This wonderful old movie is a treasured memory from my childhood. I saw it for the first time at our neighborhood theater when I was eight years old. The tragic and touching story recounted in greater detail via previous IMBD postings need not be repeated here. It gripped me very much as a youngster. How would it work now that I am in the twilight of life?
I recently had the opportunity to see The Way of All Flesh (1940) (TWOAF), and freely confess that I was once again greatly affected by its old fashioned sentimentality and sad tale of how fate and circumstance can sometimes spin a profound web of suffering and tragedy when one least expects it.
For fans of TWOAF, l have some very good news! It is currently available for downloading from YouTube in a six part format. Also available from YouTube are two surviving fragments from the silent Emil Jannings 1927 version now considered to be a lost film. The quality of these prints is about what one should reasonably expect from cinema of this vintage. You now have the unique opportunity of being able to compare and contrast the endings of both versions of TWOAF. They are quite similar and yet they do have their differences. Both are justly famous.
Muriel Angelus was an obscure and talented Scottish actress who briefly worked in Hollywood during 1939-1940, and played the woman in TWOAF who tempted Akim Tamiroff down the road that led to his ultimate fall and ruin. As a brief example of just how versatile Ms. Angelus was, she also worked with Mr. Tamiroff in another 1940 film that was the first one ever written and directed by Preston Sturges--The Great McGinty. In that movie, Ms. Angelus played the warm hearted love interest of the title character (Brian Donlevy). You could not imagine two more dissimilar roles.
The chief villain in TWOAF was played by veteran character actor Berton Churchill. His unscrupulous thief mirrors a very similar part he played in John Ford's classic Stagecoach (1939). TWOAF was his last film. He died in 1940 at the age of 64.
Preston Sturges may have borrowed an idea from TWOAF when he made Sullivan's Travels (1942). Both films employ a plot device where the hero becomes a victim of amnesia, and as a result then goes through an ordeal that radically changes his life.
Akim Tamiroff was just two years away from what may have been one of his most unusual movie assignments. In Reap the Wild Wind (1942), he was cast as just the voice of another actor who played the hulking giant of a bad guy oddly referred to as "The Lamb."
One final thought about TWOAF. Today's moviegoers may be put off by its melodramatic plot and quaint story line. In my opinion, that would be a big mistake. The film is powerful, well acted and very touching. One would have to be made of stone not to be moved by the genuine nature of its honest sentimentality. YouTube is waiting for your toggle!
I recently had the opportunity to see The Way of All Flesh (1940) (TWOAF), and freely confess that I was once again greatly affected by its old fashioned sentimentality and sad tale of how fate and circumstance can sometimes spin a profound web of suffering and tragedy when one least expects it.
For fans of TWOAF, l have some very good news! It is currently available for downloading from YouTube in a six part format. Also available from YouTube are two surviving fragments from the silent Emil Jannings 1927 version now considered to be a lost film. The quality of these prints is about what one should reasonably expect from cinema of this vintage. You now have the unique opportunity of being able to compare and contrast the endings of both versions of TWOAF. They are quite similar and yet they do have their differences. Both are justly famous.
Muriel Angelus was an obscure and talented Scottish actress who briefly worked in Hollywood during 1939-1940, and played the woman in TWOAF who tempted Akim Tamiroff down the road that led to his ultimate fall and ruin. As a brief example of just how versatile Ms. Angelus was, she also worked with Mr. Tamiroff in another 1940 film that was the first one ever written and directed by Preston Sturges--The Great McGinty. In that movie, Ms. Angelus played the warm hearted love interest of the title character (Brian Donlevy). You could not imagine two more dissimilar roles.
The chief villain in TWOAF was played by veteran character actor Berton Churchill. His unscrupulous thief mirrors a very similar part he played in John Ford's classic Stagecoach (1939). TWOAF was his last film. He died in 1940 at the age of 64.
Preston Sturges may have borrowed an idea from TWOAF when he made Sullivan's Travels (1942). Both films employ a plot device where the hero becomes a victim of amnesia, and as a result then goes through an ordeal that radically changes his life.
Akim Tamiroff was just two years away from what may have been one of his most unusual movie assignments. In Reap the Wild Wind (1942), he was cast as just the voice of another actor who played the hulking giant of a bad guy oddly referred to as "The Lamb."
One final thought about TWOAF. Today's moviegoers may be put off by its melodramatic plot and quaint story line. In my opinion, that would be a big mistake. The film is powerful, well acted and very touching. One would have to be made of stone not to be moved by the genuine nature of its honest sentimentality. YouTube is waiting for your toggle!