The Fugitive (1947)

Directed by John Ford. Starring Henry Fonda, Pedro Armendáriz, J. Carrol Naish, Dolores del Rio, Leo Carrillo, Ward Bond, Robert Armstrong.

Fonda is a nameless priest somewhere in Latin America where religion is banned, making him a fugitive from the law. Adaptation of the Graham Greene novel “The Power and the Glory” is one of John Ford’s most self-conscious efforts, beautifully composed and photographed by Gabriel Figueroa, arty and meditative, though it’s short on dramatic tension, and the rampant religious symbolism not only slows the pace to a crawl at times, it’s also too often employed in the most simplistic and heavy-handed of terms. Armendáriz’s natural charisma livens things up a bit when he’s onscreen, and Fonda can do quiet dignity as well as anyone, but aside from the lustrous visuals, it’s awfully inert and uninvolving. Mel Ferrer’s first film role (he went uncredited in a bit part).

55/100