An American Romance *** (1944, Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, John Qualen, Walter Abel) – Classic Movie Review 13,632

King Vidor’s 1944 epic Technicolor drama film An American Romance stars Brian Donlevy and Ann Richards. Louis B Mayer, whose studio spent a fortune on it, called it ‘the greatest picture MGM ever made’, then cut it by half an hour.

Director King Vidor’s 1944 MGM epic Technicolor drama film An American Romance stars Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, John Qualen, Walter Abel, and Stephen McNally [Horace McNally].

King Vidor conjures up the whole American romance in his story about a Czech immigrant steelworker, Stefan Dangos (Brian Donlevy), who, from his arrival in America at Ellis Island, progresses steadfastly in the American way until he becomes a captain of the car and plane industries in the United States, battling strikes and marrying Anna O’Rourke (Ann Richards).

An American Romance is an intriguing picture and fascinating document of its time, beautifully presented, with lovely colour photography by Harold Rosson. It is wildly patriotic and vastly long, yet with no big stars (only Donlevy, who is excellent) and not many laughs to help it along.

Louis B Mayer, whose studio MGM spent nearly $3 million on it, congratulated Vidor, who also wrote the screen story, on ‘the greatest picture MGM ever made’ at the premiere, but the public wasn’t so sure.

Its original running time of 151 minutes was later cut by MGM to 121 minutes after cinema managers complained that the film was too long. The 121 minute version is the existing print and It is unknown if the original survives. Vidor was angry about the cuts as he felt they hurt the story and he refused to work for MGM again. It was a critical and financial failure and MGM recorded a loss of $1.7 million.

Vidor complained: ‘I wasn’t enough politician to be up front at the lunchroom and I got secondary casting.’ However he screen tested both Donlevy and Richards and ‘they came up surprisingly well. They were made up and tested in all the various ages from youth to full maturity called for in the script, and they gave performances of striking conviction.’

It all went wrong after the first screening when Louis B Mayer came to Vidor ‘on the sidewalk in front of the theatre, put his arm around my shoulders and said, ‘I’ve just seen the greatest picture our company ever made’.

An order came from MGM’s New York office to cut half an hour. ‘They cut the human elements of the story instead of the documentary sections, explaining that this was the only way a half hour could be taken out without complications in the musical soundtrack. In other words, the film was edited according to the soundtrack and not according to the inherent story values.’

An American Romance is directed by King Vidor, runs 151 minutes or 121 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Herbert Dalmas and William Ludwig, is shot in Technicolor by Harold Rosson, is produced by Louis B Mayer and King Vidor, is scored by Louis Gruenberg, and is designed by Cedric Gibbons.

Also in the cast are:

Mary Mcleod

Bob Lowell

Ilka Gruning

Rudolf Myzet

Richard Ryen

Ernie Adams

Erville Alderson

Charles Bates

Arthur Belasco

Leon Belasco

Bill Borzage

Fred Bardy

George Bunny

James Carislie

Tom Chatterton

Carol Combs

Harry Cording

Joseph Crehan

Alex Davidoff

Jimmie Dodd

Dick Elliott

Billy Eagle

Martin Faust

Frank Faylen

Byron Foulger

Howard Freeman

Jack George

Roy Gordon

Rita Gould

William Haade

Ben Hall

Edward Hearn

Dell Henderson

Earle Hodgins

Bert Howard

Charles Irwin

Jackie Butch Jenkins

Phyllis Kennedy

J M Kerrigan

Ethan Laidlaw

Harold Landon

Bobby Larson

Nolan Leary

Billy Lechner

Mitchell Lewis

George Magrill

George Meader

Kay Medford

John Merton

Greta Meyer

Robert Middlemass

Ivan Miller

Howard M Mitchell

Sue Moore

Edmund Mortimer

Jack Mulhall

Norman Nesbitt

Robert Emmett O’Connor

Pat O’Malley

Barbara Pepper

Lee Phelps

June Pickerell

Snub Pollard

Paul Picerni

Charles Regan

Drew Roddy

Harry Semels

John Sheehan

George Sherwood

Elliott Sullivan

William Tannen

Charles Wagenheim

Ray Teal

Dale Van Sickel

Michael Visaroff

Emmett Vogan

Eddy Waller

Dick Wessel

Robert Winkler

Duke York.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,632

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