By Glenn Erickson
The Scarf
Brief Synopsis
An escaped mental patient tries to prove he's not a serial killer.
Cast & Crew
Read More
E. A. Dupont
Director
John Ireland
John Howard Barrington
Mercedes Mccambridge
Connie Carter
James Barton
Ezra Thompson
Emlyn Williams
Dr. David Dunbar
Lloyd Gough
Dr. Gordon
Film Details
Also Known As
The Dungeon
Genre
Drama
Thriller
Release Date
Apr
6,
1951
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: week of 1 Jun 1951
Production Company
Gloria Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
United Artists Corp.
Country
United States
Location
Palmdale, California, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 27m
Sound
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7,906ft
(10 reels)
Synopsis
John Howard Barrington escapes from Alcanta, a state asylum for the criminally insane, and exhaustedly winds his way through the desert as the police chase him. He finally collapses at a turkey farm and is taken in by its owner, desert hermit Ezra Thompson. When Ezra holds John at gunpoint and warns the escapee that the police will certainly catch up with him, John attempts to take the gun from him but fails. Still friendly despite the threat of violence, Ezra listens as John expounds that insanity is a lack of knowledge between right and wrong in a particular act. Ezra asks John what his particular act was but John cannot remember. John does recount an incident at the hospital in which he witnessed a brutal strangling of another prisoner but did not help the victim. Alcanta's Warden Anderson and other officers then arrive at the ranch and Ezra hides John. Anderson explains the history of the escapee to the group, and John overhears it in the next room. John, Anderson states, is a killer and his victim was Rose Marie, his girl friend at the time. John, who was finishing a law degree, would have been given the death penalty but his loss of memory secured his immunity. Anderson tells Ezra that John does not stand a chance of escaping in the barren desert with a $200 reward on his head. After Anderson and the others leave, John emerges, wanting to know why Ezra did not turn him in. Ezra explains that he prefers the company of nature and books, and distrusting civilization, decided to give John the benefit of the doubt. Later, John's foster father, the wealthy Cyrus Barrington, and the English family psychiatrist, Dr. David Dunbar, visit Anderson and Alcanta's psychiatrist Dr. Gordon at the hospital to request that the reward be increased to $5,000. During the visit, Gordon lets out a laugh and the effeminate David becomes visibly perturbed and states that he is "allergic to irrelevant laughter." Back at the ranch, Ezra sends John, who has been working at the ranch for three weeks, into town to fetch feed. On his way John picks up hitchhiker Connie Carter, a singing waitress heading back to Level Louie's, a Los Angeles bar. Bored with looking at the sky and John's silence, Connie, whose "morals have no zipper," asks for some action during a roadside break, but John replies that he is satisfied because to him the desert is "an image of freedom." When Connie wraps a scarf around her neck, John recognizes it and adamantly asks where she got it but she refuses to answer. That evening John drops Connie at the Silver Saddle bar and later returns to find her cornered in a booth by two drunken locals. A brawl between the three men ensues but John disappears when the sheriff arrives. At the bus station Connie spots the $5,000 reward poster and contemplates going to the sheriff but, recalling John's kindness, decides to take the bus instead. At the ranch, John tells Ezra that he remembers Rose Marie was strangled with a scarf, a gift from his best friend David. Determined to find the next key to the puzzle, John seeks Connie out at Level Louie's but Connie runs him off, saying she knows about his insanity and the murder. Disconsolate but determined, John goes to David's office and David admits to him that he witnessed the murder but was unable to stop John because the shock crippled him. Barrington and the police, having been secretly contacted by David, show up and take John away. Convinced of John's innocence, Ezra and Gordon arrive at Level Louie's and enlist Connie's help to save John. Gordon then goes to David's office and tells him that "shock reaction" does not exist and, furthermore, John's reaction to the prison murder can be attributed to his unconsciously realizing it was a repeat of the previous event. Gordon tells David he knows that David suffered mental illness while serving in the English Army, and accuses him of being the killer, explaining that John was unable to react the first time because he was only partially conscious due to a severe blow to the head. After Gordon leaves the office abruptly, David turns to find Connie by the window wearing the duplicate scarf. Connie begins to laugh, upsetting David. He tells her that John and Rose Marie laughed behind his back that way and recounts how he killed Rose Marie in a fit of pique. The police, Gordon, John and Ezra are waiting at the door, and just as David is about to choke Connie, John comes to her rescue. Later at Level Louie's, John listens to Connie sing then, grateful for his freedom, leaves with Ezra to return to the turkey ranch, where it is "bound and bare" and spread with "lone and level sand."
Director
E. A. Dupont
Director
Cast
John Ireland
John Howard Barrington
Mercedes Mccambridge
Connie Carter
James Barton
Ezra Thompson
Emlyn Williams
Dr. David Dunbar
Lloyd Gough
Dr. Gordon
Basil Ruysdael
Cyrus Barrington
David Wolfe
Level Louie
Harry Shannon
Warden Anderson
Dave Mcmahon
State trooper
Chubby Johnson
Sam
Frank Jenks
Tom
Emmett Lynn
Jack, waiter
Dick Wessel
Sid
Frank Jaquet
Sheriff
John Merrick
Deputy
Lyle Talbot
Detective
King Donovan
Tiger
O. Z. Whitehead
Woopie
Frank Richards
Gargantua
Sue Casey
Receptionist
Crew
Hollis Barnes
Hairstylist
Steve Bass
Recording
Kathryn Becker
Dialogue Director
Walter Bluemel
Assistant Camera
Edward G. Boyle
Set Decoration
Mac Dalgleish
Sound Recording
Charles Milton Daniel
Composer
Sammy John Defazio
Composer
E. A. Dupont
Screenwriter
Emmett Emerson
Assistant Director
Gene Farrell
Assistant Camera
Gene Farrell
Assistant Director
Herschel Burke Gilbert
Music
Joseph Gluck
Film Editor
I. G. Goldsmith
Based on a Story by
I. G. Goldsmith
Producer
Mike Gordon
Props Master
Gilbert Hugh Hall
Composer
Florence Hayes
Woman's wardrobe
Al Hersh
Assistant Props master
Ben Hersh
Prod Supervisor
Joseph Justman
Presented By
Robert Justman
Company clerk
Joseph King
Wardrobe Supervisor
Anthony Z. Landi
Associate Producer
Fred J. Lau
Sound Recording
Hugh Mcdowell
Mixer
Joseph Mullendore
Orchestration
Les Nettenstrom
Assistant prod Manager
Gus Norin
Makeup Artist
Frank Planer
Director of Photography
David Ragin
Camera Operator
Edwin Rolfe
Based on a Story by
Morris Rosen
Grip
Walter Sheets
Orchestration
Al St. Hilaire
Still Photographer
Rudolph Sternad
Production Design
Don C. Stott
Chief set Electrician
Ralph Winters
Casting Director
Film Details
Also Known As
The Dungeon
Genre
Drama
Thriller
Release Date
Apr
6,
1951
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: week of 1 Jun 1951
Production Company
Gloria Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
United Artists Corp.
Country
United States
Location
Palmdale, California, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 27m
Sound
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7,906ft
(10 reels)
Articles
The Scarf -
Psychology figured heavily in 1940s films noir, but a few years later it was mostly displaced by a new focus on docu-noir realism. Going against that trend is E.A. Dupont's comeback film The Scarf (1951), which deals not only in murky mental motivations, but makes its title object a catalyst for an amnesia victim to recover his lost memory. An accused murderer (John Ireland) escapes from an asylum and hides out in the desert, obtaining help from a hermit turkey farmer (James Barton). He also makes contact with singer-drifter Connie Carter (Mercedes McCambridge), whose decorative scarf bears a potent connection to his criminal past. English actor-writer Emlyn Williams is the psychiatrist Ireland goes to for help, not knowing that the cultured man is the source of all his problems. Director/co-writer Dupont was a famous director of silent films in Germany. His film is both stylish and stylized. None of the main characters seem to have a stable place in the world, and more than one has a habit of spouting cumbersome philosophy. The real attraction in The Scarf is the dynamic actress Mercedes McCambridge, John Ireland's co-star from the Academy Award- winning All the King's Men (1949). Her character is a singing waitress and possible prostitute known as 'Cash & Carry Connie.' Probably too hard-edged for 1951 audiences, McCambridge's performance has been criticized as camp by latter-day critics, possibly in light of the actress's later preference for edgy roles, like her creepy drug pusher in Orson Welles' 1958 Touch of Evil. Cameraman Franz Planer gives The Scarf an unusually rich B&W sheen, credited in part to his use of a custom-built 'Garutso Lens' that is very sharp yet yields an enhanced depth of field in night photography. The lens system impressed the technically adept director Robert Wise, who employed it for his excellent crime exposé noir The Captive City (1952).
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
The Scarf -
Psychology figured heavily in 1940s films noir, but a few years later it was mostly displaced by a new focus on docu-noir realism. Going against that trend is E.A. Dupont's comeback film The Scarf (1951), which deals not only in murky mental motivations, but makes its title object a catalyst for an amnesia victim to recover his lost memory. An accused murderer (John Ireland) escapes from an asylum and hides out in the desert, obtaining help from a hermit turkey farmer (James Barton). He also makes contact with singer-drifter Connie Carter (Mercedes McCambridge), whose decorative scarf bears a potent connection to his criminal past. English actor-writer Emlyn Williams is the psychiatrist Ireland goes to for help, not knowing that the cultured man is the source of all his problems. Director/co-writer Dupont was a famous director of silent films in Germany. His film is both stylish and stylized. None of the main characters seem to have a stable place in the world, and more than one has a habit of spouting cumbersome philosophy. The real attraction in The Scarf is the dynamic actress Mercedes McCambridge, John Ireland's co-star from the Academy Award- winning All the King's Men (1949). Her character is a singing waitress and possible prostitute known as 'Cash & Carry Connie.' Probably too hard-edged for 1951 audiences, McCambridge's performance has been criticized as camp by latter-day critics, possibly in light of the actress's later preference for edgy roles, like her creepy drug pusher in Orson Welles' 1958 Touch of Evil. Cameraman Franz Planer gives The Scarf an unusually rich B&W sheen, credited in part to his use of a custom-built 'Garutso Lens' that is very sharp yet yields an enhanced depth of field in night photography. The lens system impressed the technically adept director Robert Wise, who employed it for his excellent crime exposé noir The Captive City (1952).
By Glenn Erickson
Mercedes McCambridge (1916-2004)
She was born Charlotte Mercedes McCambridge on March 16, 1916, in Joliet, Illinois. After graduation from Mundelein College in Chicago, she acted in local radio, doing everything from children's programs to soap operas. By the early '40s, she relocated to New York, where her powerful voice kept her busy as one of the top radio actresses of her day, including a stint with Orson Wells' radio dramas.
In the late '40s she appeared successfully in several Broadway productions, and this led a call from Hollywood. In her film debut, she was cast as Broderick Crawford's scheming mistress in All the King's Men (1949) and won an Oscar® for her fine performance.
Despite her strong start, McCambridge's film roles would be very sporadic over the years. Her strengths were her husky voice, square build, and forthright personae, not exactly qualities for an ingenue. Instead, McCambridge took interesting parts in some quirky movies: playing a self-righteous church leader opposite Joan Crawford in one of the cinema's great cult Westerns, Nicholas Ray's kinky Johnny Guitar (1954); a key role as Rock Hudson's sister in George Stevens' epic Giant (1956, a second Oscar® nomination), and as a gang leader in Orson Wells' magnificent noir thriller Touch of Evil (1958).
By the '60s, McCambridge's career was hampered by bouts of alcoholism, and apart for her voice work as the demon in William Friedkin's The Exorcist(1973, where the director cruelly omitted her from the credits before the Screen Actors Guild intervened and demanded that she receive proper recognition), the parts she found toward the end of her career were hardly highpoints. Some fairly forgettable films: Thieves (1977), The Concorde - Airport '79 (1979) and guest roles in some routine television shows such as Charlie's Angels and Cagney & Lacey were all she could find before quietly retiring from the screen.
It should be noted that McCambridge finished her career on a high note, when in the early '90s, Neil Simon asked her to play the role of the grandmother in Lost in Yonkers on Broadway. Her return to the New York stage proved to be a great success, and McCambridge would perform the play for a phenomenal 560 performances. They were no surviving family members at the time of her death.
by Michael T. Toole
Mercedes McCambridge (1916-2004)
Veteran character actress Mercedes McCambridge, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for All the King's Men, and later provided the scary voice of a demon-possessed Linda Blair in The Exorcist, died from natural causes on March 2 in a rest home in San Diego. She was 87.
She was born Charlotte Mercedes McCambridge on March 16, 1916, in Joliet, Illinois. After graduation from Mundelein College in Chicago, she acted in local radio, doing everything from children's programs to soap operas. By the early '40s, she relocated to New York, where her powerful voice kept her busy as one of the top radio actresses of her day, including a stint with Orson Wells' radio dramas.
In the late '40s she appeared successfully in several Broadway productions, and this led a call from Hollywood. In her film debut, she was cast as Broderick Crawford's scheming mistress in All the King's Men (1949) and won an Oscar® for her fine performance.
Despite her strong start, McCambridge's film roles would be very sporadic over the years. Her strengths were her husky voice, square build, and forthright personae, not exactly qualities for an ingenue. Instead, McCambridge took interesting parts in some quirky movies: playing a self-righteous church leader opposite Joan Crawford in one of the cinema's great cult Westerns, Nicholas Ray's kinky Johnny Guitar (1954); a key role as Rock Hudson's sister in George Stevens' epic Giant (1956, a second Oscar® nomination), and as a gang leader in Orson Wells' magnificent noir thriller Touch of Evil (1958).
By the '60s, McCambridge's career was hampered by bouts of alcoholism, and apart for her voice work as the demon in William Friedkin's The Exorcist(1973, where the director cruelly omitted her from the credits before the Screen Actors Guild intervened and demanded that she receive proper recognition), the parts she found toward the end of her career were hardly highpoints. Some fairly forgettable films: Thieves (1977), The Concorde - Airport '79 (1979) and guest roles in some routine television shows such as Charlie's Angels and Cagney & Lacey were all she could find before quietly retiring from the screen.
It should be noted that McCambridge finished her career on a high note, when in the early '90s, Neil Simon asked her to play the role of the grandmother in Lost in Yonkers on Broadway. Her return to the New York stage proved to be a great success, and McCambridge would perform the play for a phenomenal 560 performances. They were no surviving family members at the time of her death.
by Michael T. Toole
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Dungeon. A Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Edwin Rolfe's story "The Dungeon" was to be published as a novel simultaneously with the film's release; however, no information confirming such publication has been found. According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Vicki Cummings and Otto Kruger were considered for parts in the film. According to information in the copyright records, the CBCS and reviews, Celia Lovsky was cast as "Mrs. Barrington," however, there was no character by that name in the print viewed and Lovsky's appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. The appearance of some additional cast members listed only in the the copyright records has not been confirmed.
A April 13, 1950 Hollywood Reporter article notes that Ray Turner, pianist and member of Paramount's music department, recorded "Summer Nights" for the film. Portions of the film were shot on location near Palmdale in the Mojave desert and an unidentified California state asylum. This was director E. A. Dupont's first film since 1939's Hell's Kitchen, which he co-directed with Lewis Seiler (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40).
According to Daily Variety news items in December 1953 Bank of America filed suit against Gloria Productions and other defendants, seeking $4,100 still due on a $275,000 loan for the film. The plaintiff had previously asked the court to foreclose on the production and subsequently sold the film after the balance of its original loan was not paid. The complaintant also asked the court to declare Sunset Securities Co., a company affiliated with the Bank of America, the sole owner of the film. The disposition of the suit is unknown.
