Of Mice and Men

Hollywood said it could never be made, but now it’s on the screen. That slogan graced the top of the poster in an attempt to entice people to the theaters to see something forbidden, perhaps even scintillating. The Hays Code was in effect in 1939, and things audiences were used to seeing in their theatrical engagements were now being scrubbed squeaky clean to appease the vocal minority. So, having a film advertise itself this way would have been an attempt to fly in the face of that code, even as it had to conform to it. 

The story would have been fresh in the minds of audiences of the time. The novella, Of Mice and Men, was published by John Steinbeck just two years prior, and it was immediately followed by a play adaptation. Adapting it further into a motion picture allowed it to reach an even larger audience, including an international one. It proved to be popular enough, earning back more than double its production budget and securing rave reviews from critics of the time. It would also receive several Academy Award nominations, winning none of them. This was the year for Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, and it just couldn’t compete at the award shows against those two monumental productions.

The film is about two migrant field workers in California during the Great Depression. George Milton (Burgess Meredith) and the mentally challenged Lennie Small (Lon Chaney Jr.) travel around the state taking work wherever they can in the hopes of one day buying some land and starting a farm. The bus they are traveling on drops them off ten miles from their latest job site, forcing the duo to walk the difference and miss the first day’s work. While traversing this distance, George finds an area in the woods where the brush is heavy and tells Lennie that if he ever gets into trouble to come here and hide, foreshadowing where this story is heading. Furthering this thought, there is mentioned several times an incident in the past where something happened with Lennie that necessitated the two of them to leave abruptly but the details are never revealed.

Upon arrival at their new workplace, a ranch near Soledad, California, the two prove to be valuable hard workers, especially Lennie for his sheer brute strength, and things appear to be going well for them. They meet aged one-handed ranch hand Candy (Roman Bohnen) and soon convince him to go in with them on saving up money for their own land. But all is not roses. Curley (Bob Steele), the ranch owner’s son, is a mean man with an awful temper. His wife, Mae (Betty Field), flirts with all the men, incensing her husband into fits of rage. George orders Lennie not to talk to her but eventually things will get out of hand and lead to disaster.

A film like this lives and dies on the backs of its two leads. Both are equally important to the emotional center of the plot, and if either is weak, the whole thing falls apart. Burgess Meredith had been a stage actor and director in New York City during the late 1920s into the early 30s. He transitioned into film in 1935 and became a star when he appeared in the movie version of the Maxwell Anderson play Winterset. He was a rising star by the time he accepted Of Mice and Men and had a screen presence that was obvious to anyone who saw him perform. That talent would help him stay on the radar well into the 1990s, where he would play his final role as Grandpa Gustafson in the two Grumpy Old Men films. Today, he’s primarily remembered for his iconic portrayals as Mickey in the Rocky franchise and the Penguin in the 1966 Batman series, but he was much more than those two roles. He was a star who could handle virtually anything you threw at him and make it, at the very least, interesting to watch.

Lon Chaney Jr. didn’t have the same luck in his career. He is remembered primarily for Universal’s The Wolf Man. He was so good at playing the charming, yet ill-fated, Lawrence Talbot that he ended up getting typecast in these B-movie roles for the rest of his life. He was the son of Lon Chaney Sr., whose mastery of makeup allowed him to disappear into such iconic roles as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. But his son, who had the longer career, didn’t get the same accolades. It drove him into alcoholism and depression, eventually ending his life prematurely. 

But Lon Chaney Jr. had talent as a performer and could have had a stronger career than his father had he not been typecast. That is evidenced here in his portrayal of Lennie. Examining it through modern eyes, it can come across as too broadly drawn, but that is a product of the time and shouldn’t be judged by modern standards. In fact, some of the goofiness of the portrayal adds to the tragedy in the final act because it endears us to Lennie. We see him as a child, a kid who doesn’t understand the danger his brute strength can be. With Lennie, there will be no growing, maturing, and learning how to control that strength. He is simply that little boy he once was but in the body of a very strong man, and that can be dangerous in the right circumstances.

There have been several adaptations made of this source material. I have not seen all of them and cannot speak for their quality. I did, however, see the version in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. Because of that, I was aware of the devastating final act and was prepared for it, or so I thought. I was shaken once again during Lennie and George’s final moment together and was moved to tears. In this case, forewarned didn’t prevent me from being emotionally destroyed by that scene. If you’ve never seen or read Of Mice and Men, I will not ruin the ending here. Just be prepared to be shocked and saddened by it. It is powerful, and both leads sell it perfectly.

Of Mice and Men is as strong of a film now as it was in 1939. There are elements about it that are a bit dated, but the same can be said about nearly any movie from the period. It deserved more accolades than it got, thanks to being overshadowed by two behemoths that released the same year. Because of that, it didn’t stand a chance at the Oscars. That’s a testament to just how good a year 1939 was for the movies. Of Mice and Men should still be sought out and watched as it once was. There was a time when students would watch this film as part of their study of Steinbeck’s wonderful story. That’s mostly gone now in favor of more modern adaptations. Still, this film is worth seeking out and rediscovering it again.

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Lewis Milestone

Best Sound Recording: Elmer Raguse

Best Original Score: Aaron Copland

Best Scoring: Aaron Copland

____________________________________________________

Release Date: December 30, 1939

Running Time: 107 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., Betty Field, Charles Bickford, and Noah Beery Jr.

Directed By: Lewis Milestone