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"The ol' fake-a-roo," immemorial and absolutely modern, a fulminating divination of the Murdoch machine. ("Free press" is blasted off a plaque in the first scene, so it goes with "a streamlined newspaper for a streamlined era.") The flash of inspiration is a kiss-off article from the fired columnist (Barbara Stanwyck), thus the suicidal Everyman is born as a circulation stunt and incarnated by the bush-league pitcher turned vagabond (Gary Cooper). "See what you look like protesting." "Against what?" "Against anything, just protest!" The microphone at the radio studio looms balefully before him, the exit door offered by his pal (Walter Brennan) is declined in favor of earnest perorations that galvanize a land of soda jerks and crusty neighbors. Grassroots movements are grist for the fascist mill, seized by the moneybags (Edward Arnold) with eyes on the White House and his own black-shirted militia. "Well boys, chalk up another one to the Pontius Pilates." The Passion of Frank Capra, messiah complex plus impostor syndrome, his most complicated and unsettled work. The hero and his creator are opportunists, the philanthropist is a homegrown dictator, benevolence is a commodity, about the only true thing is the scratchy bum who sees "Heelots" everywhere. Framed between portraits of Lincoln and Washington, lectured by the sloshed editor (James Gleason), the elongated savior with "great yokel appeal" and a date with the abyss. His disciples can go from singalong to riot at a moment's notice, the Potemkin frenzy at the rain-soaked convention makes for quite the brutal Gethsemane. "Lighthouses in a foggy world," Calvary and Resurrection on the City Hall ledge, as unresolved as it needs to be. "You couldn't improve the world if the buildings jumped on you!" A Face in the Crowd, General Della Rovere, Network... Cinematography by George Barnes. With Spring Byington, Gene Lockhart, Rod La Rocque, Irving Bacon, Regis Toomey, J. Farrell MacDonald, Warren Hymer, Ann Doran, and Sterling Holloway. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |