The Only Thing I Have in Common with Lauren Bacall

 

This evening, I went to the Brattle Theatre to see Key Largo starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and Lauren Bacall. 

Directed by John Huston and released in 1948, Key Largo is one of several films featuring Bacall being screened at the Brattle in honor of what would have been her 100th birthday on September 16th. Coincidentally, September 16th happens to be my birthday as well. Our similarities end there. (Well, O.K., we're both Jewish.)

The theatre was quite hot inside and not very comfortable. In this particular case, however, it added to the ambience as Bogie, Bacall and much of the cast including Lionel Barrymore in a sympathetic role (in stark contrast to his portrayal of Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life) are being held in captivity in a hotel amid humidity and a hurricane in the Florida Keys by Edward G. Robinson and his thugs. Robinson was simultaneously comical and menacing. He was comical when slapping Bogie around but menacing when he was whispering into Bacall's ear. 

Key Largo was the last of the four films Bogie and Bacall would make together (following To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep and Dark Passages). Despite their 25-year age difference there was no age between them. Their chemistry is plain to see. Although Bacall was only 23 when Key Largo was released, she carried herself with a maturity beyond her years. 

Yet one cannot mention Key Largo without acknowledging Claire Trevor who played Robinson's alcoholic lover. Desperate for a drink, Robinson demands she sing acapella only to deny her the drink when he realizes he is singing about him and not in a loving way. It is left to Bogie to give her the drink to which Robinson responds with the aforementioned comical slaps. While Bogie, Robinson and Bacall got top billing, it was Trevor would who win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, the only Oscar the film received. 

It is also worth noting that Jay Silverheels, who would a decade later attain worldwide fame as Tonto in the Lone Ranger TV series, has a small uncredited role as one of a pair of brothers on the run from the law. 

But this evening was all about Bacall.