The World Moves On (1934)

The World Moves On
Directed by John Ford
1934/USA
Fox Film Corporation
First viewing

This film follows the fortunes of the Girard family and its cotton and textile businesses from 1825 through 1934, similar to the premise of Fox’s 1933 Best Picture Oscar winner Cavalcade.  The story starts in New Orleans with the reading of the will of the firm’s founder.  The will enjoins his three sons to establish branches in New Orleans, Paris, and Berlin and forms a partnership between the family and Henry Warburton.  Oldest son Richard (Franchot Tone) is named executor. Warburton’s wife (Madeleine Carroll) and Richard are quietly and chastely in love but they are soon parted when Warburton leaves for Manchester to start a textile mill there.

The film then segues to 1914 and a wedding between cousins in the French and German branches of the family.  Richard Girard (Tone, again) and Mary Warburton (Carroll) attend the wedding.  Mary is engaged to one of the German cousins but Richard and Mary feel that they have met before and begin to yearn for one another.  Richard is heartbroken that Mary is engaged to another and enlists in the French Foreign Legion when World War I breaks out.  The war naturally divides the family but brings Mary and Richard together.  We follow the fate of the family through the stock market crash of 1929 and on into 1934.  When the family holds its last meeting some suggest that another war is in the cards.  This is followed by footage of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo and their armies.

Mary and Richard in 1825

The film is competently made and very watchable.  It suffers from being all over the place.  It’s not quite a romance and not quite a war movie.  Madeleine Carroll is positively radiant in this film and turns in an excellent performance.  Franchot Tone not so much. The film makers also chose to include some unfortunate and unnecessary “comic relief” by Stepin Fetchit during the WWI section.

I got excited about the fantastic combat footage and then realized it looked familiar. It turns out 7 minutes of war footage from Raymond Bernard’s Wooden Crosses, one of my Top 10 for 1932, was included in this film.  This was the first film to be granted the production seal of approval under new guidelines set forth by the Production Code Administration Office and the Motion Picture Producers and Directors of America.  It received Certificate No. 1.