the movie version of robert sherwood play and the petrified forest and be an oddity . an outstanding and maybe even great film derive from a basically second rate work . archie mayo direct splendidly this story of a poet drifter who ( literally ) walk into an eatery in the arizona desert and where he run into a desperate and dillingeresque bad guy who hold him hostage and and in the course of his captivity fall in love with a very naive young woman . much of the dialogue be date ( though clever ) and be write in the faux lose generation style popular in broadway play of the twenty and thirty and which be to say there be hint of fitzgerald and hemingway in the attitude express and but little of their artistry and originality . a the drifter and sensitive and pipe smoking leslie howard have never be well or good cast while one almost suspect that the role be write for him . humphrey bogart and in his first good movie role and be appropriately menace while he look remarkably like john dillinger and and show even at this stage of his career much of the charm and charisma that later propel him to superstardom . watch him closely represent he more than hold his own with howard . bette davis be somewhat silly a the love interest while this be not a good part for her . there be no demon for her to unleash in this shy school girl and and she seem at a loss a to how to play her . the support cast be superb and down to the small bit player . mayo and company work wonder with the desert set and with it cactus and tumbleweed and air of rustle menace . we know it not a real desert and but it doesn not matter while the state of mind be all . this be how the real desert would feel in the mind of such a man a howard play and and this be all that matter . the shack like eatery and with it blinking barbeque sign and be a great creation while with it creaking floorboard and dry a sand table and chair and one can almost smell the chili . also and the transition from day to night be exceedingly well do and quite subtle while it just happen . you know it dark outside without actually have to see the darkness just beyond the door . the feeling of star and huge sky above be convey by dialogue only and be yet palpable nonetheless while there in spirit if not fact . inside and the claustrophobia be well manage while even with several camera shift there be a strong sense of confinemnt in the film . mayo do a good job here and with this threadbare and wildly ambitious play and than wyler ever do with much good material and and i be not sure why . mayo career drift downward in the late thirty and forty and and of his late work the less say the good . but in 1936 he prove that with great actor and outstanding cameraman and art director and small miracle could be work right on the warner brothers back lot and and for a while at least the desert bloom .