Raoul Walsh, between the Western and the Southern "This essay analyses how three films directed by Raoul Walsh and released as Westerns at the end of the forties are, in fact, steeped in the codes of “Southern” films, recalling films such as Gone with the Wind and heralding The Night of the Hunter or Walsh’s own “Southern” Band of Angels." "These “Westerns” merge classical themes of the genre (the conquest of the West, mining, railroad extension, attacks on stagecoaches, train robberies, outlaws — in a typically male world) with the themes of plantation films: nostalgia for a paradise lost, the predominance of the past, a clandestine or mixed-race identity, Gothic elements, dilapidated houses, graveyards and memento mori, and strong female characters. " "Pursued, located in the wild landscapes of New Mexico, is built on the hero’s quest to recover his identity, on the ghostly return of the repressed and on the recognition of the destroyed childhood home; the film re-plays the Civil War in a conflict against the Spaniards, while constructing a complex Scarlett-like female character. " "Silver River mixes the ruthless environment of the silver mines with more refined places such as steam boats, game houses and ballrooms; the character of Georgia, with a first name that connotes the South, represents a blend of the Southern Belle and Calamity Jane." "Finally, Colorado Territory presents outlaw Wes McQueen as a runaway slave, emphasizes the uprooting of the Winslows after their departure from the Deep South to settle in the Far West, and dramatizes the direct opposition between two women — the Southern Belle, Julie Ann, and the Indian half-blood, Colorado, whose names assert their geographical origins." "The meeting of the Western and the Southern seems to give rise to an intense confrontation between a male-coded world and a female-coded world, in a war of the sexes that challenges filmic and social norms."
Action! Action! Action! A Raoul Walsh Retrospective February 1–March 10, 2013 "It can be reliably argued that Raoul Walsh (1887-1980) remains the most dominant filmmaker of Hollywood’s studio era. As an auteur Walsh could be of the equal of Ford, Hawks or Hitchcock – or, at the very least, today he would well count among the “Pantheon” directors the late Andrew Sarris immortalized in his groundbreaking American Cinema: Directors and Directions of 1968." "This retrospective counting seventeen features that Haden Guest has carefully and, if I may, brilliantly selected for viewing over the course of the spring semester will allow us to judge. Subject of Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood’s Legendary Director, Marilyn Ann Moss’s meticulously researched biography of 2011, Walsh counts among the mythic one-eyed moguls (with Ford and André de Toth) who knew how to conceive, shoot and edit films that were invariably finished on time and under budget." "Indelible auteur, he brought innovation and signature style to a plethora of genres: the western, the woman’s film, melodrama, the musical, dance films, boxing movies, gangster potboilers, the sword-and-sandal (or peplum) epic, film noir, depression comedy, the war movie, the pirate movie, the period piece…. From 1913 to 1964, from A Mother’s Love (Pathé, filmed in Brooklyn) and Paul Revere’s Ride (also Pathé, shot in Fort Lee, NJ) to A Distant Trumpet (Warner Brothers) he was responsible for – mostly directing, often editing and, early on, acting in – 176 films." (READ MORE)
DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS Sr and RAOUL WALSH play a game of ''Hit the a's'' against 2 unidentified movie crew members. 1924
HA HA HA HA, ha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a February 12, 1924 Actors Raoul Walsh and Mary Pickford with Douglas Fairbanks (l. to r.) aboard the Olympic.
Did Raoul Walsh really co-write a song? . Let's Dream in the Moonlight - Dorothy Lamour Composer: Matt Malneck Lyricist: Raoul Walsh
The Big Picture "From the silents through the studio days, Raoul Walsh perhaps made more movies than anyone, yet is largely forgotten today. In a personal appreciation, Richard Schickel considers the director’s contribution to film history" Raoul Walsh (center) on the set of High Sierra (1941) with Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures) BY RICHARD SCHICKEL "Raoul Walsh didn’t always follow the action he was filming with stark concentration. He would listen to the dialogue his actors were reciting while wandering, with apparent aimlessness, around the set. He sometimes referred to the words as “titles,” and when they ran their course he would call “cut,” and according to the likes of Robert Mitchum would inquire how it had gone." “All right, I guess,” the actor would reply. “Knocked over the lamp halfway through.” “Pick it up?” Walsh would ask. “Look natural?” “Yeah, I guess so,” would come the response. “OK, print it.” "Mitchum was, of course, exaggerating a bit, but the truth was that that’s the way Walsh made movies--casually, confidently, and above all, prolifically. He co-directed his first film in 1914 and made his last one, 140 or so later, in 1964 (for the record, it was a pretty good cavalry Western called A Distant Trumpet, starring Troy Donahue)." "He doubtless could have made some more films, but he was 77 by that time, still lean and fit, but maybe enough was enough. Although in those years, when I knew him, he didn’t seem to think so; he seemed ready to go if the call came. But mostly he hung out on a nice little ranch in the further reaches of the Simi Valley, where he ran a few horses and plucked oranges from the trees in his front yard and yarned with guys like me. I made a film on him and inordinately enjoyed the pleasure of his company." "It’s possible that Raoul was the most fecund director in the history of the medium. It may be that some B picture craftsman ground out more footage than he did. The records are a little dim and really of no matter. Suffice it to say that he made a helluva lot of movies and that a large number of them were works of considerable quality genre pieces (crime, war, comedy), but lively, entertaining, and expert, and often enough touched by a quite surprising doomy grandeur that, to this day, rewards our close attention and still doesn’t get enough of it in my estimation." READ MORE
Another song written by Matt Mellner (with Frank Loesser) for the musical St Louis Blues. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Sung by Dorothy Lamour. An expression my father used a lot, that I don't hear much anymore: "I go for that!" (emphasis on the "go."). It means I really like that. I'll bet this song is where he got that expression. I Go For That - Mildred Bailey and Her Orchestra
"Mildred Bailey was a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing", "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing". She recorded the songs "For Sentimental Reasons", "It's So Peaceful in the Country", "Doin' The Uptown Lowdown", "Trust in Me", "Where Are You?", "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart", "Small Fry", "Please Be Kind", "Darn That Dream", "Rockin' Chair", "Blame It on My Last Affair", and "Says My Heart". She had three records that reached number one on the popular charts."