MOONRISE: classic film noir with a fascinating twist

Lurking behind the deceptively soft and lyrical title is a dark, disturbing, violent and surprising film noir which has much to offer to aficionados of the genre.

What's perhaps most surprising is that it was produced by Republic Pictures. a film production corporation comprised of half a dozen of Hollywood's poverty row studios, and best known for churning out low budget westerns, serials and B movies. With the exception of Orson Welles 'MacBeth' and a couple of John Ford-John Wayne projects almost nothing released under Republic's name could be considered art or possessing of any significant depth. 1948's MOONRISE is certainly not art house but it boasts a thoughtfully constructed story which functions on several levels.
"The poor man's John Garfield" Dane Clark proves there's more to his talent than this slightly demeaning tag would suggest, playing Danny Hawkins, a troubled young man haunted by his inheritance as the son of a man hanged for murder. In a stylish and creative opening sequence director Frank Borzage illustrates the literal dark shadow that his father's execution has cast across Danny's life, from his earliest years through growing up to the present day. Danny is a perpetual outsider tormented by his peers for being the son of a murderer, and looked on with mistrust by the residents of his small, rural hometown. It's a suspicion that appears justified when Danny kills a man in an argument over a girl (Gail Russell as local schoolteacher Gilly Johnson) at a Saturday dance and hides the body hoping that he can continue with life as normal as long as it remains undiscovered.

In truth Hawkins is a part tailor-made for Garfield. The character fits his screen persona to a tee yet Clark succeeds in stepping out from the shadow of his more successful look-alike, making it his own and imbuing Danny with a vulnerability that evokes compassion despite his tendency to lash out wildly and his aggressive manhandling of the girl he loves but doesn't believe he's worthy of. Danny is doomed to his fate within the first few minutes of the story yet battles on like a fighter who believes that he can punch his way out of an unwinnable situation just as long as he remains standing.
Through Danny's struggle the film poses the nature or nurture question. Was Danny's fate determined by the 'bad blood' he believes he was born with or by the method of his raising? - losing both of his parents as an infant, and shuttling between his grandmother (Ethel Barrymore as a not entirely convincing hillbilly) and his aunt neither of whom can give him the love he so desperately needs. Danny believes it's the former yet undermines his own thesis with the compassion he shows towards follow bullying victim Billy Scripture, a mentally retarded deaf mute (played by a very young Harry Morgan), and his ultimate embrace of redemption with the encouragement of Gilly and the surprisingly compassionate local sheriff.
In his last important movie, veteran director Borzage creates a film that defies easy categorisation. It's a film noir yet it's also a drama, a romance and an intriguing exploration of love and hate, and guilt and redemption, played out against a backdrop of smalltown life that feels almost melodramatic in its intensity. The obvious stage-bound settings merely add to the sense of a man trapped by his own fears and the pressures brought to bear by a judgmental society. The film's implicit plea for tolerance encompasses more than just Danny however. The casting of veteran African American actor Rex Ingram in the role of Mose is loaded with meaning. This wise old man not only embodies the story's moral authority, he is also presented as equal to the white characters even though he is not entirely integrated into their world. This was a big step for a mainstream studio in 1940s Hollywood and it undoubtedly contributes to the impact of the story.
I've seen and studied hundreds of Hollywood movies from the 1940s of all genres and styles so it's rare anymore for a film from that era to strike me as something different or unusual but MOONRISE definitely did. You may think you know film noir but chances are you've not seen anything quite like this.