KEY LARGO

One of John Huston's best films and certainly the best film made from a Maxwell Anderson play, (Huston and Richard Brooks did the adaptation). The material is just as tub-thumbingly preachy as we would expect from Anderson; we're still dealing with the struggle between good, (Bogie, Bacall and Lionel Barrymore), and evil (Edward G, Thomas Gomez and various henchmen), set in an hotel in Key Largo during a literal and metaphorical hurricane. Caught in the middle is Claire Trevor's lush Gaye Dawn. She won the film's only Oscar and gets to sing "Moanin' Low".

The difference between this and other Anderson adaptations is in the handling, in the superb cinematography by the great Karl Freund and in most of the casting. Bogart's character is too much a mouth-piece for decency, Bacall is still insipid and Barrymore is still his usual hammy self but Robinson is magnificent as is Gomez and Trevor is simply iconic. Of course, it's "The Petrified Forest" all over again only this time Bogie is on the side of the angels and it's still a second-rate play but thanks to Huston, a second-rate play has become a first-rate film.