Saturday, August 15, 2020

SHORT STORY OF THE DAY : THE CLARION CALL BY O. HENRY

 


THE CLARION CALL BY O. HENRY

234 views•Jul 26, 2020

ENJOY ENGLISH

 

"The Clarion Call"

Story level 2

Directed by HENRY HATHAWAY, from a screenplay by RICHARD L. BREEN, it stars DALE ROBERTSON AND RICHARD WIDMARK. Plot: A detective cannot arrest a murderer he knows from his past due to his honor involving an outstanding financial debt to the criminal. Once a newspaper offers a reward, after being mocked by the criminal, the detective arrests the criminal and collects the reward to repay the debt.

 

This vignette reunited Henry Hathaway and Richard Widmark who'd worked together on the noir classic Kiss of Death (1947). Widmark's character in The Clarion Call, "Johnny Kernan", is actually a reprise of his Oscar-nominated character "Tommy Udo" from Kiss of Death. Widmark's Udo/Kernan character was inspired by his love of Batman comics' "The Joker". The Tommy Udo performance in turn influenced Frank Gorshin in preparation for his "Riddler" character on the Batman TV series in the 1960s.

 

Grateful thanks to ENJOY ENGLISH, HENRY HATHAWAY, RICHARD L. BREEN, DALE ROBERTSON, RICHARD WIDMARK, all others who made this video possible and YouTube. 

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