''Sergeant Madden'' is a 1939
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
forerunner directed by
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an Austrian-American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the silent to the sound era, during which he worked with most of the major ...
and starring
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in ''Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in ''Grand Hotel'' (193 ...
. The supporting cast in this dark police crime drama, noted for its imaginative and evocative
cinematography
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
, includes
Tom Brown,
Laraine Day
Laraine Day (born La Raine Johnson, October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress, radio and television commentator, and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract star. As a leading lady, she was paired opposite major film sta ...
,
Alan Curtis, and
Marc Lawrence
Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence.
Early life
Lawrence w ...
.
Plot
Cast
*
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in ''Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in ''Grand Hotel'' (193 ...
as Sergeant Madden
*
Tom Brown as Al Boylan, Jr.
*
Alan Curtis as Dennis Madden
*
Laraine Day
Laraine Day (born La Raine Johnson, October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress, radio and television commentator, and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract star. As a leading lady, she was paired opposite major film sta ...
as Eileen Daly (billed as "Laraine Johnson")
*
Fay Holden
Dorothy Fay Hammerton (26 September 1893 – 23 June 1973), known professionally as Fay Holden, was a British-born, American-based actress. She was known as Gaby Fay early in her career.
Biography
Holden was born in Birmingham, England. After ...
as Mary Madden
*
Marc Lawrence
Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence.
Early life
Lawrence w ...
as "Piggy" Ceders
*
Marion Martin
Marion Suplee (born June 7, 1909 – August 13, 1985) known professionally as Marion Martin was an American film and stage actress.
Biography
Martin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a Bethlehem Steel executive. She became ...
as Charlotte LePage
*
David Gorcey
David Gorcey (February 6, 1921 – October 23, 1984) was an American actor and the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey. Gorcey is best known for portraying "Chuck Anderson" in Monogram Pictures' film series The Bowery Boys, and "Pee Wee" in i ...
as Punchy LePage
*
Donald Haines
Donald Haines (May 9, 1919 – February 20, 1943) was an American child actor who had recurring appearances in the ''Our Gang'' short subjects series from 1930 to 1933. He appeared in ''Our Gang'' during the early sound days along with Nor ...
as Milton
*
Ben Welden
Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt; June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows.
Early years
Welden was born in Toledo, O ...
as Henchman Stemmy
*
Etta McDaniel
Etta McDaniel (December 1, 1890January 13, 1946) was an American actress who appeared in over 60 films between 1933 and 1946. She was the sister of actor Sam McDaniel and actress and Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel.
Early life
McDaniel ...
as Dove
*
John Kelly as Henchman Nero
*
Horace McMahon
Horace McMahon (May 17, 1906 – August 17, 1971) was an American actor. He was one of Hollywood's favorite heavies.
McMahon began his acting career on Broadway, then appeared in many films and television series. In 1962, he received a P ...
as Philadelphia
*
Neil Fitzgerald
Neil Fitzgerald (15 January 1893 – 15 June 1982) was an Irish actor.
Cornelius James Fitzgerald was born at Henry Street (now O'Brien Street), Tipperary, the son of James Joseph Fitzgerald, a grocer, and Ellen McGrath. He was educated in Trini ...
as Casey
*
Dickie Jones
Richard Percy Jones (February 25, 1927 – July 7, 2014), known as Dick Jones or Dickie Jones, was an American actor and singer who achieved success as a child performer and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns. In 1938, he played Artimer ...
as Dennis as a boy
*Drew Roddy as Albert as a boy
*
Charles Trowbridge
Charles Silas Richard Trowbridge (January 10, 1882 – October 30, 1967) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1915 and 1958.
Biography
Trowbridge was born in Veracruz, Mexico, where his father served in the ...
as Commissioner
*
George Irving as Police Commissioner
*
Heinie Conklin
Heinie Conklin (born Charles John Conklin; July 16, 1880July 30, 1959) was an American actor and comedian whose career began in the silent film era.
Early years
Conklin was born Charles John Conklin on July 16, 1880, in San Francisco, Califor ...
as Drunk (uncredited)
*
Mitchell Lewis as Officer Minetti (uncredited)
*
Adrian Morris
Adrian Grant Morris (18 May 1929 – 6 December 2004) was an England, English painter.
Early life
Morris was born in London, England. He spent his childhood in rural Somerset before the family moved to the United States, where he attended the ...
as Ringleader (uncredited)
Background
In the winter of 1937, Josef von Sternberg was in Vienna assembling the cast for the film version of
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
’s
Germinal, with
Hilde Krahl
Hilde Krahl (10 January 1917 – 28 June 1999) was an Austrian film actress. She appeared in 70 films between 1936 and 1994. She was born Hildegard Kolačný in Brod, Austria-Hungary (now Slavonski Brod, Croatia) in 1917, and she died in Vien ...
tapped to play Catherine and
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage.
Biography
Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundia ...
as Etienne. The Austrian financed project collapsed when Germany
invaded the nation in March 1938. Sternberg, ill in London at the time, returned to his California residence to convalesce for several months.
In October 1938, Sternberg returned to
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
under a single-movie contract to direct actress
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr (; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. A film star during Hollywood's golden age, Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest movie actresse ...
in ''New York Cinderella'' (later entitled
''I Take This Woman''). The filming required so many revisions that it was known on set as "I Re-take this Woman". Unhappy with his lack of control over the direction, Sternberg quit the production after a week: the film was completed by director
Willard Van Dyke
Willard Van Dyke (December 5, 1906 – January 23, 1986) was an American filmmaker, photographer, arts administrator, teacher, and former director of the film department at the Museum of Modern Art.http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/6278/rel ...
and released in February 1940.
Production
Sternberg would fulfill his movie contract for Metro with a crime drama, ''Sergeant Madden'', with character actor Wallace Berry, a box-office favorite, in the lead role of New York City Patrolman Shawn Madden. The film was already in production when Sternberg arrived on the set.
The ''Sergeant Madden'' screenplay, based on a story by William A. Ullman entitled “A Gun in His Hand” was an “over-plotted
potboiler
A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit, whose main purpose was to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means "to provide one ...
paying sentimental tribute to ‘the cop on the beat’...”
Wallace Berry, a “Metro institution”, provided a reliable source of revenue for the corporation, despite his “tiresome screen performance.” When Sternberg attempted to elicit a more disciplined approach from Berry, the studio hierarchy instructed the director to cease his overly “demanding rehearsals.” Despite the Metro's interference “Berry’s performance in ''Sergeant Madden'' is one of the least maudlin in his gallery of indistinguishable character roles” and “unusually controlled and believable” is attributable to Sternberg's influence.
The film was released on March 24, 1939 and “did quite well.”
Critical response
Film critic Tom Supten writing for
Bright Lights Film Journal
''Bright Lights Film Journal'' is an online popular-academic film magazine, based in Oakland, California, United States. It is edited and published by Gary Morris.
Originally a print publication established in 1974, it was discontinued in 1980 to ...
argues that as a Wallace Berry vehicle, guided by the market-driven contingencies of MGM - compounded by the director's “sheer indifference” – produced “the worst film
hat Sternbergwould ever put his name to.” Elements of the film - most prominently the theme of the “troubled cop” - foreshadowed the
Film Noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
of the post-WWI era.
Film Historian
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism.
Early life
Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katav ...
points to “Sternberg’s distinctive framing and filters which give the movie a
UFA
Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...
look... one can almost see the ghost of
Jannings in Berry’s unusually restrained performance.”
Theme
Andrew Sarris writes that “''Sergeant Madden'' is of more sociological than aesthetic interest despite Sternberg’s visually striking direction.” The story concerns "a natural
iologicalson" who goes bad, and ultimately atones for his sins: "the notion of a blood son being morally inferior to an adopted son is another movie cliché.” The moral of the tale is simply that "society transcends family" in the larger public interest.
[Baxter, 1971. p. 153]
References
Sources
*
Baxter, John. 1971. ''The Cinema of Josef von Sternberg''. The International Film Guide Series. A.S Barners & Company, New York.
*Sarris, Andrew. 1966. ''The Films of Josef von Sternberg''. Museum of Modern Art/Doubleday. New York, New York.
* Sarris, Andrew. 1998. “You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet.” The American Talking Film History & Memory, 1927-1949. Oxford University Press.
*Supten, Tom. 2006. ''Auteur in Distress: On Wallace Beery, von Sternberg, and Sergeant Madden''. Bright Lights Film Journal. Retrieved 12 July 2018. http://brightlightsfilm.com/auteur-distress-wallace-beery-von-sternberg-sergeant-madden/#.W0ea_ZCWyUk
*
Weinberg, Herman G., 1967. ''Josef von Sternberg. A Critical Study''. New York: Dutton.
External links
*
{{Josef von Sternberg
1939 films
Film noir
Films directed by Josef von Sternberg
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
1939 crime films
American black-and-white films
American crime films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films