While KEY LARGO is certainly no masterpiece, it IS highly entertaining, thanks largely to two larger than life performances from EDWARD G. ROBINSON (at his mightiest) and CLAIRE TREVOR (who manages to steal every scene she is in as a lush past her prime as a torch singer).
But it's not quite the sort of thing Bogart and Bacall fans were used to. Lauren is much more demure than usual, very low-key but earnest in her performance and she does well in a part that is not quite as sultry as her other roles of this period. Bogart too is low-key in a rather colorless role (for him anyway), as a soldier who drops in on Bacall and her father (Lionel Barrymore) at a hotel in the Florida keys to give them information about her soldier husband.
The oncoming storm is nothing compared to the histrionics of EDWARD G. ROBINSON who chews up all the scenery in sight as a gangster almost as black-hearted as his Wolf Larsen in THE SEA WOLF, even though most of the scenery is confined to a couple of hotel settings. Surprisingly, for a film directed by John Huston, he has allowed the storm aspect to be the least realistic part of the setting. It all seems to take place on a Warner sound stage with banging shutters and loose pictures on the wall, but not much of a storm to be concerned about except when miniatures are shown of a very strong tide and a hotel battered by winds and rain.
But these are minor squabbles when all the performances are edgy and wonderful, particularly Thomas Gomez, Dan Seymour and Marc Lawrence. But it's CLAIRE TREVOR and EDW. G. ROBINSON that have the most powerful roles and they play them with every bit of professionalism they can muster--and that's plenty. Trevor has never been more effective and richly deserved her Supporting Role Oscar.
Some of the film drags, burdened by too much of Maxwell Anderson's stage dialog which tends to give a static look to some of the scenes, but the last half-hour is full of vigorous movement as the story reaches a satisfying climax.
If you're looking for a typical Bogart/Bacall film, this is not it. But it is good, solid entertainment.
But it's not quite the sort of thing Bogart and Bacall fans were used to. Lauren is much more demure than usual, very low-key but earnest in her performance and she does well in a part that is not quite as sultry as her other roles of this period. Bogart too is low-key in a rather colorless role (for him anyway), as a soldier who drops in on Bacall and her father (Lionel Barrymore) at a hotel in the Florida keys to give them information about her soldier husband.
The oncoming storm is nothing compared to the histrionics of EDWARD G. ROBINSON who chews up all the scenery in sight as a gangster almost as black-hearted as his Wolf Larsen in THE SEA WOLF, even though most of the scenery is confined to a couple of hotel settings. Surprisingly, for a film directed by John Huston, he has allowed the storm aspect to be the least realistic part of the setting. It all seems to take place on a Warner sound stage with banging shutters and loose pictures on the wall, but not much of a storm to be concerned about except when miniatures are shown of a very strong tide and a hotel battered by winds and rain.
But these are minor squabbles when all the performances are edgy and wonderful, particularly Thomas Gomez, Dan Seymour and Marc Lawrence. But it's CLAIRE TREVOR and EDW. G. ROBINSON that have the most powerful roles and they play them with every bit of professionalism they can muster--and that's plenty. Trevor has never been more effective and richly deserved her Supporting Role Oscar.
Some of the film drags, burdened by too much of Maxwell Anderson's stage dialog which tends to give a static look to some of the scenes, but the last half-hour is full of vigorous movement as the story reaches a satisfying climax.
If you're looking for a typical Bogart/Bacall film, this is not it. But it is good, solid entertainment.