Kings Row ***** (1942, Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Claude Rains, Betty Field, Harry Davenport, Charles Coburn, Nancy Coleman, Maria Ouspenskaya, Judith Anderson) – Classic Movie Review 7303

Director Sam Wood’s 1942 American ensemble romantic mystery drama for Warner Bros is a stirring panorama of the troubled people and fractured lives in a Middle America town before 1914. Kings Row is one of Hollywood’s best soap operas, with a fine vintage cast on their most sprightly form.

A forerunner of Peyton Place, Kings Row boasts an incisive script, exciting black and white cinematography by James Wong Howe, a memorable score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, smooth direction by Wood and actors stretching themselves way beyond their usual limits.

Robert Cummings is excellent as the good and honest central character Parris Mitchell, Ann Sheridan adds oomph as the tomboyish romantic Randy Monaghan and Ronald Reagan shines (in his finest hour in the movies) as Drake McHugh, the accident victim whose legs are amputated by cruel and vengeful surgeon, Dr Henry Gordon (Charles Coburn, effectively cast against type), whose daughter Louise (Nancy Coleman) loves Drake.

Claude Rains is also indispensable as a doctor, Alexander Tower, whose daughter Cassie Tower (Betty Field) loves Parris. Also essential are Harry Davenport as Colonel Skeffington, Maria Ouspenskaya as Madame von Eln, Scotty Beckett, Judith Anderson as Mrs Harriet Gordon, Kaaren Verne as Elise Sandor, and Ernest Crossart as Pa Monaghan.

Kings Row is scripted by Casey Robinson, based on Henry Bellamann’s best-seller novel.

It is the kind of film that attracts and wins Oscars, but it had to be content with being nominated for three Oscars; Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. So there were no acting nominations in a feast of good acting.

Also in the cast are Minor Watson, Ilka Gruning, Pat Moriarity, Ludwig Stossel, Egon Brecher, Anne E Todd, Douglas Croft, Mary Thomas, Julie Warren, Mary Scott, Fred Kelsey, Frank Mayo, Jack Mower, Emory Parnell and Herbert Heywood.

Warner Bros initially announced that Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan were to star in the same year’s Casablanca, but, as we well know, that little idea didn’t fly.

Reagan, who rightly described Kings Row as his best film, named his 1965 autobiography after his famous line ‘Where’s the rest of me?’

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7303

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