SON OF FURY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 190, 12 February 1943, Page 17

SON OF FURY

¢ 20th Century-Fox )

. Who was the Son of Fury? A racehorse? A. So you're asking questions again. No, he was actually Tyrone Power, and why he

called himself the Son of Fury I can’t imagine, because his father was Sir Godfrey Blake, baronet, of Breetholm Manor, in the reign of Good King George the Third. Q. And his mother was Lady Blake, I presume, A. Well, now, the whole affair was rather delicate, and was blanketed in mystery. Q. Not the wrong side of the blanket? A. Exactly. That was the suggestion. You see, his mother was only a gunsmith’s daughter, and nobody could find her marriage lines, and when his father the baronet, died at sea, poor little Tyrone Benjamin Power-Blake was apparently just a nameless you-know-what, and his wicked uncle, Sir George Sanders-Blake, pinched the title and the estates, and lived like a lord (which he wasn’t: only a baronet, and a phoney one at that). After a bit, Uncle George decided he would make little Benjamin into a stable-boy, and grind him into the dirt, and Ben just had to swallow his pride and some of the dirt and wait till he could grow up and get his own back. And actually he wasn’t doing so badly, because Uncle George’s lovely blonde daughter, the Lady Frances Farmer-Blake, suddenly started taking a terrific interest in horses, and the stable boy was ‘kissing her most scientifically one night when Uncle George caught them at it and horse-whipped him. As you might imagine, this made him still more sore. In fact, he grew quite desperate, saying "Till this matter is settled my life means nothing." Q. Oh, dear, it’s a very sad story, isn’t it? A. Not at all, just romantic. It’s a good thing for heroes to suffer. Builds up Emotional Tension, you know. Anyway, Ben’s life. must really have meant quite a lot to him, because after escaping from the Bow Street Runners or something, with a Price on His Head, and being briefly and platonically befriended by Elsa Lanchester, a streetgirl, he hopped on a ship bound for the South Seas, and... Q. Hold on a second. How did he get a Price on his Head? A. Aha, life was grim in England then. Benjamin Blake was a Bonded Servant who had attacked his master, and that was a Hanging Matter. But he escaped on the ship, and on board he met John Carradine, another outcast, who cunningly stuck a few chunks of iron into the compass, which diverted the ship sufficiently from its course for them to arrive at a Pacific Island which John happened to know was rich in pearls. So Ben and John slipped overboard one. night, and, quite disregarding any sharks which might have been about, struck’ out for land. i alg Q. What land was it? A. The geography is a bit obscure, but it may have been Tahiti, because

the inhabitants were light-coloured natives of French extraction. Q. French? A. Well, their chief kissed Ben and John on both cheeks, and the native girls had permanent waves and plucked eyebrows. Obviously French. Q. So they got on all right with the natives? A. Yes, apart from one rather awkward moment at the start, everything went swimmingly, with Ben and John fishing up a fortune in pearls from the local. oyster beds. And one day Ben looked up from an oyster, and there was Gene Tierney sitting on.a rock, with a very special permanent wave and very special plucked eyebrows. So she went swimming with him, and it wasn’t long before Ben had put a flower in her hair and was introducing her to the blessings of civilisation, including the English way to say "I love you," and how to use a knife and fork. Q. Did he marry her? A. Well, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt, though it did strike me that Ben was a trifle casual about it, considering all the bother there had been over his own parents’ marriage. And, of course, he hadn’t forgotten the Girl He’d Left Behind Him, or Uncle George, or the reason why he wanted the pearls. Q. ‘What was that? A. He’d said, "Gold can unlock any door." So when he’d collected a nice little sackful of pearls, Ben shook hands with the natives (having Anglicised them), stuck another flower in Gene Tierney’s hair and. kissed her sadly, and said good-bye to Honest John (who had decided that Riches Meant Nothing), and then hopped on a convenient Dutch ship and sailed for home. Q. Was the Price still on his Head? A. Yes, but don’t forget the pearls. Ben was now very rich. In London he went to a very eccentric but very. powerful lawyer called Bartholomew Pratt, and, showing him the pearls, told him to take the Price off his Head and put it on his bill, and also find his mother’s marriage lines. Then Ben set off to settle his account with Uncle George, who was still extremely wicked, Q. And what about The Girl A. Yes, we musn’t forget The Girl, the Lady Frances Farmer-Blake.. Well, can you imagine it, having grabbed a string of the biggest pearls,» she went and betrayed Ben to Uncle George and the Bow Street Runners. Rather incomprehensible conduct I thought, but then you see she was the Surprise Element in the story, and was False at Heart. Q. Do you mean to say they hanged Ben after all? A. Don’t be silly. Heroes don’t hang. They only come within an inch of it. Ben was convicted all right on the old charge and made a most fluent speech from the dock about the Rights: of Man which the judge agreed was.good in sentiment but bad in law: and then the judge was just putting on the black cap when in. walked old Bartholomew. Pratt, and pulled out of his sleeve the’ Missing’ Marriage Lines which, had been mislaid in Bombay, thereby proving that Ben wasn’t a nameless you-know-what, nor a Bonded Servant, but the. rightful

baronet all the time (as of course we all knew). Q. Was that the end? A. Patience. First there was Uncle George, who had to be converted into one of the ruins that Benjamin battered about a bit. And then there was the Big Renunciation Scene, where Ben gave up his new title and handed over all his estates to his tenants... Q. That was strange behaviour, wasn’t it, considering what an awful lot of trouble he’d gone to in order to get them? A. Yes, but it was a strange story, Anyway, that’s how’ it was, and Ben went back to his Pacific Island, and there was Gene Tierney waiting for him orn the shore with a flower stuck in hef permanent wave. Q.' Tell. me, why have: you headed all this as "Sound and Fury"? A. It’s like the title of the film itself it signifies nothing. Q. Then I take it. you; didn’t enjoy yourself? A. Then you take it wrong. All don’t necessarily have to Mean Som thing to be amusing.