Fri 10 Jul 2009
W. R. BURNETT – Romelle. Alfred A. Knopf, US, hardcover, 1946. Wm. Heinemann, UK, hc, 1947. Reprint paperback: Bantam #942, US, 1951. French reprint: Rivages Noir n° 36, 1987.
In a surprising turn from a hard-boiled writer, W. R. Burnett’s Romelle sits firmly in that sub-genre of Romantic Suspense about a pretty young thing swept into marriage by some guy with a dark secret: there’s the requisite mansion, the obligatory hints of some sinister past, the mandatory mid-night rambles in her nightie and all the other standard features of the Gothic.
Of course, since this is a book by the author of Little Caesar, the heroine is a nightclub chantoosie on the skids and the Byronic hero hides a dark past that includes robbery, blackmail, and a neat bit of kinkiness you don’t often see in gothics or hard-boiled, all served up very ably, thank you, by a writer who knew how to get it down on paper.
Romelle will never be anyone’s idea of a classic, but it’s a fun read, and if you’re in the mood for off-beat Had-I-but-known’s, this will do nicely.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
This makes a pair with my previous review of THE WHISTLING HANGMAN. Both are rare Had I But Known mysteries by male authors!
I’ve never heard of ROMELLE. It sounds fascinating.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Burnett wrote a little bit of everything,from swashbuckling historical adventure like Captain Lightfoot to some great westerns, including Saint Johnson, his version of the whole Wyatt Earp/Doc Holiday Tombstone business.
Good movie too, with Walter Huston and Harry Carey Sr. as the Earp and Holiday figures and Andy Devine as a killer known as Johnny the Deuce (1932 as Law and Order, directed by Edward L. Cahn with a script cowritten by John Huston, remade in 1953 with Ronald Reagan).
There are a few gothic romantic suspense elements in Nobody Lives Forever too, which was made into a good movie directed by Jean Negulesco (1946) with John Garfield, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Walter Brennan. and George Coulouris.
Dark Hazard, about a barber who can’t control his urge to gamble and has one of those typical movie-style rises and falls is unusual too. The movie is mostly notable for Jimmy Cagney as Edward G. Robinson’s sidekick.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Mike
I wonder if anyone else has picked up on the pairing of the two books. I guess it’s obvious, but in any case, you’re the first!
David
I wonder if there’s been any critical work devoted to Burnett’s career in the movies? It’s far more extensive than I realized, having just taken a look at his page on IMDB.
I also found a complete biblio/filmography for Burnett at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/biblio/burnett.html .
It’s worth taking a look at, I think.
But as for Jimmy Cagney in DARK HAZARD, I don’t remember him, nor does IMBD. It’s been far too long for me. Are you sure on this?
— Steve
July 10th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Steve
You’re right, I confused Smart Money with Dark Hazard, which isn’t hard to do, they have similar plots, though Money is lighter in mood.
I don’t think there is a study of Burnett, but the foreword to the screenplays for High Sierra and Little Caesar discuss his career a little. I don’t know how he had time to write all those books and all those screenplays.
David
July 10th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Burnett is one of the greats, as influential as Hammett, Cain and Chandler (particularly figuring in his screenplay — in his late career he did THE GREAT ESCAPE and the Rat Pack remake of GUNGA DIN, SERGEANTS 3).
SAINT JOHNSON is criminally out of print and has been for years. He actually pre-dates the Stuart Lake bio, and did on-site Tombstone research and interviews. It’s the best of all Earp books, despite the name changes.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Browsing my way through the IMDB page for Burnett, I see that SAINT JOHNSON was the basis for two Johnny Mack Brown westerns, WILD WEST DAYS (1937) and LAW AND ORDER (1940), not to mention the 1953 version with Ronald Reagan that David’s already mentioned. That’s a lot of mileage out of one novel!
And there’s no doubt about it, I’m going to start looking a lot more into all of Burnett’s movie work.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I’m not surprised that Saint Johnson was the source for a couple of Johnny Mack Brown films. Burnett’s stories were always being remade. High Sierra as Colorado Territory and I Died a Thousand Times and Asphalt Jungle as Badlands. It’s a good example of how closely the crime novel and western are related that so many crime films were remade as westerns and vice versa.
I know you aren’t a George Raft fan, but if you haven’t seen it check out the Raoul Walsh Burnett adaptation of Eric Ambler’s Background to Danger. Great cast. Not much relation to Ambler’s book, but great fun.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
The Burnett/Ambler/Walsh/Raft BACKGROUND TO DANGER was immortalized in Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD, and is worth seeing if only to share the trippy experience.