User Reviews

Virtually one of the most impossible plays to successfully film, this is as good as it's going to get. The independent production is raised up a notch by the powerful performances of William Bendix and Susan Hayward, saying extreme opposites whose first encounter creates heat, but not the kind that Bendix desires.

The title role is indeed Bendix, a rather vile, uncouth foreman of a ship's furnace. Hayward is a nasty socialite, a party girl with no direction who is furious how she must take a freighter rather than a cruise ship to her next spot of amusement, and while on board, decided to check out the seedier side of the ship by visiting the furnace room. One look at Bendix brings out both fascination and disgust, while Bendix is both filled with lust and humiliation by her reaction to him. This is one of those dramas that audiences avoided on screen because it reminded them of their prejudices and judgementalism.

On stage, this was obviously an intense comment on social injustice and human corruption. Bendix doesn't win sympathy because he's a brutish bully, while Hayward is everything that can be wrong with the alleged "gentler sex". It is a play for intellects, but on screen during World War II, it made humanity seem as vile as the enemies we were fighting. As art, it is very profound, but as entertainment, it is quite depressing.

The tone of the film is well established and directs our path to what we expect to be a tragic ending. At face value, I do think that most viewers are actually hopeful for a conclusion where the characters reap what they sow. In the end we receive something that ignites disappointment, but when we examine our characters more closely we're surprised to see more brilliance than a missed opportunity.

Hank is a bullish simpleton with very little concern for anything outside of his hard occupation as a heavy who shovels coal into the broiler on an ocean freighter. Mildred is a sharp beautiful socialite that is only concerned with what she can get and doesn't care who she hurts to obtain it. She is a conqueror of men and unlikable to say the least.

Her use and abuse of others is so irritating that by the end of the film you're hoping that Hank does "smash her up." Alas, we don't get that ending. Instead, we get a bizarre scene where Hank and Mildred realize that they are exactly the same. They look different, act different and exist in different realities, but they are both brutish and users of people. They only care about themselves and their own agenda.

Mildred was able to rob Hank of his "strength" by looking at him in disgust and calling him a name. This would not have fazed him in any type of setting......except in the one place where he was in his prime, the one place where he was king. The broiler room. She imposed into his kingdom and degraded him. It broke him. She basically stole his manhood. It didn't require any of her charm, her deceitfulness, her sensuality. She just simply reacted to the disgust and fear that he ignited in her. This wasn't her style and it wasn't even her intention which is a direct contrast to what she was doing to Tony. She was slowly and strategically conquering him in his own environment where he should have been his strongest as well.

In the end, Hank goes on a mission to conquer Mildred by killing her, but when he arrives he learns that murdering her isn't necessary. He only needs to bring her under submission. He does this by terrifying her. She faints in fear when he puts his hand around her throat. My question is, was the fainting authentic or was she faking? Whatever the case may be, when she awakes on the sofa Hank is staring at her. His eyes have changed from that of hatred to infatuation. Hank caresses her hair. When Mildred sees that he is spellbound, her facial expression changes back to the smug manipulative witch that she is. Hank is on to her and knows she's going to make a dash for the door. She leans in like she's going to kiss him, she makes a dive, Hank grabs her and they just stand there staring at each other. Hank has her by the shoulders. She probably thinks that Hank is this sexual predator that is smitten by her beauty. She's not looking at him in fear, but defiantly. She believes that she may have to endure something rough in the next few moments but if she plays along and pours on the charm she will have another opportunity to escape. That opportunity doesn't come. Hank shakes her violently and throws her on the sofa. Her face is one of surprise. When Hank turns to walk away, her facial expression goes from surprise to shock. He stops, turns back to her and reaches in his pocket. Her face returns to fear, she thinks it's going to be a knife or a gun. It's a coin! As we've already seen in the beginning of the film, Hank is a crackerjack coin flipper. He flips the coin down Mildred's blouse and the fear disappears from her eyes and turns to insult! Hank smirks and walks out the door.

Mildred is left alone, she looks at the coin and smirks, but the smirk quickly fades to defeat. Hank has gotten his revenge. Mildred had came into his house and stole his dignity, now he has returned the favor. He entered into her house and stole hers. What can she do? She could retaliate by lying to accuse him of harm. It's no good. She's a socialite and admitting that you have been the victim of a sexual assault by someone from such a low class in your own home would be class suicide........she would be damaged goods. She didn't have any bruises or proof that he had attacked her. Hank was smart. He wanted to hit her, but he only shook her around a bit. She knows Hank has won.

We can only guess if this ends Mildred's endeavor to conquer others by stealing their dignity. I think the low drums playing also leaves her unsettled in that Hank could return and murder her. He truly did scare her and that fear will not be leaving anytime soon.

Maybe just as profound is the scene that follows where Hank stops into the bar to find a drunken Tony who is devastated over Mildred's treatment of him. He is passed out. Hank stands over him with a perfect opportunity to get revenge for how Tony had treated him earlier in the film. Instead, he picks him up and carries him back to the ship. After returning Tony back to his room, he does something very interesting. The flower that Mildred had given Tony to help manipulate him is laying in the room. Hank picks it up and throws it overboard. This is an act of power to display Hank's ability to forget Mildred and toss her memory overboard. This indicates that she isn't welcomed there. It can also be translated as an act of sympathy towards Tony so that when he sobers the flower will not be there as a reminder of Mildred.

Back in the broiling room Hank is back to his old self, yelling and giving out commands to the other workers. Except now he is blowing the whistle that Tony had dropped in the bar. This signifies that he is the victor. He accomplished what Tony could not. He had retrieved his dignity. As a man, as a member of the lower class, as a Hairy Ape. He had overcame the adversity and even had improved his character.....a little!

The film is worth a watch and possibly a second viewing is in order to pull out the subtle messages that are only apparent in the slight facial expressions.

Here's one for Tom Fadden's fans! As "Long", Tom has one of his biggest roles ever! Also in a sizable role is rarely-seen Dorothy Comingore, who made such a huge impression in Citizen Kane. Here she plays Helen Parker, and is billed fourth to William Bendix (in the title role), Susan Hayward, and John Loder. Yes, this variant of Beauty and the Beast is earnestly acted. At times, it's even imaginatively directed by Irving Pichel and adroitly edited by William Ziegler. It's also well designed by art director, James Sullivan, and attractively costumed by the star, Susan Hayward, herself, who looks particularly attractive in her flowing robes. Lucien Andriot's adroit photography is also a sizable asset – particularly his delicate close-ups of Miss Hayward. However, it's hard to believe that the ordinary dialogue, stereotyped characters and predictable plotting have their genesis in a play by Eugene O'Neill. The movie is often not only too talky but incredibly static. The characters seem to spend forever just turning lights on and off!

This film, which is based loosely, so loose in fact that it practically unravels entirely in the second half, has very little to recommend itself as an exploration of any serious societal issues. The acting was decent, and although the three main characters (Yank, or Hank in the film, Paddy, and Long)are played decently by the actors, their efforts fall short of depicting the real sentiment that lies beneath this adaptation, which is this; a world where people are divided by social class, and a world in which Hank is searching unsuccessfully "to belong." The last twenty minutes of movie slaughters any significance the author intended the work to have. In the play, Yank's(Hank in the film)personal struggles with his own inner animalistic behavior and perhaps his inability or unwillingness to evolve into an accepted 'gentleman' amount to a poignant climax. After striving for a niche in the modern world, he finds that his place is more rudimentary--that of the coal rooms on the freighter. And with his realization, the play holds a richer context. The film on the other hand completely disregards any of the far reaching consequences of social and class segregation. In typical movie cheesiness, the film has Hank unconvincingly change into a person accepting of the newly emerging white collar society. He sees the ape at the Circus; at the same time confronting his own identity as man or beast. This is where the film departs from the play, and subsequently loses its powerful insight. In the play, Yank's own anger and the mistreatment he has partly inflicted on himself finally overtake his rational and human side. He sees himself as the ape, and decides to unleash the creature, hoping to bring some of the chaos and crude power that he believes 'makes the world go.' But in the film, he clearly does not take this route. The film takes the easy way out, and Hank shifts somewhat unbelievably into a more dignified man. He visits Mildred, and flips a coin at her, an action that serves to illustrate how he understand and can operate in the new world based on monetary foundations. It also could show how he maintains a bit of his resistance to such a world. Yet, the overall message is that there is no difference between classes, which at the time, and even today, could not be any further from the truth. The film concludes in a way that tries to wrap up all the unsettling questions the play brings to the surface. At the film's end, a friend asks Hank how the other half(meaning the upper crust of society), lives. Hank responds by saying nonchalantly, "just like us." While the film seems here to make the accurate point that we are all humans, and in that very narrow view we do all live the same way, it misses the monumental undertones that fuel the play and make it 'move.'