Becoming Attractions: The Film of Humphrey Bogart (1997)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
This short-lived Turner Classic Movies series shows how studios showed off their stars back in the day. The previous entry looked at Judy Garland but this one here shows off the marketing plan behind the career of Humphrey Bogart. THE PETRIFIED FORREST and BALLOTS AND BULLETS are the first two trailers up and both highlight the stars of the movie while pumping up Bogart as being a scumbag. The funniest thing in these first two trailers is how Robinson is described as being back as "Little Caesar". THE RETURN OF DR. X is up next and it's easy to see why Bogart was so upset about the film. If the material made him mad then I'm sure this trailer pushed him over the edge because even though his part is very small the trailer makes it appear as if he's in the entire thing. HIGH SIERRA follows and it's clear the studio was wanting to push his bad side since they twice compare him to Dillinger. Bogart the lead is up next in THE MALTESE FALCON and ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. Clearly the publicity department was wanting to push the actor as a tough guy and this is something that would continue. The ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT trailer is interesting because it has Bogart answering questions from the media and he tells them about his character. ACROSS THE PACIFIC and CASABLANCA round out the trailers. This feature is going to mainly attract fans of trailers or those who just want to see how Bogart was marketed back in the day. Most people will probably just want to check out the films.