Director: Sam Wood
Screenwriter(s): Casey Robinson
Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Distributor: Warner Bros.
In Theaters: February 2, 1942
Run Time: 127 minutes
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan & Claude Rains
Genre(s): drama/mystery/romance
Storyline: Five children in an apparently ideal American small town find their lives changing as the years pass near the turn of the century in 1900. Parris and Drake, both of whom have lost their parents, are best friends; Parris dreams of becoming a doctor, studying under the father of his sweetheart Cassie, while Drake plans on becoming a local businessman when he receives his full inheritance - juggling girlfriends in the meantime. As they become adults, the revelations of local secrets threaten to ruin their hopes and dreams. (from imdb.com)
Movie Trailer:
http://youtu.be/LxmseMP9eFo
My Review: This is one of those movies you have to give some credit to for trying. In the 1940’s a lot of the movies made discussed controversial subjects but could never come right out and say what they were otherwise the movie would not be allowed an audience. I enjoy watching movies from this time period the most because it shows you just how clever the writers and directors had to be to get away with depicting certain subjects we still can’t quite get right today. Now, you might find this movie a bit juvenile with what the movie industry found untouchable back then, but the 1940’s was a very private time and a very tense time especially with WWII looming in the backdrop. A great movie had to be one that could distract you from what was going on in your own life.
Here we see a seemingly “good town” as it professes to right from the beginning when it shows you the towns motto. I think the word “good” is there about 5 times at least! Well good it is not. We all know there are skeletons in every families closet and this town was full of families with secrets. Some of which are insanity. This plays a big part in the movie since it’s around the time that psychiatry is being accepted by the medical profession and taught in schools in Europe. The medical profession is also delved into in a most diabolical way. Imagine a doctor who performs gruesome surgeries on patients he feels have sinned and therefore their penance is to go through life in pain, sometimes death? What if that doctor was highly respected by the community he serves, therefore his methods are never questioned?
I watched this movie on a day where Claude Rains was being showcased. Granted he isn’t in the movie for very long, his performance was stellar. He plays the dark and deceptive doctor who turns out to have done all he did for the betterment of his family.
My only criticism is the movie left me with a lot of “what ifs” as well as unanswered (or perhaps unanswerable) questions. I could see so many angles they could have taken in truly depicting this town as “sinful” (the description of the movie). Yet they played it safe and in doing so left me unsatisfied with the end result. If not for discovering (during the closing credits) that Ronald Reagan was in it (yes, this is the first movie I’ve seen of his) and Ann Sheridan as well, I probably would have given it a lesser grade.
My Rating: C-
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