amore, il futuro la grande speranza. La folla che circonda la coppia è sovente amica, una vera famiglia che li protegge e li aiuta (i baraccati che favoriscono la fuga dell'uomo sandwich e della sua compagna, i tassisti di Big City che nascondono la russa ricercata, i commessi di Berlino). Il nemico è una folla più astratta lontana e oscura, il sistema stesso, per sua natura indifferente o repressivo nei confronti dell'amore (la polizia che bracca l'uomo-sandwich, il governo che chiama alle armi l'operaio, il principale che licenzia il commesso). E' l'apologia del "due cuori e una capanna".

Seventh Heaven (ambientato in un villaggio francese): in un misero stanzino vivono due sorelle orfane, una timida e buona, l'altra ladra e ubriacona; quando due ricchi zii si propongono di adottarle, la prima rovina tutto raccontando la verità, e la seconda la insegue in strada per strangolarla; il povero essere indifeso viene salvato da un operaio delle fogne, ateo e un po' cinico, che le impedisce anche di suicidarsi, ma che lì per lì la tratta come una reietta e sta per abbandonarla in mezzo alla strada; visto però che un vecchio prete gli ha appena procurato un lavoro migliore e gli ha regalato delle medagliette d'oro, si sente generoso e mente per salvarla dalla polizia che, dopo aver arrestato la sorella, vuole arrestare anche lei; temendo che la polizia venga a controllare se è veramente sua moglie, la porta a casa sua; poco a poco lei si affeziona a quell'uomo rude e un po' borioso; anche lui finisce per voler bene a quella ragazza fragile e spaventata, così premurosa verso di lui come una brava mogliettina; e l'appartamento al 7 piano che dà sui tetti diventa il loro paradiso; ma prima che possano sposarsi scoppia la guerra e lui deve partire soldato. La giovane, rimasta sola, sa difendersi dalla sorella, non è più una donnina debole e anonima; così quando lui torna cieco dal fronte, trova ad attenderlo una ragazza felice e piena di speranza nel futuro. Un delirio di tenerezze, esaltato dalla lunga attesa (ogni mattina alle undici i due si parlano a chilometri di distanza).

A man's castle: una ragazza affamata cerca di farsi sfamare da un signore in frac, ma è soltanto un disoccupato che si adatta a fare l'uomo-sandwich; i due vanno a vivere in un villaggio di baracche, in mezzo a profeti poeti e ubriaconi; l'uomo tenta anche la via del furto, ma, braccato dalla polizia, soltanto grazie alla solidarietà dei baraccati riesce a scappare insieme con la moglie e il neonato: saltando su un treno merci, diretto in un'altra città, dove li aspetta un altro futuro.

Little man what now: un giovane commesso sposa la giovane che ama anche se il modesto stipendio che percepisce dal padrone dispotico non consente loro alcun agio; i suoi colleghi sono macchiette, vittime come lui della povertà e della paura di perdere il posto: perde l'impiego proprio quando la moglie deve partorire il primogenito.

Questi film culminano in grandi scene d'illidio, come quella di The river (lui è malato, è scosso dai brividi: lei si denuda e lo abbraccia).

Three Comrades (1938) follows three friends as they tend to a dying woman in pre-war Germany.

The Shining Hour (1938) is a (mediocre) melodrama of jealousy and self-sacrifice.

Passengers wake up on a long-distance flight and discuss the gossip of the day: a night-club dancer, Olivia (Joan Crawford), is dating a celebrity, the rich farmer Henry. Henry's brother David is on the plane and overhears the conversation. At the night-club, where David has just been watching Olivia's performance, Olivia tells Henry that she is scared. She is aware that Henry's spinster sister Hannah hates her. Looking for his brother, David shows up uninvited to a party thrown by another young tycoon, Roger. The crowd of wealthy socialites is making fun of the marriage just before Henry and Hannah walk in announcing their engagement. While David tries to change Henry's mind, Roger chats with Olivia: Roger is one of the many boyfriends she has had and is convinced that she will dump Henry too, but she confesses that this time she is really in love. They get married anyway and then fly to Henry's farm, where she is met by hostility from everybody except David's wife Judy, who is powerless in the kingdom ruled by Hannah. As David gets to spend more time, he becomes clearly jealous of Henry (who is designing a new house for himself and Olivia) and finds himself attracted to Olivia. Olivia reproaches him, and swears her faithfulness to Henry, but both Henry and Judy have noticed what is going on. Judy confesses that David never loved her and falls into depression. In the meantime Olivia confronts Hannah, who plainly tells her she is not welcome there. David keeps romancing Olivia, who desperately tries to push him away but cannot resist him. So she asks Henry to go away. Henry blames Hannah for convincing Olivia that she doesn't belong there. July, tears falling down her cheeks, tells Olivia that she should go away with David. Hannah sets fire to the new home that Henry was building and then tries to accuse Olivia of the fire. David finally rebels to Hannah's dictatorship. Olivia saves Judy who has run into the fire and then gives David a lecture about real love, the love of Judy and Henry, not the selfish love of David and of past Olivia affairs. Now Olivia feels that she has to leave alone, but this time it is Hannah herself, moved by Olivia's self-sacrifice, that tells Henry not to let her go. The Mortal Storm (1940), one of the first anti-nazi films made in Hollywood, follows a German family during nazism contrasting the simple life of good people with the brutal ideology that takes over their world. From a quiet domestic comedy the film turns into a tragedy of moral chaos and impotence in the face of history's devastating maelstrom. The story takes place in a town nested in the idyllic mountain landscape of Germany, just before Hitler's election to chancellor. Two young men, Otto and Erich, celebrate the 60th birthday of the head of the family, who is actually their stepfather. His wife, his teenage son and his daughter Freya, together with her boyfriend Fritz (one of his students), are also nice to him. The warm atmosphere of the family matches the beauty of the mountains. He's a professor at the university. When he enters the class room, he is welcomed by a standing ovation, from both his students and the rest of the faculty. At the birthday dinner Fritz asks Freya's hand. At that very moment the news arrives that Adolf Hitler has been elected chancellor. Most of the young men in the room are enthusiastic, starting with Fritz himself. The professor is worried because he is a Jew. Martin (James Stewart) is the one skeptic among the students. But the professor and Martin are the exception to the rule: for everybody else Hitler's election is an injection of hope. The party is spoiled when the nazists call an emergency meeting at the university: Martin is the only one who prefers to celebrate the professor's birthday. There is another reason why Martin is unhappy: he is secretely in love with Freya, and now she's engaged to Fritz. The atmosphere in town has completely changed. Pub customers sing patriotic songs extending the nazist salute. Martin and Freya are the only ones who do not join the masses in their enthusiastic demonstrations of nazist loyalty. An elderly man who refuses to sing along is almost beaten by the nazists and only Martin defends him. The professor's stepsons and Fritz are ashamed of his action. Fritz calls him an enemy. Outside the young nazists are beating the old man. Martin sends Fritz to hell and rushes outside. Freya follows him and later Fritz reproaches her.
The professor is soon a victim of racial discrimination. The nazi leader asks all loyal nazists to boycott the classes held by a Jew. And Fritz is one of the first students to abandon him. The same nazists burn books in the square. The professor, once a happy man, now lives inside a nightmare. Freya, realizing that Fritz's friends are the ones who will persecute her people, breaks their engagement. Even Freya's brother are on the nazist side: they forbid Martin to visit the professor's house ever again. And to make it clear they and their nazist friends beat him when he ignores their warning. When her mother and daughter run out to stop the fight, the nazist boys tell Otto and Erich that they will report the unpatriotic behavior of their relatives. Otto and Erich are so ashamed that they decide to leave the house.
Martin risks his life to help the schoolmaster (the old man who resisted the nazists at the pub) flee to Austria. Freya is proud and worried for him, and kisses him fondly. She confesses to Martin's mother that she's in love with him. The nazists enter the house and interrogate the women about the schoolmaster. Both Martin's mother and Freya refuse to talk. Martin remains in Austria, a fugitive. The professor is arrested by the police for being a Jew and pretending that there is no biological difference between Jews and Aryans. His wife and Freya can find no help from old friends. Freya even begs Fritz, who now works for the nazists, but Fritz is more loyal to Hitler than to old friends. The professor dies of a heart attack in jail.
The two women and the young boy decide leave for Austria, which is still free of nazism. But at the border the guards detain Freya because she is carrying a manuscript by her father. They take away her passport. Martin has to travel through the mountains to come and rescue her. They set out immediately for the return journey through the snow. The nazists put Fritz in charge of the posse that chases them. Freya slows Martin down. Martin and Freya are almost in Austria when the patrol closes in on them. Fritz order the soldiers to shoot. They hit Freya. Martin carries her across the border, but she dies in his arms.
Fritz returns to the barrack and tells Freya's brother how she died. One of the brothers curses Martin, but the other one now hates nazism.
The last scene is a masterpiece of cinematic metaphor. As Freya's repenting brother walks out of the room, the camera continues into their old house. There is nobody inside the house but we keep hearing the sound of the footsteps. The camera moves around the empty house, and in every corner we hear a voice from the past. Then the footsteps accelerate and walk outside in the snow. We see the footprints in the snow. And the snow slowly covers them.

Flight Command (1940) is about a cadet who wants to prove himself during flight training.

Smilin' Through (1941), from a stage play that had already been filmed twice, is a badly acted and scripted romantic melodrama.

John lives a lonely and melancholy lives, mourning the bride that he lost on his wedding day. Friends convince him to adopt the little niece, Kathleen, of his beloved. Years later, Kathleen has become a beautiful young woman, the mirror image of the dead woman. During a storm, she and a friend take shelter into an abandoned house. She senses that something terrible must have happened there. They hear a horse and then steps. It is a mysterious and handsome man, Kenneth, the son of the old owner. She falls in love with him, but when she mentions the name to her uncle John, he is terribly hurt. He tells her that Kenneth's father, Jeremy, is the man who killed his bride. A flashback (a lengthy and tedious sequence) shows what happened during the wedding. Jeremy was madly in love with the woman and couldn't stand the rejection. He showed up drunk at their wedding. He shot to kill the groom, John, but hit the bride, Kathleen's aunt. As she was dying, she told John that their love would never die. Jeremy left his house (the abandoned house) and ran away. She understands her uncle's feelings, but she can't resist her heart. Kenneth is about to leave for the war and she wants to go with him, but John forbids her to marry him. He even breaks up with his best friend of many years, who tries to talk sense into him. Wounded in the war, Ken comes back briefly. Kathleen has been waiting for him, but he treats her coldly. John's friend comes to John to tell him what is going on: Ken is a fine fellow, and wants Kathleen to forget him rather than be a wedge between Kathleen and John. John stil refuses to change his mind, even though Kathleen's happiness is at stake. But, seeing Kathleen cry, eventually he gives in. And he dreams of his bride walking into the room in her white dress.

The Spanish Main (1945) was a costume pirate movie set in the Caribbeans.

Borzage was a master of the "mise en scene".

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