With a Civil War background, "Shenandoah" is a deeply human work spread with that current of emotion that is often tried to obtain by directors and actors, but very infrequently found
It is old-fashioned in the sense that it deals with love of family and friends in a tender way... For this, and many other reasons, it stays in the heart and mind
Stewart has never been in better form than in "Shenandoah." He is an archetypal widower, deeply concerned for his six sons and one daughter on their farm in a remote section of Virginia, while the Civil War rages around them A pacifist and a man who refuses slavery, Stewart holds himself and his sons away from both the Confederate and Union causes But, for all his hatred of war, the rush of events finally draws him into that tumultuous and heartbreaking clash
When he loses his 16-year-o1d youngest boy to the Union soldiers as a prisoner, he is compelled into action He presides with cold affection over his daughter's marriage to a young Confederate officer He visits his wife's grave (she had died giving birth to the son who is now a prisoner) and in simple and sincere words movingly talks with her Stewart's hatred of war is continually intact, but his faith in family remains stronger than ever
The film is alive with great performances Katharine Ross, in her first film role, is moving as the daughter-in-law Rosemary Forsyth is strong and stately as Stewart's only daughter, who dresses in male clothes and joins her brothers in their search for their captured sibling George Kennedy is effective as a Union officer who helps Stewart with a pass to obtain his son Paul Fix is affecting as the attentive and concerned family doctor, and many others round out a superb cast
"Shenandoah" was Stewart's first film with director Andrew V. McLaglen, the 45-year-o1d son of the famous Victor, who had won a Best Actor Oscar in John Ford's "The Informer" in 1935 McLaglen had been an assistant director to John Ford, Budd Boetticher, and others, and had absorbed much from them, before emerging with his own individual directing style
Nominated for a Best Sound Oscar, "Shenandoah" exudes a quality that seems to have partially disappeared from American life The picture represents a time of moral sentiment and regardful devotion to certain established ideals
Stewart has never been in better form than in "Shenandoah." He is an archetypal widower, deeply concerned for his six sons and one daughter on their farm in a remote section of Virginia, while the Civil War rages around them A pacifist and a man who refuses slavery, Stewart holds himself and his sons away from both the Confederate and Union causes But, for all his hatred of war, the rush of events finally draws him into that tumultuous and heartbreaking clash
When he loses his 16-year-o1d youngest boy to the Union soldiers as a prisoner, he is compelled into action He presides with cold affection over his daughter's marriage to a young Confederate officer He visits his wife's grave (she had died giving birth to the son who is now a prisoner) and in simple and sincere words movingly talks with her Stewart's hatred of war is continually intact, but his faith in family remains stronger than ever
The film is alive with great performances Katharine Ross, in her first film role, is moving as the daughter-in-law Rosemary Forsyth is strong and stately as Stewart's only daughter, who dresses in male clothes and joins her brothers in their search for their captured sibling George Kennedy is effective as a Union officer who helps Stewart with a pass to obtain his son Paul Fix is affecting as the attentive and concerned family doctor, and many others round out a superb cast
"Shenandoah" was Stewart's first film with director Andrew V. McLaglen, the 45-year-o1d son of the famous Victor, who had won a Best Actor Oscar in John Ford's "The Informer" in 1935 McLaglen had been an assistant director to John Ford, Budd Boetticher, and others, and had absorbed much from them, before emerging with his own individual directing style
Nominated for a Best Sound Oscar, "Shenandoah" exudes a quality that seems to have partially disappeared from American life The picture represents a time of moral sentiment and regardful devotion to certain established ideals