Ep.88: Humphrey Bogart – Top 5 Movies
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
Today's episode is on an actor from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Known for his rugged good looks and the distinctive nasal tones in his voice Humphrey Bogart was not only an actor of his generation but according to the American Film Institute, actor of the 20th century.
Over the course of his 26-year career he appeared in an incredible 75 movies, only five of them in colour. He’s love and married life was just as busy, churning through a plethora of relationships and marriages before he finally met “The One” Lauren Bacall; which he met on the set of “To Have and Have Not” in 1984 when he was 45 and Bacall just 19.
This followed one of his most tumultuous marriages to actress Mayo Methot who’s drinking rivalled that of Bogart. The fighting was relentless, and physical, so much so that they became known as the “Battling Bogarts”.
Today’s mnemonic will be on Humphrey Bogart’s top 5 movies.
So, with that been said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (/ˈboʊɡɑːrt/;[1] December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon.[2] In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart as the greatest male star of classic American cinema.[3]
Bogart began acting in Broadway shows,[4] beginning his career in motion pictures with Up the River (1930) for Fox and appeared in supporting roles for the next decade, regularly portraying gangsters. He was praised for his work as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), but remained cast secondary to other actors at Warner Bros. who received leading roles. Bogart also received positive reviews for his performance as gangster Hugh "Baby Face" Martin, in Dead End (1937), directed by William Wyler.
His breakthrough from supporting roles to stardom was set in motion with High Sierra (1941) and catapulted in The Maltese Falcon (1941), considered one of the first great noir films.[5] Bogart's private detectives, Sam Spade (in The Maltese Falcon) and Philip Marlowe (in 1946's The Big Sleep), became the models for detectives in other noir films. His most significant romantic lead role was with Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942), which earned him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. 44-year-old Bogart and 19-year-old Lauren Bacall fell in love during filming of To Have and Have Not (1944). In 1945, a few months after principal photography for The Big Sleep, their second film together, he divorced his third wife and married Bacall. After their marriage, they played each other's love interest in the mystery thrillers Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948). Raymond Chandler, in a 1946 letter, wrote that "Like Edward G. Robinson when he was younger, all he has to do to dominate a scene is to enter it."[6]
Bogart's performances in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and In a Lonely Place (1950) are now considered among his best, although they were not recognized as such when the films were released.[7] He reprised those unsettled, unstable characters as a World War II naval-vessel commander in The Caine Mutiny (1954), which was a critical and commercial hit and earned him another Best Actor nomination. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a cantankerous river steam launch skipper opposite Katharine Hepburn's missionary in the World War I African adventure The African Queen (1951). Other significant roles in his later years included The Barefoot Contessa (1954) with Ava Gardner and his on-screen competition with William Holden for Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (1954). A heavy smoker and drinker, Bogart died from esophageal cancer in January 1957. Lauren Bacall said of him, "There was something that made him able to be a man of his own and it showed through his work. There was also a purity, which is amazing considering the parts he played. Something solid too. I think as time goes by we all believe less and less. Here was someone who believed in something."[8]
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Bogart]
Mnemonic
Humphrey Bogart – Top 5 Movies Mnemonic – MATIC
(Picture Humphrey Bogart taking to the piano with a mattock when Sam won’t play it again)
1. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
2. The African Queen (1952)
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
4. In A Lonely Place (1950)
5. Casablanca (1942)
Five Fun Facts
1. Humphrey Bogart’s roots go right back to New York’s first Dutch colonial settlers. He was born into a wealthy family and had two younger sisters, Frances and Catherine.
2. Though he grew up in a life of privilege and financial security Bogart had a sad upbringing where he lacked any love and affection from his career driven and constantly fighting parents. He started acting up, his grades suffered and his parents saw him as a disappointment.
3. Bogart and Bacall’s home was the base for the original Rat Pack. Members included Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney, Jerry Lewis, Cesar Romero and Bogart as the leader.
They were named the Rat Pack when Lauren Bacall walked into the room one morning after they had a heavy night drinking and said to the group ‘"You look like a God-damned rat pack."
4. Bogart died in 1957 at the relatively young age of 57 whilst still in the prime of his career. He had oesophageal cancer and after a surgery had failed to remove the growth in 1956 the cancer worsened and he died not long after.
5. As mentioned in the Wikipedia summary, in 1999 Humphrey Bogart had the honour of being named the top male film star of the 20th century by the American Film Institute. However, he also had another talent and passion and that was for playing the game of chess. He was an excellent player and a tournament director for the United Chess Federation and a frequent visitor to the Hollywood Chess Club.
Three Question Quiz
Q.1. Who starred alongside Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca” which was released in 1942?
Q.2. How many times was Humphrey Bogart Married?
Q.3. Which film did Bogart win an Academy Award for Best Actor?
Bonus Q. Who was the first person to call Humphrey Bogart “Bogey”? Options are John Ford or Spencer Tracey
Bonus Q. What do you call a Camel with no humps?
Mnemonic Recap
Humphrey Bogart – Top 5 Movies Mnemonic – MATIC
(Picture Humphrey Bogart taking to the piano with a mattock when Sam won’t play it again)
1. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
2. The African Queen (1952)
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
4. In A Lonely Place (1950)
5. Casablanca (1942)
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. Who starred alongside Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca” which was released in 1942?
A. Ingrid Bergman
Q.2. How many times was Humphrey Bogart Married?
A. Four times:
Helen Menken (1926-1927)
Mary Philips (1928-1938)
Mayo Methot (1938-1945)
Lauren Bacall (1945-1957)
Q.3. Which film did Bogart win an Academy Award for Best Actor?
A. The African Queen
Bonus Q. Who was the first person to call Humphrey Bogart “Bogey”? Options are John Ford or Spencer Tracey
A. Spencer Tracey
Bonus Q. What do you call a Camel with no humps?
A. Humphrey. Now I’m glad I cleaned that joke up. Someone wanted me to say “What do you call a camel that's still a virgin?” ……………… Same answer!
Word of the Week
kvetch
[ kvech ]
verb
to complain, especially chronically.
Example
Rather than kvetch about being typecast in gangster roles, Bogart persisted and broke through with prominent roles in “High Sierra” and “The Maltese Falcon”.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
Website: https://www.themnemonictreepodcast.com/
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mnemonic-tree-podcast/id1591795132
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0LdIJ9PBQMXM3cdKd42Q?si=WQ1SnHo5QgOawX-mxS6yUA
References
https://movieweb.com/humphrey-bogart-best-movies-ranked/#the-african-queen-1952
https://www.slashfilm.com/747193/the-best-humphrey-bogart-movies-ranked/
https://kids.kiddle.co/Humphrey_Bogart
https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-humphrey-bogart/
https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/star/humphrey-bogart/