Crime and research

To make it in Hollywood an actor needs some luck. Humphrey Bogart was lucky that George Raft didn’t have the perception to choose roles that would help his career. Besides luck, there needs to be someone with vision around an actor, someone who can get the most out of them. For Bogart that person was John Huston. The two worked together for the first time on The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938).

The movie itself is standard gangster fare from Warner Brothers. It is interesting to compare the work of four main players in this movie with that of Key Largo (1948). A decade later, the careers of Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, John Huston and Claire Trevor would be different.

For Bogie, he would no longer be the second in command of the underworld. He had transformed himself into the hardboiled, sentimental hero. His character in Key Largo would be a continuation of Sam Spade and Rick Blaine.

Robinson played the amazing Dr. Clitterhouse in this movie. He believed that by acting like a criminal he could figure out how the criminal mind works. He researches the subject thoroughly and then goes out on a series of cat burglaries. He is wildly successful and needs to find someone who can handle the stolen jewelry he has. He meets Jo, who is played by Claire Trevor. Jo shows the doctor the underworld and the doctor finds it all fascinating. He becomes head of Jo’s gang, renamed the professor. He devises the plans and the gang is successful in every plot. Of course this doesn’t sit well with Jo’s second in command, Bogie. He gets jealous and tries to kill the doctor. He fails and is killed himself.

Robinson ruled the gangster picture since 1931 when he made Little Caesar. He would remain a star throughout the 40s, but not as big a one as he had been in the 30s when the gangster picture was alive and well. In Key Largo he becomes the last gangster, Johnny Rocco. He does well in the movie, but does not command this like he did Dr. Clitterhouse. Bogart had become too big of a star compared to Robinson.

John Huston helped write Dr. Clitterhouse. He and Bogart met in the Warner Brothers green room. The two got along great. Both were considered a man’s man. Huston helped develop the Bogart character as both a writer and director. In 1938 Huston was just a typical screenwriter for Warner Brothers. Ten years later he would be an Academy Award winning director. He won the award for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, made with Bogart as well. This came in the same year as Key Largo was released.

Claire Trevor had been a great supporting actress. She had been nominated for an Academy Award in Dead End (1937) a year earlier. She does well in her role as Jo. Her other roles between Dr. Clitterhouse and Key Largo were all solid. Stagecoach (1939) being the one that stands out. She would win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress under the direction of Huston in Key Largo.

The growth in the careers of Humphrey Bogart and John Huston was tremendous from 1938 to 1948 when they were reunited with two other artists from The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse. In those ten years, Edward G. Robinson had seen his star drop, but not fade completely. Claire Trevor remained a solid performer, but would not be recognized for her greatness until Key Largo.