King’s Row
Directed by Sam Wood
Written by Casey Robinson from the novel by Henry Bellamann
1942/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Madame Marie von Eln: I only know that you have to judge people by what you find them to be and not by what other people say they are.[/box]
Ronald Reagan is the best thing about this film. It’s another highly-rated drama that I wish I liked more that I do.
The story takes place in King’s Row, a small town, on both sides of the turn of the last century. It begins with a lengthy sequence during the childhoods of the main characters. Parris Mitchell and Drake McHugh are fast friends although they could not be more different Parris is a serious, polite, studious boy being raised by his immigrant grandmother. (Maria Ouspenskaya). Drake is a popular, devil-may-care lad. Parris’s childhood sweetheart is Cassandra Tower. The town views her entire family with suspicion as her mother never leaves her upper-story bedroom and her father calls himself a doctor without practicing medicine. She runs to Parris in tears when Doctor Tower (Claude Rains) takes her out of school to be taught at home.
All these people come from the right side of the tracks. One day the boys go to goof off at the railroad yard and tomboy Randy Monaghan from the wrong side tags along.
Segue to several years later. Parris’s (Robert Cummings) great dream is to become a doctor. He studies for the exams to get into a Vienna medical school under the tutelage of Dr. Tower. He begins a romance with Cassandra (Betty Field in a blonde wig), who is not allowed to leave the house, on the sly.
Drake’s (Ronald Reagan) only goal is to marry Louise Gordon, the daughter of the town’s only practicing physician. Dr. Gordon (Charles Coburn) is adamantly opposed to the marriage. Later Drake begins seeing Randy (Ann Sheridan).
The plot is very, very complicated. Suffice it to say that one tragedy or another, sometimes more, befalls all of these people. Parris eventually returns home and becomes America’s first psychiatrist, trying to straighten out the lives of these unhappy people and himself.
I think I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of Bob Cummings. Here he seems to me to be totally miscast as a solitary, sensitive youth. He probably would have been better in the role of Drake, though I can’t see him reacting to Drake’s tragedy with the aplomb and subtlety that Reagan displays. Next to Reagan, Ann Sheridan gives the best performance in the film though of course Rains and Coburn are very good as well.
The production values are top-notch. The score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold is beautiful but distracting. I just couldn’t get into the story and I found the ending to be ludicrously abrupt and pat. Your mileage may vary.
Kings Row was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (James Wong Howe).
clip – opening
