“With a name like Humphrey DeForest Bogart, you’ve got to be tough,” intones Bogie in director Kathryn Ferguson’s insightful and entertaining documentary, “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes,” now in theaters. Using the rugged screen legend’s words (voiced by Kerry Shale), as well as film clips, archive footage and interviews with friends – including director John Huston and actress Louise Brooks – Ferguson recounts Bogart's career from his early days on the Broadway stage to his initial efforts in Hollywood to finally his unqualified success.
Ferguson frames Bogart’s personal life through the women in his life, his indomitable mother Maud, an illustrator and suffragette who supported the family, as well as his wives Helen Menken, Mary Philip, Mayo Methot and of course, Lauren Bacall, all of whom contributed to his career. Bacall’s memories about their relationship on-screen and off are the most poignant in the film. She recalls Howard Hawks discouraging their relationship, as well as her decisions about working and raising her two children with Bogart.
