BORDER INCIDENT: Blu-ray (MGM, 1949) Warner Archive

Billed as ‘the shame of two nations’, director, Anthony Mann’s Border Incident (1949) seems far more prescient today than perhaps it did the year it was made. Indeed, it was hardly the sort of picture MGM, under the auspices of Louis B. Mayer, would have deigned to produce. But Mayer was in competition in 1949, forcibly ordered by Nicholas Schenck, the president of Metro’s parent company – Loews Incorporated – to replace his top-heavy producer system with another VP in charge of production to oversee MGM’s vast production schedule. Mayer had flown the factory solo since 1936, the year his wunderkind VP in Charge of Production - Irving G. Thalberg died of a heart attack, age, 35. In the interim, Mayer had competently steered MGM through the cost-cutting labyrinth of the war years, producing some fine – and iconic – films along the way, while gradually skewing the focus of the studio away from Thalberg’s adult themes and stars, in favor of an ever-expanding roster of youth talent – cheaper and more malleable to obey his edicts. It all worked resplendently…for a time, with MGM’s box office intake outweighing all the other major Hollywood studios’ profit margins combined.

But then, a strange thing happened. The guns of the war fell silent and the returning heroes began to demand more ‘reality’ from their film fare. Unable to see this forest for its proverbial trees, Mayer also began to divide his time between managing the studio, dating a wealthy socialite, Lorena Danker (whom he would eventually wed) and indulging his other favorite past time, breeding champion race horses. Thus, at war’s end, Metro’s profits had significantly dipped to their lowest ebb since the Great Depression. Something had to be done. And Schenck, who generally abhorred Mayer (it ought to be pointed out, the feeling was mutual) set about, ultimately, to have Mayer dethroned as MGM’s raja. To this end, Schenck promoted the idea Mayer take on ‘another Thalberg’ – the pair eventually settling on Isadore ‘Dore’ Schary – an American playwright, director and producer who had bounced around the Hollywood landscape, touching virtually all of the majors with his product, including MGM, before taking on the ballast of managing Vanguard Films for David O. Selznick.

Though a short-lived tenure, Schary’s move to RKO shortly thereafter proved rather lucrative. The chief problem with Schary’s appointment to MGM as head of production was not that his ideas were not solid, but that his verve for crafting ‘message’ pictures grounded in reality, decidedly clashed with Mayer’s ensconced desire to create magical entertainments of an otherworldly ilk. If Schenck had bothered to look a little more closely at Schary’s more recent track record he would have also seen that two of his costliest efforts at RKO – The Boy with Green Hair, and, They Live by Night (both in 1948, and each regarded as a classic today) actually lost money. Worse, Schary had shown a penchant for creating discord with his bosses, clashing with Selznick, then, RKO’s owner, Howard Hughes – a foreshadowing of the awkward alliance soon to avail itself against Mayer at Metro. In the early stages of accepting Schary into Metro’s fold, Mayer likely believed his tenured supremacy as MGM’s star-maker par excellence far outweighed Schary’s cache with the stockholders. And thus, Mayer erroneously supposed that, if he so desired, he had absolute ‘veto’ power over anything Schary wanted to do. That Mayer allowed Schary his share of indulgences likely served another purpose; namely, Mayer’s hope that with enough poorly received movies made under Schary’s auspices, Schenck would eventually have no choice but to fire him, leaving Mayer once more in command. Though, this too would come to pass in 1956, Schary’s deluge was preceded by Mayer’s own ousting from power in 1951.

Border Incident is a sober indictment of the U.S./Mexican border crisis which has only continued to rupture with time. Moreover, it was a picture close to Schary’s heart and thoroughly in keeping with his need to ‘educate’ audiences under the guise of selling them an entertainment. To those loyal to Mayer, movies like Border Incident seemed an anathema to the hallowed days of froth and gloss produced under Thalberg. Indeed, Mayer was hardly in favor of the project. But with Schary’s instatement, and backed by Schenck – only partly because Schenck perceived Schary as the right man to eventually fill Mayer’s shoes, but moreover, simply to piss Mayer off while he remained ostensibly ‘in charge’, Border Incident would be made without much conflict inside the front offices. It likely pleased Mayer that the resultant product – while exceptionally well-crafted – was a dud at the box office, losing $194,000. The real tragedy for MGM was it could scarcely afford to be ‘experimental’ in 1949 – a year rocked by the government-imposed divestiture of theater chains from the studios that once owned them, and further buffeted by the high cost of doing business, political tumult, threats of a strike, and the small-screen specter of television – then, the new-fangled kid on the block. Yet, Schary’s first movies for the studio had been resounding money-makers: Battleground (1949) The Next Voice You Hear... (1950), Go for Broke! (1951) and Westward the Women (1951). The divisiveness between Mayer and Schary reached its head over John Huston’s The Red Badge of Courage (1951) – a darkly purposed reexamination of the American Civil War. Mayer demanded of Schenck he make a choice once and for all – either him or Schary. To the detriment of all, Schenck chose Schary.

Viewed today, Border Incident is so clearly a Schary project, out of step with Mayer’s uber-gloss, it seems almost foreign for Metro’s trademark, Leo the Lion, to precede what follows. The picture stars Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy as Mexico’s Policía Judicial Federal, Pablo Rodriguez and U.S. Department of Immigration field agent, Jack Bearnes respectively, each working one side of the border crisis after the remains of several illegal migrants are discovered in a shallow grave. Rodriguez and Bearnes are aware the illegals – known as braceros – are being smuggled by a ruthless band of cutthroats for pure profit, only to return to their native soil and be robbed and/or murdered by the cartel who sold them as slave labor to unscrupulous American farmers. Going undercover, Rodriguez and Bearnes concentrate their efforts to unearth the chain of command in this illegal smuggling operation, placing themselves in precarious situations that will eventually result in Bearnes’ murder. The states’ side point man is rancher, Owen Parkson (Howard Da Silva) who, having discovered Bearnes’ real identity, has him superficially wounded in an abandoned field, then run over with a bulldozer.

Despite two very hard-hitting performances from Montalban and Murphy, Border Incident’s modus operandi is far more concerned with the plight of the great unwashed Mexican workhands who risk it all in search of the proverbial ‘promised land’ otherwise known herein as California’s Imperial Valley. And while Murphy had been around since the late 1930’s, it is Hollywood newcomer, Montalban who gets the plum profile here. Despite the picture’s fiscal belly-flop, Border Incident did, at least, serve to promote Montalban to the head of the class, resulting in a lucrative, decade-long tenure at MGM after having first appeared in mere cameos in some of Metro’s top-tier musicals. Far from pitying the poor Mexicans, Border Incident’s screenplay by John C. Higgins (based on a story by him and George Zuckerman) digs deep to expose the smugglers as greedy white trash. Howard Da Silva’s Parkson is a grotesque bottom feeder, profiting off the migrant’s misery, flanked by a despicable overseer, Jeff Amboy (Charles McGraw), and henchmen, Cuchillo (Alfonso Bedoya) and Zopilote (Arnold Moss). There is also Sig Ruman as Hugo Wolfgang Ulrich, the proprietor of a seedy cantina in Mexicali where deals are made and men are marked for extinction. Director, Anthony Mann layers an unrelentingly bleak outlook, etching an undeniably sinister sliver of jeopardy into every frame – all of it, superbly captured by John Alton’s deep focus cinematography.

Border Incident arrives on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive (WAC) in a 1080p transfer that is, at long last, worthy of the picture’s stature. Back in 1999, Border Incident had its DVD debut, horrendously marred by an interlaced mastering effort, resulting in huge deficits to its image quality…or lack thereof: distortions and jaggies appearing everywhere, to virtually render any competent viewing of it impossible. But now, WAC has gone back to the drawing board with a new scan from an original camera negative. The results speak for themselves. Border Incident is razor sharp, taking full advantage of the format’s proficiency to reproduce all the subtle nuances in Alton’s exquisite deep-focus compositions. Fine detail abounds and film grain, at last, appears properly realized. Shadow delineation is perfect, as are the inky deep black levels and crisp whites. The DTS 2.0 mono features solidly placed dialogue and a pulsating underscore by André Previn. Ported over from the defunct DVD, professor, Dana Polan’s audio commentary that has much, much more to say about this movie than is possible to unfurl in a mere review. We also get a theatrical trailer. Bottom line: Border Incident remains a bone-chilling descend into the horrors of a failed immigration policy between two nations yet to come to terms with the ugliness their blind-eyed ignorance has helped foster for generations of unfortunate, lost souls. While some of Schary’s ‘message’ movies lack the impetus to truly enthrall, Border Incident is a movie deserving of far more exposure than it has ever received from the public at large. Very – very – highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

4.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

5+

EXTRAS

1