CLASSIC MOVIES: THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936)

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Brief Movie Synopsis:

An escaped convict and his gang hold several
people hostage at a diner in the Arizona desert.

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REVIEWS:

"Well done, although it defies every canon of cinema law, is 'The Petrified Forest'. .... Attribute it in large part, of course, to the presence of Leslie Howard. .... So well did he fit the role in the play, and so well did it fit him, that Alan Squier and Mr. Howard are one and the same, just as Alan Squier and 'The Petrified Forest' are, by nature, inseparable. There was nothing the camera could do, granted that it tried, that could add to Mr. Howard's stature in this his favorite role; nor was there anything that could detract from it. His performance is as shrewd here, as delicately balanced and as precisely right
as it was in the play. .... And there should be a large measure of praise for
Bette Davis, who demonstrates that she does not have to be hysterical to be
credited with a grand portrayal; and for Humphrey Bogart, another alumnus
of the play, who can be a psychopathic gangster more like
Dillinger than the outlaw himself."

-- Excerpt from The New York Times; February 7, 1936