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Moonrise (1948)
In Frank Borzage's film-noirish crime melodrama set
in the small Virginia town of Woodville:
- the film's brilliant opening montage was a perfect
example of wordless visual story-telling - the expressionistic
march to the gallows and the public hanging of the accused Virginia
killer, Jeb Hawkins - convicted of murder (for shooting and killing
an incompetent doctor who had indirectly caused his wife to die
by not making a house call but offering only a bottle of pills
- the wrong tablets actually); the image was paired with the view
of their crying baby in a crib - the man's child had the shadow
of a dangling playdoll cast onto its blanket (a transposed duplicate
of the hanging man); the montage conveyed the belief that "bad
blood"
was transmitted from one generation to the next
- the montage continued with the sad and mistreated
childhood of outcast Danny Hawkins (Johnny Calkins as 13 year old),
who often fought on the school playground against his teasing, taunting
and tormenting schoolmate Jerry Sykes (Michael Dill as 13 year old),
who chanted with others their prejudiced view of Danny because of
his father: "Danny Hawkins' dad was hanged!"
- the sequence of an altercation outside a dance hall,
where adult Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark as adult) argued with rich
banker's son Jerry Sykes (Lloyd Bridges as adult), his lifelong tormentor,
over their mutual love of warm-hearted local schoolteacher Gilly
Johnson (Gail Russell); unbeknownst to Danny, she was the fiancee
of the teasing, arrogant, and bullying Sykes
- near a swamp called Brother's Pond during their vicious
fist-fight, in a drunken rage, Hawkins grabbed a rock that Sykes
had picked up and repeatedly smashed his skull with it - murdering
him in self-defense; he would soon suffer the same fate as his father
- pursued for a crime; he left an important clue behind - his pocket-knife
dangling in a tree; an investigation followed with a frenzied manhunt
for the killer
- after the murder, Danny danced with Gilly (she asked:
"What's come over you?...I'm a schoolteacher, I can't afford to
fight with you in front of other people"), and then during a night
drive with her from the dance, Danny experienced a near-fatal car crash
when he had a vision of Sykes fighting with him
- after developing a strange friendship between each
other, within a ruined Southern mansion (Blackwater Mansion), Hawkins
surreptitiously met Gilly, and in the midst of their burgeoning love
affair, Gilly imagined that they were attending a romanticized Civil
War era ball in the house when she adopted an exaggerated Southern
accent as the plantation's owner Mrs. Blackwater - they waltzed together
and spoke of their mutual love before they kissed (Danny: "I've
never seen you like this before, Gilly" Gilly: "I've
never been like this before") - the film faded to black
- the ferris wheel scene at the county fair when panicking
Danny, fearing being caught while sharing the ride with the town's
Sheriff Clem Otis (Allyn Joslyn), caused him to jump
Ferris Wheel Scene - Danny Jumped
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Billy Unable to Fit Footprint into Cement
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Danny's Near Strangulation of Billy
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- the scene of harmless, mentally-handicapped mute
Billy Scripture (Harry Morgan) attempting to fit his feet into
footprints made years earlier in wet cement on a sidewalk - and
his profound realization that he could never return to what he
once was; and Danny's near strangulation of Billy who had found
his pocket-knife
- during pursuit by the Sheriff (and his dogs), Danny
ventured into the swamp to the backwoods home of his wise
Grandma (Ethel Barrymore); she helped him to reflect on his past when
she told him that his father's act of murder
was uncharacteristic of him; Danny realized that he should control
his fate and turn himself in for manslaughter - to free himself from
guilt and his past and his feelings about having "bad
blood"; he stood at his father's grave, reflected about his past, and spoke
to him: "I ain't proud of what ya done, Pa. All the same, I didn't mean
what I said last night. You did the best you could to even things up.
That's what I'm doin' now. Maybe we'll both have some peace"
Danny's Realization of Manslaughter Guilt
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Danny Visiting His Father's Grave
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- in the optimistic final scene, he approached
the Sheriff to peacefully surrender. He reunited with
Gilly and hugged her as she assured him: "It’s wonderful
to see your face, Daniel. To really see it." The scene was
flooded with bright light as Danny freed himself of his guilt
and self-hatred. The Sheriff refused to
have Danny handcuffed: "Let him walk back like a man"
as they returned to town.
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Silhouetted March to Gallows Hanging
Shadow of Playdoll Cast Onto Blanket
Danny's Accidental Murder of Sykes in Woods
Gilly With Danny Hawkins at Dance Hall
Vision of Sykes Through Danny's Windshield - Causing Car
Crash
Danny Waltzing with Gilly in Mansion
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