All the Way Home *** (1963, Jean Simmons, Robert Preston, Pat Hingle) – Classic Movie Review 7438

James Agee’s old-time all-American down-home story of angst in the American southern provinces, set during the First World War, becomes a poignant and appealing movie under careful acting and discreet but intense handling by director Alex Segal in 1963.

Jean Simmons grabs her opportunity to shine in an excellent role as the widowed mother Mary Follet, who tries to put her young son back on the rails after an auto accident kills the father (Robert Preston) in early 20th century Tennessee. It was filmed in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Bereavement is a difficult and rare topic for the American cinema and this literate, tasteful and finally uplifting film skirts delicately around the subject and concentrates on the restorative idea of the hope of renewed life for the living after suffering a term of heartache so as to accentuate the positive and not to be too downbeat.

The Pulitzer prize-winning James Agee novel A Death in the Family arrives on screen via Tad Mosel’s Broadway stage play version and Philip H Reisman Jr’s screenplay.

Also in the cast are Aline MacMahon as Aunt Hannah, Pat Hingle as Ralph Follet, Thomas Chalmers, John Cullum, Ronnie Claire Edwards, Michael Kearney, Helen Carew, John Henry Faulk, Mary Perry, Georgia Simmons, Lylah Tiffany, Edwin Wolfe and David Huddlestone.

All the Way Home is directed by Alex Segal, runs 97 minutes, is made by Talent Associates, and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Philip H Reisman Jr, based on James Agee’s novel A Death in the Family and Tad Mosel’s play, is shot in black and white by Boris Kaufman, is produced by David Susskind, is scored by Bernard Green and is designed by Richard Sylbert.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7438

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