This is a good movie
although over-dramatized, IMO. Still it tells a good story, and the trouble at sea adds to the overall effect of reaching for something, in spite of danger.
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
I so agree; I am watching it right now on TCM, never seen this one before. I can so see why Gene Tierney would go for Spencer! I wish I knew when he met Kate, I hate to think of her breaking heart.
BTW, I've seen your signature line a few times before and beamed in admiration. To that I answer;
"In the coats there were three men. In the men there were three bullets..."
(Sometimes I hear people say 'How the West was Won' was the best western ever made, and I just laugh. I also read somewhere that it was the only time Jane Fonda actually sent her own father a fan letter...)
I really can't agree. It has a few interesting sequences, but Tracy is badly miscast (and far too old for the part), the love affair at the film's core is absurd (and invented), and the film is ponderous, naïve, uncritical and self-important, even a bit silly at times. The actual voyage frankly wasn't that eventful and the Pilgrims' background story not easily rendered cinematically, hence the invention not only of the love story but the various conflicts, the storm at sea, the plots and schemes afoot, and so on, inserted to move the picture along.
This was one of Dory Schary's "message films" that came out during the Red Scare of the early 50s, designed to show that liberals in Hollywood were also patriotic. (The director, Clarence Brown, was a staunch right-winger and supporter of the blacklist.) It may seem a likely subject for a movie but if so MGM didn't pull it off. Even in 1952 the film was a flop at the box office as well as a critical failure.
This film has become a Thanksgiving tradition for me the last few years. Glorious Rozsa score and the fictionalized narrative manages to hold my attention (though I agree there was a shoehorned quality to the whole love affair thing as if they had to do it just to justify having someone like Gene Tierney in the film). My companion piece following it is a fine audio drama about the life of "Squanto" (Te Squantum) produced by Focus On The Family Radio Theatre (the quality level of their audio dramas has been among the best I've ever heard).
shareHi Eric. I sometimes watch the film mainly because of, not despite, its flaws. I do like a few scenes, mainly the one where they're being taught how to use muskets to defend themselves against the savages whose land they're planning on stealing.
The soundtrack is very good (as with all Miklos Rosza), and if you like it, it is available on CD. Here's the link to its SAE page:
http://www1.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3207
The movie is also available from Warner Archives.
Purchased it many years ago from FSM so that's how I've been able to keep enjoying it over the years. I even bought FSM's release of "Diane" (a film I've never seen) solely because it had some extra alternate cues from "Plymouth Adventure" that couldn't fit onto the main release! (including a superior arrangement of the end credits that used the choral "Confess Jehovah" instead of the instrumental).
The cue for the Mayflower Compact signing also makes it a great sequence.
It occurred to me you might have already gotten the CD. Rosza was a magnificent composer, one of those great Europeans who revitalized and expanded the range and sound of American film music. Interesting that his two principle areas of composition were epics, with their vast sweep and scale, and film noir, which require an intimate, up-close style. Very different types of films to specialize in.
I wonder why Chrysler or someone never put out a zippy little car called the Compact Mayflower?
By the way...HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Yes, Rozsa was one of the best and the "Ben Hur" score may IMO be the greatest composed for the screen (certainly in the Top 3). And he made his mark effectively in both genres.
I watched the film tonight, and now that it has settled as a kind of tradition for me it somehow continues to grow on me even as I recognize its limitations as an MGM studio production of the era utilizing its contract roster to the fullest.
How about the Compact Mayflower and the Magna Car? :)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours too!
Have you ever seen the "mockumentary" Best in Show (2000)? It follows some zany contestants who've entered their dogs in the "Mayflower Dog Show" and it's very funny.
Anyway, one of the characters is a clueless TV announcer (played by Fred Willard) who interviews the head of the show, and asks him about the origin of the organization's name: "Okay, the name Mayflower, this is Philadelphia, we all get that, this is where the Mayflower landed, that's a no-brainer, but it's a little-known fact that Columbus landed in the Bahamas and never saw America, so my question is, what happened to the other two ships?"
The Pilgrims have much to answer for.
Enjoy the day, and Miklos's music.