Man Wanted and Pete Kelly's Blues

William Dieterle's Man Wanted (1932) and Jack Webb's Pete Kelly's Blues (1956), both recently screened on Turner Classic Movies, would seem to have little in common, but watching them both recently I found some similarities.

1. Andy Devine is in both films.  Devine was an actor I was fond of in the 50's, when he played Jingles, Guy Madison's sidekick, in the TV show Wild Bill Hickok. He was rather rotund and often used as comic relief, but is quite effective in the Jack Webb film as a lawman, while in the Dieterle he plays a sweet roommate, with homoerotic overtones, and ends up with the girl his friend rejects.  Devine was particularly good in his John Ford roles, especially Stagecoach (1939) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1965), in which he plays a sheriff who doesn't want to lock up Liberty Valance because "the lock on the jail cell is broken and, besides, I sleep there."

2. Both films have elegant cinematography:  Man Wanted is photographed in beautiful black-and-white with a characteristic mobile camera by Gregg Toland, who later photographed Citizen Kane (1941), while Pete Kelly's Blues has lovely wide-screen color cinematography with a special emphasis on yellows and oranges, by Hal Rosson, who did Singing in the Rain (1952).

3. Pete Kelly's Blues stars Webb himself and Man Wanted stars Kay Francis, both stars in their time who are barely remembered today, though Webb may be, to a certain extent, for the TV show Dragnet.  Webb's film employs his "staccato metaphor" style first used effectively in his radio shows Pat Novak, For Hire (1946) and Johnny Modero, Pier 23 (1947), both written by Richard Breen, who wrote Pete Kelly's Blues:  "the street was as deserted as a warm bottle of beer." I always thought Webb's style more suited to radio than TV, where its effectiveness was diminished by low-budgets and minimal sets. Pete Kelly's Blues does demonstrate Webb's love of jazz and there is some terrific music, especially with Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. Kay Francis was a lisping beauty eventually done in by poor scripts and mediocre directors, though she soared in Lubitsch's stylish Trouble in Paradise (1932), where she wasn't burdened by a starring role.