I saw "Kings Row" years and years ago, and I just watched it again. A truly beautiful film.
But boy, did you have to read between the lines.
This is the kind of film my mother would have seen and not known any of the unspoken things that were going on. I have a feeling she wasn't alone.
The story concerns people who grew up together - Parris, Drake, Cassie, and Randy - and what happens to them. It stars Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field, and Ann Sheridan.
The role of Parris was intended to be the star role and go to a big name. I wasn't around in 1942 but I know that Robert Cummings was certainly known but not one of the top leading men. In fact, the year of this film was his biggest - he did this movie and Saboteur. And Hitchcock didn't want him for Saboteur anymore than Hal Wallis wanted him for this.
The role was supposed to go Tyrone Power, who would have been an ideal Parris, but Fox wouldn't lend him out -- and I have a feeling they waited until the last minute to refuse. As far as I'm concerned, that little boy Parris looked just like Tyrone Power, and Parris is the only character to get a star entrance.
Anyway, the studio wound up borrowing Cummings from Universal and using some Warners players for the rest.
Now, lots goes on in this town that is blatantly covered in the novel but only hinted at here. The biggest thing is the incestuous relationship between the woman Parris loves, Cassie (Field) and her father (Claude Rains), who is Parris' mentor when he returns from his studies.
The only indication of this is when the constable asks Dr. Gordon who has just finished examining Cassie, if there was "anything else," to which Gordon replies, "Just something about the girl." They think the father is Drake, who claims he and Cassie were in love in order to protect Parris.
That was the biggest "unspoken" though there were a couple of others. Blink and you miss it.
I won't go into the whole story, I'll just say it was well-acted. Ronald Reagan did a terrific job. People always make fun of him, but in the films of his I've seen, he was very charming with a flair for comedy - and here, he shows dramatic chops. It's a strong role. Ann Sheridan has a slightly different role as well. She's a devoted girlfriend and then wife and not a sexy good time girl, coming off as intelligent and lively.
Robert Cummings brought a boyishness to Parris in an earnest and sincere performance. Power would have brought it up a notch, though.
Because of the casting, Kings Row does not signal that it was a huge film, which it was intended to be. It's the same as Saboteur seeming like one of HItchcock's smaller movies when it wasn't at all. He wanted Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. I'm sure no one would say it was a smaller film had he been allowed to cast them. Same here.
But boy, did you have to read between the lines.
This is the kind of film my mother would have seen and not known any of the unspoken things that were going on. I have a feeling she wasn't alone.
The story concerns people who grew up together - Parris, Drake, Cassie, and Randy - and what happens to them. It stars Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field, and Ann Sheridan.
The role of Parris was intended to be the star role and go to a big name. I wasn't around in 1942 but I know that Robert Cummings was certainly known but not one of the top leading men. In fact, the year of this film was his biggest - he did this movie and Saboteur. And Hitchcock didn't want him for Saboteur anymore than Hal Wallis wanted him for this.
The role was supposed to go Tyrone Power, who would have been an ideal Parris, but Fox wouldn't lend him out -- and I have a feeling they waited until the last minute to refuse. As far as I'm concerned, that little boy Parris looked just like Tyrone Power, and Parris is the only character to get a star entrance.
Anyway, the studio wound up borrowing Cummings from Universal and using some Warners players for the rest.
Now, lots goes on in this town that is blatantly covered in the novel but only hinted at here. The biggest thing is the incestuous relationship between the woman Parris loves, Cassie (Field) and her father (Claude Rains), who is Parris' mentor when he returns from his studies.
The only indication of this is when the constable asks Dr. Gordon who has just finished examining Cassie, if there was "anything else," to which Gordon replies, "Just something about the girl." They think the father is Drake, who claims he and Cassie were in love in order to protect Parris.
That was the biggest "unspoken" though there were a couple of others. Blink and you miss it.
I won't go into the whole story, I'll just say it was well-acted. Ronald Reagan did a terrific job. People always make fun of him, but in the films of his I've seen, he was very charming with a flair for comedy - and here, he shows dramatic chops. It's a strong role. Ann Sheridan has a slightly different role as well. She's a devoted girlfriend and then wife and not a sexy good time girl, coming off as intelligent and lively.
Robert Cummings brought a boyishness to Parris in an earnest and sincere performance. Power would have brought it up a notch, though.
Because of the casting, Kings Row does not signal that it was a huge film, which it was intended to be. It's the same as Saboteur seeming like one of HItchcock's smaller movies when it wasn't at all. He wanted Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. I'm sure no one would say it was a smaller film had he been allowed to cast them. Same here.