Winterset (1936)

Winterset
Directed by Alfred Santell
Written by Anthony Veiller based on the play by Maxwell Anderson
1936/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing

[box] When we’re young we have faith in what is seen, but when we’re old we know that what is seen is traced in air and built on water.  — Maxwell Anderson, Winterset[/box]

This film marked Burgess Meredith’s first credited screen appearance in a role he had played on Broadway.  It is not cinematically well-rendered but is worth seeing as a typical Depression-era social commentary and for the acting.

The story begins in a 1920 New York City tenament where radical Bartolomeo Romagna (John Carradine) and his family discover their car has been stolen, along with the revolutionary pamphlets and other materials in it.  The car is then involved in the killing of the paymaster of the company at which Romagna works.  Romagna is tried for the crime and sentenced to death based on this circumstantial evidence.  His final words to the judge are to the effect that he is to be pitied since he is killing an innocent man and will carry the burden for the rest of his life.

Segue to 1936.  A law school class examines the evidence and decides that Romagna was not shown to be guilty.  A key reason behind its finding is that a man by the name of Garth Esdras witnessed the crime but was never called to testify.  Romagna’s son, Mio (Burgess Merideth) reads the article and travels to New York hoping to track down Esdras.  Merideth has been obsessed by the execution of his father all his life.

It is here that the coincidences start to pile on inexorably.  Mio meets Garth’s sister, not knowing who she is, and it is love at first sight.  The judge at Romagna’s trial has become unhinged and is now investigating in the hope that he will be vindicated.  The mastermind behind the payroll robbery has been released from jail, is critically ill, and is out to mow down anybody who could possibly prove that he had anything to do with the crime.  They all wind up in the tenement apartment of Garth’s father.

Merideth is unbelievably young and good-looking in this.  All the actors are very accomplished.  The dialogue is too poetic to ever have been spoken by a living human but is powerful.    It’s an interesting period piece that kept me engaged throughout its 77 minute running time.

Winterset was nominated by the Academy for Best Score and Best Art Direction.  It won an award for Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival and director Santell was nominated at the Festival for the Mussolini Cup.