The New York Times' reviewer in 1935 called this film "the most notable experiment in social drama since "Our Daily Bread." He meant it as a favorable comment, though he could perhaps have chosen a different drama for comparison, since "Our Daily Bread" came out only a year before, 1934. In any case, he was correct that "Black Fury" is a notable film. It reunites Paul Muni with his "Scarface" co-stars Karen Morley and Vince Barnett. It reunites Karen Morley and John Qualen of "Our Daily Bread" - a veterans' reunion, of sorts, of actors of social consciousness films. One was a genuine social activist, Karen Morley. She agitated for trade unions. She defied HUAC, for which she was blacklisted. She ran for public office as a Socialist (cheers from Bernie Sanders, no doubt). Counting " Black Fury," she played in three of the most political and potentially subversive pictures Hollywood produced in the 1930s, the others being "Our Daily Bread" and "Gabriel Over the White House." This introduces the question: is "Black Fury" a subversive social commentary? It involves coal miners; it cannot avoid social comment. No one paints a pleasant picture of the life of a coal miner. In Hollywoodian terms one thinks immediately of John Ford's "How Green Was My Valley" or Martin Ritt's lumbering "Molly Maguires." One, "How Green Was My Valley," pulls its punches. The other, "The Molly Maguires," muddies its message with misplaced love stories and heavy-handed moral debate. The best of the genre, John Sayles' "Matewan," comes closest to "Black Fury," with Kevin Tighe in the Barton MacLane role of Pinkerton goon and Bob Gunton as J. Carroll Naish's insider/traitor. Its story sticks to a focus. The punches land. The same is true of "Black Fury."
In my day I taught college. One semester we dealt with the Coal Creek War. a landmark in American labor history, a shooting war pitting striking Tennessee coal miners against state militia in 1891. I had the students read (inserting literature is never a bad teaching technique) the greatest coal miner story ever written, Emile Zola's "Germinal," depicting the miseries of miners in the 1880s. There's labor unrest, a terrible strike, characters literally starve to death, military repression, a massacre, the works. One of the students downloaded a copy of the French movie "Germinal" with Gerard Depardieu, subtitled. We all watched it. The students were outraged. "That's not it!" they exclaimed. "That's not it, doc. That's not what's in the book. Where's the dirt, the horror, the black lung, the heat, the backbreakingly low, narrow tunnels" (children, girls as well as boys, worked where men couldn't fit) "where's all that? I could work in that mine for a summer job." Zola's descriptions are intensely accurate. For his realist style he researched every detail. In this case he descended into the coal pits himself to see what mines were like. He never flinched. The movie version flinched. Considering that, "Black Fury" deserves credit. Working conditions will have been better in 1935 than in 1885. But still the mine looks unpleasant. The miners' shantytown is suitably bleak, far more insalubrious than the idyllic Welsh village in "How Green Was My Valley." It's not a place one wants to inhabit, or that one would choose to work a summer job.. It's not quite as foul as Sinclair Lewis' depictions of industrial hovels in "The Jungle," but it suggests poverty and desperation. Everyone wants to get out of it. Karen Morley's Anna dreams of paradise in Pittsburgh. Paul Muni's Radek would rather work on a pig farm. There's economic injustice. The miners complain of forced, unpaid labor; they are paid only for the coal the can haul out each day. (The same slave labor system infuriates Zola's miners of 1880.) The story pulls some punches. Workers are mistreated. But the villains are the Coal and Iron Police rather than the capitalists, though the capitalists are the ones who employ the Coal and Iron Police. The mine owner, played by the always-sincere Henry O'Neill, seems to be a nice guy. Calling out the capitalist system was a step too far. As far as it could go, "Black Fury" goes.
As a work of cinema "Black Fury" is great, classic Hollywood. Michael Curtiz carries it along, deploying his patented style of close-ups (think "Casablanca" or "The Sea Wolf") to heighten the tension. Paul Muni's half-Yiddish accent doesn't bother me. He is sometimes overheated. Of all the actresses he worked with, I think, Karen Morley fit him best. His style is histrionic. Hers is understated. It calms things down when he gets overwrought. John Qualen gives one of his best performances, a warmup for Muley Graves in "The Grapes of Wrath." Barton MacLane is, well, Barton MacLane. Also note Sara Haden cast somewhat against type as John Qualen's quiet, melancholic wife. They bring depth to characters who could have been cardboard caricatures. "Black Fury" is not the greatest social drama but, as the Times' critic said, it's "an experiment." It is well worth seeing.
In my day I taught college. One semester we dealt with the Coal Creek War. a landmark in American labor history, a shooting war pitting striking Tennessee coal miners against state militia in 1891. I had the students read (inserting literature is never a bad teaching technique) the greatest coal miner story ever written, Emile Zola's "Germinal," depicting the miseries of miners in the 1880s. There's labor unrest, a terrible strike, characters literally starve to death, military repression, a massacre, the works. One of the students downloaded a copy of the French movie "Germinal" with Gerard Depardieu, subtitled. We all watched it. The students were outraged. "That's not it!" they exclaimed. "That's not it, doc. That's not what's in the book. Where's the dirt, the horror, the black lung, the heat, the backbreakingly low, narrow tunnels" (children, girls as well as boys, worked where men couldn't fit) "where's all that? I could work in that mine for a summer job." Zola's descriptions are intensely accurate. For his realist style he researched every detail. In this case he descended into the coal pits himself to see what mines were like. He never flinched. The movie version flinched. Considering that, "Black Fury" deserves credit. Working conditions will have been better in 1935 than in 1885. But still the mine looks unpleasant. The miners' shantytown is suitably bleak, far more insalubrious than the idyllic Welsh village in "How Green Was My Valley." It's not a place one wants to inhabit, or that one would choose to work a summer job.. It's not quite as foul as Sinclair Lewis' depictions of industrial hovels in "The Jungle," but it suggests poverty and desperation. Everyone wants to get out of it. Karen Morley's Anna dreams of paradise in Pittsburgh. Paul Muni's Radek would rather work on a pig farm. There's economic injustice. The miners complain of forced, unpaid labor; they are paid only for the coal the can haul out each day. (The same slave labor system infuriates Zola's miners of 1880.) The story pulls some punches. Workers are mistreated. But the villains are the Coal and Iron Police rather than the capitalists, though the capitalists are the ones who employ the Coal and Iron Police. The mine owner, played by the always-sincere Henry O'Neill, seems to be a nice guy. Calling out the capitalist system was a step too far. As far as it could go, "Black Fury" goes.
As a work of cinema "Black Fury" is great, classic Hollywood. Michael Curtiz carries it along, deploying his patented style of close-ups (think "Casablanca" or "The Sea Wolf") to heighten the tension. Paul Muni's half-Yiddish accent doesn't bother me. He is sometimes overheated. Of all the actresses he worked with, I think, Karen Morley fit him best. His style is histrionic. Hers is understated. It calms things down when he gets overwrought. John Qualen gives one of his best performances, a warmup for Muley Graves in "The Grapes of Wrath." Barton MacLane is, well, Barton MacLane. Also note Sara Haden cast somewhat against type as John Qualen's quiet, melancholic wife. They bring depth to characters who could have been cardboard caricatures. "Black Fury" is not the greatest social drama but, as the Times' critic said, it's "an experiment." It is well worth seeing.