For the first of this series looking at film versions of books what better way to start than with a literary classic?
We first meet George and Lennie running for their lives from a pursuing mob and only George’s quick thinking allows them to escape. As the pair wend their way in search of work it becomes clear that Lennie has what we’d call today learning difficulties. It’s Lennie’s slow wits and huge size that have got the pair into newmerous scrapes but when they find a job on a ranch George begins to believe that the pipe dream he’s filled Lennie’s head with could become a reality, a dream of having a place of there own.
I’ve never read John Steinbeck’s classic novel (although after watching the film I want to) but the tone of the film never leaves you in doubt that you’re in for a tragic ending, yet at the same time it manages to make you hope against hope that you’re wrong, that this mismatched pair will fulfil their dream and live happily ever after. It’s a film that pushes your emotional buttons but never in a cheap way. We care about these people because Eugene Solow’s script, and the actor’s performances, ground them in reality. For a film that’s pushing seventy it’s dated remarkably well.
To people my age Burgess Meredith is either The Penguin or Mickey in the Rocky films so it came as something of a surprise seeing him looking so young. Prior to watching this I think the oldest thing I’d seen Meredith in was the classic Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last” made about twenty years after Of Mice and Men. Here he’s compelling as the complex George, a man who feels a sense of responsibility to his friend and yet he can’t help having some resentment for the trouble Lennie causes and the nomadic lifestyle that’s forced upon them.
If Meredith is best remembered for two roles his co-star Lon Chaney has just one – Larry Talbot. Given the sense of tragedy he brought to that role it shouldn’t really be a surprise that he’s so good here. Chaney was born to play this hulking giant with a gentle heart and hands of iron. It’s not just his size, although he’s never seemed quite so intimidatingly huge, but the childlike quality he brings to the part. He may break things but he hasn’t got a malicious bone in his body, “There’s no more harm in him than a kid either, ‘sept he’s so strong” says George at one point.
It’s not only Lennie who’s a tragic figure though. Candy, played by Roman Bohnen, is an aging crippled worker (he lost a hand in an accident) on the verge of being put out to pasture. Bohnen gets some of the films most moving moments, if you still have a dry eye after the dog scene you’re just not human. This is a film full of damaged characters, with Betty Field’s Mae, the ultimate cause of Lennie’s downfall, getting a touching scene, while Leigh Whipper gives us a glimpse at the life of a black man of the time.
The films only duff performance come from cowboy star Bob Steele, whose portrayal of the rancher’s son, and Mae’s jealous husband, is straight out of a B western of the period. It’s almost cartoonish villainy and sits poorly with the natural performances of the rest of the cast.
Even with the bum note supplied by Steele this is a terrific film. It’s surprising that it didn’t win any Oscars and even more surprising that none of its four nominations were for acting. This is a must see for Lon Chaney fans as it’s probably his career best performance and a real cinema classic.
Horror and Western film buff, Marvel comic geek, music lover and occasional gamer. 