Heat Lightning

A short film set at a filling station in the middle of the desert. Olga runs a station and diner on the highway with her sister. She repairs the cars herself, wears overalls and says plainly that she wants nothing to do with men. There is a reason: a life she walked away from. Her sister Myra is young and wants out of there; she tries to go around with the men nearby and Olga will not allow it. One day two men arrive at the station. One is someone Olga used to know. The same day two wealthy women stop over with their jewellery. The film runs across a single night. Heat, darkness and lightning flashing in the distance set its register. It was made just before Hollywood's censorship rules began to be strictly enforced; the way the woman at its centre is presented, and some of the dialogue, would not have been possible in the years after. Aline MacMahon plays Olga and Ann Dvorak her sister. Mervyn LeRoy directed. It runs sixty-three minutes. An interesting discovery for anyone who likes early Hollywood and short, tight narratives. For a viewer expecting a big production, the film is small in scale and stays in one place.