This site is devoted to the love of classic movies. What qualifies as a classic film or movie is somewhat subjective. There are certain films which endure because they strike an emotional chord long after their initial release. For example, a movie like "Casablanca" (1942) would qualify as a classic under that definition.
American Madness
(1932) is a pre-Code drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Walter
Huston. Other members of the cast include Pat O’Brien, Kay Johnson, and Constance
Cummings.
Tom Dickson (Huston) is the president of Union National
Bank. The bank’s board is concerned that Dickson’s lending practices are too
risky during the early years of the Great Depression.
When the bank is robbed, it causes a run and Dickson’s
career and the banks survival are in Jeopardy.
Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) was an American film director,
producer, and writer. During the 1930s and 1940s, Capra’s films were among the
most popular and awarded films. By 1938, Capra has won three Best Director
Academy Awards. Born in Italy, Capra immigrated to the United States with his
family when he was five years old. By sheer determination and his self-described
cockiness, Capra talked his way into the movie business. He found a great home
at “Poverty Row” studio, Columbia Pictures. At Columbia he had a major
success with It Happened One Night (1934), which swept all the major categories at
the Academy Awards that year. This helped turn Columbia Pictures from a Poverty
Row studio into a major one. Other Capra successes include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film
actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his
writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston
worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924. Once
talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and
also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel
Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941),
and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won
the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s
last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck
and Wendell Corey.
American Madness trivia
Frank Capra replaced Allan
Dwan as director and started from scratch.
Walter Huston was on loan
from M-G-M.
Capra modeled Walter Huton’s
character after A. P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of America.
The film’s original title
was Bank Story.
American Madness is credited with helping to restore the public’s
faith in the banking industry.
This was the first collaboration
between Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin; American Madness was Riskin’s first original screenplay.
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Sterling Holloway, Constance Cummings, and Pat O’Brien
Discussion questions
Did the film seem realistic
to you?
Was Walter Huston convincing
as the bank president?
What did you think of the
pacing of the film? After only three years after the first all-talking
pictures, American Madness seems fairly
modern, especially when compared to other films from 1931. Do you agree?
Do you see some
foreshadowing of future Capra movies? If so, which ones?
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) is a film fantasy based on the short
story by Stephen Vincent Benet by the same name. The film was directed by
William Dieterle and starred an all-star cast featuring Walter Huston, Edward
Arnold, James Craig, Anne Shirley, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon, Gene Lockhart,
John Qualen, and H. B. Warner.
In New Hampshire in
1840, Jabez Stone (Craig), a poor farmer, is beset with hard times and bad
luck. At the end of his rope, he says that he would sell his soul to the devil
for two cents. Before you know it, a man calling himself Mr. Scratch appears.
Scratch tells Jabez if he sells his soul, he will have seven years of good luck
and prosperity. Jabez tempted by wealth and an easier life, signs a contract
with scratch.
After several years,
things change for Jabez. He becomes one of the wealthiest men in his village
and his success never ends. During this time, he becomes friends with
Daniel Webster (Arnold), the celebrated congressman, lawyer, and speaker. He
and his wife Mary (Shirley) have a son and name him Daniel in honor of Mr.
Webster.
As the seven years end, Jabez tries to negotiate with Scratch to extend their
contract. In the meantime, Jabez’s marriage begins to crumble and Scratch knows
he has the upper hand. Scratch agrees to extend the contract in exchange for
Jabez’s son. Jabez refuses and turns to Webster to help him get out of his
bargain with the Devil.
What transpires is an
amazing court case featuring some of the most notorious historical figures as
the jury.
How will the trial turn
out? Will Jazez be set free from the clutches of Mr. Scratch or will he be
forced to honor his original contract?
Edward Arnold, James Craig, and Walter Huston
William Dieterle (1893 – 1972) was a German-born actor and film
director. Dieterle emigrated to the United States in 1930 and acted in German-language films made in Hollywood for a time. He eventually worked his way up to
director. He directed the 1935 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring James Cagney, Joe E. Brown, Dick
Powell, and an 18-year-old Olivia de Havilland. Dieterle directed Paul Muni to
a Best Actor win for his title role in The
Story of Louis Pasteur (1936). He directed Muni again in another biographical
film, The Life of Emile Zola (1937).
The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning for Best Picture and Best
Supporting Actor for Joseph Schildkraut, and Best Screenplay. Dieterle lost the
award for Best Director to Leo McCarey. This was Dieterle’s one and only Oscar
nomination. His other films include Juarez
(1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1939), Dr. Ehrlich’s Magin Bullet
(1940), and A Dispatch from Reuters
(1940).
The Devil and Daniel Webster trivia
The was released as All That Money Can Buy so it wouldn’t be
confused with The Devil and Miss Jones,
also released in 1941.
Bernard Herrmann won an
Academy Award for his scoring of the film. He was also nominated for the film
score of Citizen Kane that same year.
Robert Wise (The Sound of Music), who would
later go on to direct, was the editor of the film.
Thomas Mitchell was
originally cast as Daniel Webster but had to be replaced due to an accident on
the set that resulted in a fractured skull.
Anne Shirley said that
everyone involved in the production believed they were making a great film.
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Discussion questions
Walter Huston was nominated
for a Best Actor Oscar. Do you think he deserved it? What did you think of his
performance?
Was Edward Arnold as
Daniel Webster a good match for Huston’s Mr. Scratch?
What about the other
cast members? The cast includes some very well-known character actors. Do you
have a favorite?
The film was praised for
its production values when it was first released. Does it hold up in the 21st
century?
The film score won an Academy Award for Bernard Herrmann. Do you think the score added to the mood of the film?
Although the film was met
with rave reviews when it was released, the public didn’t show up at the box
office. Why do you think the film wasn’t a financial success?
Dodsworth (1936)
is an American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Walter Huston,
Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, and David Niven. The screenplay by
Sidney Howard is based on the stage adaptation of the 1929 novel by Sinclair
Lewis. Houston starred in the stage version and recreated his role on film.
The film centers on the marriage of retired auto magnate
Samuel Dodsworth (Huston) and his wife Fran (Chatterton). While on a trip to Europe, the couple discovers they want different things. On the RMS
Queen Mary, Sam meets divorcee Edith
Cortright (Astor). Edith and Sam hit it off but their relationship is one of
friendship. As Sam and Fran arrive in Europe, their marriage is strained, partly due to Fran’s dissatisfaction with what she considers their dull social
life. Fran decides to stay in Europe while Sam returns to America.
While in America, Sam is confronted with the “gossip” about
Fran and playboy Arnold Iselin (Lukas). Same returns to Europe to see if he and
Fran have a future together.
William Wyler (1902 - 1981) was an American (born in
Mulhouse, Alsace, then part of Germany) film director and producer. He won the
Academy Award for Best Direction three times: Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). Wyler was nominated 12 times for Best
Director, an Academy Awards history record. Wyler started working in the movie
business during the silent era, eventually making a name for himself as a
director in the early 1930s. He would go on to direct Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), and The Little Foxes (1941). Actress Bette Davis received three
Oscar nominations under Wyler’s direction, winning her second Oscar for her
performance in Jezebel (1938). Other popular films directed by Wyler include The Heiress (1949), Roman Holiday (1954), Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958), and Funny Girl 1968).
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer,
stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which
includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica.
Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924.
Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man
and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel
Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941),
and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won
the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s
last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck
and Wendell Corey.
Ruth Chatterton (1892 – 1961) was an American stage, film, and
television actress. She was also an aviator and novelist. She was one of the
few female pilots in the 1930s and was a close friend of Amelia Earhart.
Chatterton started her film career in 1929 and established herself as a major
movie star with her role in Madame X.
For her work in that film, she received her first Best Actress Academy Award
nomination. In 1930, Chatterton was voted as the second favorite star of the
year behind Norma Shearer, in a poll of West Coast film exhibitors. Chatterton’s
film career was at its height during the mid-1930s. By the end of the decade,
she basically retired from film. She continued to work on the stage and was an
early performer on television in the late 1940s.
Paul Lukas (1894 – 1971) was a
Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in
the film Watch on the Rhine (1943),
reprising the role he created on Broadway stage. Before coming to American,
Lukas had a successful stage and movie career in Europe. Some of the movies
Lukas starred in include Little Women (1933), Ladies in Love (1936), The Lady Vanishes
(1938),The Ghost Breakers
(1940), Berlin Express (1948), and Fun in Acapulco (1963) with Elvis
Presley.
Mary Astor (1906 – 1987) was an American actress. She won a Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for her role in The Great
Lie (1941) but is perhaps best remembered for her performance as Brigid O’Shaughnessy
in The Maltese Falcon (1941) opposite
Humphrey Bogart. Astor was a silent film star—she starred in over 40 silent
films—in her teens but when talkies arrived, her voice was considered too
masculine. After a successful stage performance, film roles started coming her
way. A divorce and child custody scandal involving Astor and playwright George
S. Kaufman almost destroyed her career. During the 1940s, Astor, under contract
to M-G-M, specialized in character roles. Other film roles include Red Dust (1932), The Kennel Murder Case (1933), The
Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Midnight
(1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Little Women (1949), and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).
David Niven (1910 - 1983) was a British actor. He won
the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Separate Tables (1958).
Niven’s film career started in the 1930s with small
roles in films like Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). He soon signed a contract with
Samuel Goldwyn and his career took off. He had a supporting role in Wuthering
Heights (1939). The film was a major success and increased his profile as an
actor. He next co-starred with Ginger Rogers in Bachelor Mother (1939), another big hit. He played a safe-cracker
in Raffles (1939) co-starring Olivia de Havilland.
Niven worked constantly in film throughout the next four decades. Other films
he starred in include Enchantment (1948), Soldiers Three (1951), Around the World in 80 Days (1956). Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960), and The Pink Panther (1963).
Walter Huston and Mary Astor
Dodsworth trivia
During the filming, Mary Astor
was involved in a very public child custody case. Ruth Chatterton was a
character witness for Astor.
David Niven didn’t like working
with William Wyler. He acknowledged that Wyler could be “kind, fun, and cozy”
off set, but when he sat in that director’s chair he became a bit of a tyrant.
Mary Astor said that Edith
Cortright was her favorite film role.
William Wyler, Ruth Chatterton,
and Walter Huston fought over Chatterton’s performance. Chatterton felt that
she should be portrayed as a villainess; Wyler and Huston thought she should be
portrayed more sympathetically.
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Ruth Chatterton and Walter Huston
Discussion
questions
Ruth
Chatterton thought that there should be little sympathy for Fran. Did you think
she deserved any?
Do
you think the marriage conflict between Fran and Sam was realistic?
Do
you think that Sam and Fran were ever in love with each other?
What
did you think of the performances of Huston, Chatterton, and Astor?
Where
you surprised by the film’s ending or did you expect it? Do you think Sam and
Edith will eventually get married? Sam is still married to Fran at the film’s
end.
Swamp Water (1941)
is an American crime drama set in the Okefenokee Swamp, Waycross, Georgia. The
film was directed by Jean Renoir and stars Walter Brennan, Walther Huston, Anne
Baxter, and Dana Andrews. The strong supporting cast includes Virginia Gilmore,
John Carradine, Mary Howard, Eugene Pallette, and Ward Bond.
When Ben Regan (Andrews) goes looking for his dog in the
Okefenokee Swamp, he encounters Tom Keefer (Brennan). Keefer is wanted for
murdering Deputy Shep Collins. Keefer claims he is innocent. Ben and Keefer
form a partnership with Ben selling animals that the two of them trapped. Part
of the money that they earn from trapping goes to Julie (Baxter) who is Keefer’s
daughter.
Will the actual murderer be revealed? Will Keefer return to normal life as an innocent man?
Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews
Jean Renoir (1894 - 1979) was a French film director, writer, and producer. He directed more than forty films. Renoir worked during the silent era until the end of the 1960s. Two of his films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are considered among the greatest films ever made. Renoir fled to the United States when Germany invaded France in 1940. He came to Hollywood and directed Swamp Water (1941) starring Dana Andrews, This Land is Mine (1943) starring Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton. The Southerner is considered Renoir’s best American film. Other films he made in America include Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Woman on the Beach (1947). He is the son of the renowned artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Walter Brennan (1894 – 1974) was an American character actor
and three-time Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor. Brennan is the
only actor male or female to win three awards in the supporting actor category.
He got his start as an extra in silent films and eventually made the transition
to talking pictures. By the late-1930s, Brennan was one of Hollywood's most sought-after and highest-paid character actors. Some of Brennan’s movies
include Three Godfathers (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940), Meet
John Doe (1941), The Pride of the
Yankees (1942), My Darling Clementine
(1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and How the
West Was Won (1962).
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.
Anne Baxter (1923 – 1985) won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Sophie MacDonald in The Razor’s Edge (1946). She was signed to a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox in 1940. In 1948, Baxter starred in four movies, with Yellow Sky being her most prominent role to date. She went on to have a prolific career in film, television, and theater. She is probably best known for her Oscar-nominated performance as Eve Harrington in All About Eve. Frank Lloyd Wright was Baxter’s grandfather.
Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).
Swamp Water trivia
Linda Darnell was originally cast as Julie. Gene Tierney was also under consideration for the role.
Director Jean Renoir and studio chief Darryl Zanuck butted heads during the film's production with Renoir wanting to shoot on location and Zanuck wanting to shoot on sound stages and the backlot.
Lillian Gish was considered for the role of Hannah.
Jean Gabin and Henry Fonda were announced for the role of Ben before Dana Andrews was cast.
Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Anne Baxter, and Walter Huston would star in North Star (1943).
Dana Andrews was the only actor who actually filmed on location in Georgia.
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Discussion questions
The film had an impressive cast; did anyone cast member stand out to you?
Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews were in the early stages of their film careers. Would you have predicted stardom for them both?
Some critics thought Walther Brennan was miscast. What did you thik of his performance?
Edge of Darkness (1943) is a World War II directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan. Others in the impressive supporting cast include Walter Huston, Nancy Coleman, Ruth Gordon, Helmut Dantine, and Judith Anderson. The cinematography was by Sidney Hickox (Gentleman Jim, The Big Sleep, White Heat).
Gunnar Brogge (Flynn) and Karen Stensgard (Sheridan) head
the Nazi resistance in their small fishing village in Norway. Against all odds,
they push back against the Nazi control of their village.
Will their efforts help them gain their freedom?
Lewis Milestone (1895 – 1980) was a Russian-born American film director. He is a two-time Academy Award-winner for Best Director: Two Arabian Knights (1927) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Other notable films directed by Milestone include The Front Page (1931), Of Mice and Men (1939), A Walk in the Sun (1945), Les Miserables (1952), and Ocean’s 11 (1960).
Errol Flynn (1909 – 1959) was an Australian-American actor
who was one of the most popular actors during Hollywood’s Golden Age. He was
famous for playing in romantic swashbuckler roles, often co-starring with
Olivia de Havilland. Flynn obtained screen immortality early in his career with
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
Other major films include Captain Blood
(1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade
(1936), Dodge City (1939), and Santa Fe Trail (1940). Flynn’s
hard-drinking and wild personal life seriously affected his career. He died on
October 14, 1959, at age 50.
Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn in an on-set publicity photo of them reading the novel.
Ann Sheridan (1915 - 1967) was an American actress and singer. Her movie career began in 1934 when she appeared in 19 films! Her roles were all small and mostly unbilled, but she appeared in another 20+ films before she was signed to Warner Bros. in 1938. She was given better roles and was groomed for major stardom. The studio dubbed her “The Oomph Girl,” a title she hated but helped contribute to her popularity. During World War II she was a popular pin-up girl. As a star, Sheridan starred in Angels Wash Their Faces (1939), Castle on the Hudson (1940), It All Came True (1940), They Drive by Night (1940), City for Conquest (1941), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942). During this time she starred opposite Warner’s top leading men including John Garfield, James Cagney, and George Raft. Her biggest success during this period came with Kings Row (1942), a film in which she received top billing over Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, and Betty Field. Sheridan made the transition to television and was starring in the weekly western series, Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966-67) when she became sick with cancer. She died on January 21, 1967, at the age of 51.
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he made his debut in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.
Edge of Darkness trivia
When the film was announced it was going to star Anne Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart.
Errol Flynn went on trial for rape while the film was in production.
Ann Sheridan's marriage to George Brent collapsed at the same time as production due to Sheridan's affair with Flynn.
Weather problems hinder production, keeping Ruth Gordon and Judith Anderson in Hollywood longer than they wanted due to stage commitments.
Sheridan and Flynn co-starred in Dodge City (1939) and Silver River (1948).
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Discussion questions
How do you think this film ranks among World War II films you've seen?
Do you think the portrayals of the Norwegian freedom fighters were realistic?
What did you think of the film score by Fraz Waxman? Did it enhance or detract from the film in your opinion?
The supporting cast is exceptional. Did any one of the supporting characters stand out to you?
How do you think American audiences reacted to this film in 1943?
And Then There Were None (1945) is a mystery movie directed by Rene Clair and starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, and Louis Hayward. The film is an adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel of the same name.
Eight strangers are invited to a small isolated island off the coast of Devon, England, by a Mr. and Mrs. Owen. Two newly-hired servants, Thomas and Ethel Rogers greet them to the secluded mansion, but their hosts are absent. As the guests sit down to dinner, they notice a centerpiece featuring figurines of ten Indians. Thomas plays a record and a man's voice accuses them all of the murder!
Are they really all guilty? Is this all a cruel game concocted by the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Owen?
Rene Clair (1898 - 1981) was a French film director and writer. He directed silent films in his native France but was lured to Hollywood where he directed five films. His first American film was The Flame of New Orleans (1941) starring Marlene Dietrich. The film was not a success and it would be a year before he made another American film. His most popular American film was And Then There Were None (1945) based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name. After World War II, Clair returned to France where he was considered one of that country’s best film directors.
BarryFitzgerald (1888 – 1961) was an Irish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in many notable films over four decades including Bringing Up Baby (1938), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Going My Way (1944), None but the Lonely Heart (1944), and The Quiet Man (1952). He was a member of the Abbey Theatre and made his film debut in Juno and the Paycock (1930) directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan that includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he made his debut in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.
Louis Hayward (1909 – 1985) was a British-American actor. He worked on the London stage under the tutelage of Noel Coward. He made some films in England in the early 1930s and came to Broadway in 1935 working with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Noel Coward’s Point Valaine. His Broadway fame brought him to Hollywood where he was cast in some minor roles before getting starring roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), My Son, My Son! (1940), and The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Hayward was married to Ida Lupino from 1938 to 1945.
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Discussion questions:
Agatha Christie's novel has been filmed over ten times, are you familiar with any of the other versions? If so, how does this version hold up?
Would you have guessed this was the same director who directed I Married a Witch and It Happened Tomorrow?
The film features many prominent character actors; did you have a favorite?
What did you think of the top-billed stars: Fitzgerald, Huston, and Hayward?
Dragonwyck (1946) is an American historical drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, and Glenn Langan. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Anya Seton. The film score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography was by Arthur C. Miller (How Green Was My Valley).
Miranda Wells (Tierney) is a Connecticut farm girl who lives with her parents, Ephraim (Huston), Abigail (Anne Revere), and her brothers and sister. Miranda dreams of a more romantic life away from the farm and is delighted when she is given the opportunity to be a companion for her distant cousin Nicholas Van Ryn’s (Price) eight-year-old daughter Katrine (Connie Marshall).
Van Ryn is the master of Dragonwyck Manor, a huge mansion sitting along the Hudson River in New York. Miranda is overwhelmed by the enormity of Dragonwyck and the new luxuries she now enjoys. At first, Miranda is charmed by her cousin and young charge, but slowly, things begin to change.
She discovers that Katrine is alienated from both of her parents and doesn’t believe that they love her. Miranda also realizes that the marriage between Nicholas and his wife Johanna (Vivienne Osborne) is far from perfect.
When Nicholas’s affections turn from Johanna to Miranda, life becomes a complicated nightmare for the young farm girl from Connecticut.
Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, and Anne Revere
Gene Tierney (1920 – 1991) was an American actress. Tierney got her start on the stage where she played the ingenue lead in The Male Animal. She was spotted by 20th Century-Fox Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck and he offered her a movie contract. Zanuck said that Tierney was the most beautiful woman in the movies. Tierney proved that she could carry a film not completely based on her beauty in films like Laura (1944) and Leave Her To Heaven (1945) for which she was nominated for her first and only Best Actress Academy Award. Other important films include The Razor’s Edge (1946), Dragonwyck (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Iron Curtain (1948), Whirlpool (1949), and The MatingSeason (1951). In the late 1940s, she struggled with mental illness which negatively affected her career. After 1955’s The Left Hand of God, Tierney was off the screen until Advice & Consent (1962). She appeared in two films after that, but her career in film effectively ended in 1964 after a guest appearance in The Pleasure Seekers.
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan that includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he made his debut in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.
Vincent Price (1911 - 1993) was an American actor who worked on the stage, in film, radio, and television. He was also an art collector and author. Price established himself as a character actor in the 1940s with roles in films like TheSong of Bernadette (1943), Laura (1944), The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), and Leave Her to Heaven (1945). In the 1950s, he established himself as a star of horror films including House of Wax (1953), The Fly (1958), and House on Haunted Hill (1959). Toward the end of his career, Price had important roles in The Whales of August (1987) and Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990).
Glenn Langan (1917 - 1991) was an American character actor on film and stage. He appeared on Broadway in Glamour Preferred and Johnny Belinda. As a contract player at 20th Century-Fox, Langan had roles in Margie (1946), Dragonwyck (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and The Snake Pit (1948). Langan also starred on the radio in Murder is My Hobby and Mystery Is My Hobby.
Dragonwyck features a strong supporting cast that includes Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Connie Marshall, Jessica Tandy, Harry (Henry) Morgan, and Vivienne Osborne.
Connie Marshall and Gene Tierney
To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.
Dragonwyck trivia:
Ernst Lubitsch was the original producer/director but had to drop out due to illness.
The the first film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Gregory Peck was originally cast as Nicholas Van Ryn, but had to drop out when Lubitsch became sick and filming was delayed.
Vincent Price lost 30 pounds for the role.
Gene Tierney was the top dramatic actress at 20th Century-Fox and at the height of her popularity when this film was released.
Why watch this film?
It is the first directorial effort for Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also wrote the screenplay.
Vincent Price has one of the best roles of his career in Dragonwyck.
The film is an example of the studio system at its height; the production values for this film are excellent.
This was the last film credit for Vivienne Osborne whose career goes back to the silent film era.
To join the discussion on July 26, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to the discussion on Zoom.
Discussion Questions:
What genre would you categorize this film?
Was Vincent Price convincing as Nicholas Van Ryn?
Did Gene Tierney make a convincing Miranda Wells?
What did you think of the supporting cast? Did you have a favorite?
Did anything surprise you?
What are some of the contrasts between Nicholas and Miranda?
The Furies (1950) is an American western directed by Anthony Mann, produced by Hal Wallis, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, and Walter Huston in his final film performance.
Director Anthony Mann got his start directing films noir and The Furies, his first western, has its noir moments. The stark desert landscape is brought to life by the beautiful cinematography of Victor Milner, a ten-time Academy Award nominee. He won his only Oscar for his work on Cleopatra (1934).
The plot centers around T. C. (Walter Huston) and Vance Jeffords (Barbara Stanwyck), widowed father and daughter respectively who clash over how to run their vast cattle ranch empire. Like Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Stanwyck’s character has some daddy issues. T. C. wants to leave the cattle ranch to Vance who has a better head for business than his son his Clay (John Bromfield) under the condition that he approves of the man she is to marry. Vance is in love with Juan Herrera (Gilbert Roland), but she knows her father will never approve that relationship. Vance eventually falls in love with businessman Rip Darrow, but her father disapproves and buys Rip off. The trouble really begins when T. C. declares that he is to marry Flo Burnett (Judith Anderson) and Vance sees her place in the eyes of her father diminishing.
Will father and daughter be able to resolve their differences or will their bitterness destroy them both?
Anthony Mann (1906 – 1967) was an American director. Mann got his start in film working as a talent scout for David O. Selznick. He later became an assistant director, assisting Preston Sturges on Sullivan’s Travels (1941). Mann went on to direct a variety of low-budget, but successful films at Republic, RKO, and Eagle-Lion studios. The Furies was Mann’s first A picture. After The Furies, Mann went on to direct many successful westerns including Winchester ’73 (1950), Devil’s Doorway (1950), Bend of the River (1952), and The Naked Spur (1953).
Victor Milner (1893 – 1972) was an American cinematographer. He was nominated for ten cinematography Academy Awards. He worked for all the major studios like M-G-M, Universal, and Paramount. He was nominated for his work on The Furies. Milner photographed Stanwyck in Union Pacific (1939), The Lady Eve (1941), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), The Other Love (1947), The Furies (1950), and Jeopardy (1952).
Below is the link to the movie on YouTube. Please use this link; there are several prints uploaded to the channel, but this one is from Criterion and the quality is excellent.
Join us on Zoom for a discussion of this film on June 23, 2020, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Check below for meeting links.
Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Discussion of "The Furies"
Time: Jun 23, 2020, 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Questions for discussion:
1. Is this film more noir than western or a mixture of both or something else completely?
2. What did you make of the father-daughter relationship between Huston and Stanwyck’s characters?
3. Were you surprised by the relationship between Stanwyck and Juan Herrera (Gilbert Roland)?
4. Some critics have noted that the film has allusions to Greek tragedy. Do you see those allusions?
5. Did you like the ending? Was it a surprise or expected?
