Frank Borzage

Moonrise

Moonrise

A small-town fable about violence and redemption, Moonrise is the final triumph of Frank Borzage, one of Hollywood’s most neglected masters. Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, young Danny (Dane Clark) is bruised and bullied until one night, in a fit of rage, he kills his most persistent tormentor. As the police close in around him, Danny makes a desperate bid for the love of the dead man’s fiancée (Gail Russell), a schoolteacher who sees the wounded soul behind his aggression. With this postwar comeback, Borzage recaptured the inspiration that had animated his long and audacious early career, marrying the lyrical force of his romantic sensibility with the psychological anguish of film noir, in a stunning vindication of faith in the power of love.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1948
  • 90 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.37:1
  • English
  • Spine #921

Special Features

  • New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New conversation between author Hervé Dumont (Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic) and film historian Peter Cowie
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Philip Kemp

New cover by Greg Ruth

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New conversation between author Hervé Dumont (Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic) and film historian Peter Cowie
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Philip Kemp

New cover by Greg Ruth

Moonrise
Cast
Dane Clark
Danny Hawkins
Gail Russell
Gilly Johnson
Ethel Barrymore
Grandma Hawkins
Allyn Joslyn
Clem Otis, the sheriff
Rex Ingram
Mose Jackson
Henry Morgan
Billy Scripture
Lloyd Bridges
Jerry Sykes
Selena Royle
Aunt Jessie
Credits
Director
Frank Borzage
Produced by
Charles Haas
Screenplay by
Charles Haas
Based on the novel Moonrise by
Theodore Strauss
Director of photography
John L. Russell
Editor
Harry Keller
Production design by
Lionel Banks
Music by
William Lava
“The Moonrise Song” by
William Lava
“The Moonrise Song” by
Harry Tobias

Current

Moonrise: Dark of the Moon
Moonrise: Dark of the Moon

In his uncharacteristic final masterpiece, the great Hollywood melodramatist Frank Borzage approaches the shadowy violence of film noir with his unique brand of romanticism.

By Philip Kemp

Miryam Charles’s Top 10
Miryam Charles’s Top 10

The director of Cette maison chooses a group of favorite films that defy her attempts to explain and describe them, including works by Claire Denis, Charles Burnett, and Frank Borzage.

A Swoon-Worthy Tribute to a Great Hollywood Romanticist
A Swoon-Worthy Tribute to a Great Hollywood Romanticist

Critic Farran Smith Nehme introduces the underappreciated films of Frank Borzage, one of golden-age Hollywood’s underrated masters of melodrama.

Least Wanted—Film Noir’s Character Actors: Harry Morgan

Dark Passages

Least Wanted—Film Noir’s Character Actors: Harry Morgan

In Frank Borzage’s Southern Gothic noir Moonrise, the actor captures a heartbreaking mixture of love and fear with his deeply empathetic (and very brief) portrayal of a deaf-mute.

By Imogen Sara Smith

A Close-Up on Greg Ruth’s Genre-Infused Portraiture

Studio Visits

A Close-Up on Greg Ruth’s Genre-Infused Portraiture

The artist behind our covers for Notorious, Dragon Inn, and Moonrise shows us how he achieves the simple but hauntingly beautiful effects in his illustrations.

Expressionist Noir Classics in Albuquerque

Repertory Picks

Expressionist Noir Classics in Albuquerque

Two brilliantly stylized tales of violence share the screen this weekend at a noir festival in Albuquerque.