Let Freedom Ring (1939)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Jack Conway

Writer:

Ben Hecht (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

24 February 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Thrill-Blasting Drama of Men and Women at the Turn of a New Era with a cast as big as the Majestic land they Glorify !

Plot:

Railroad owner Jim Knox uses everything to get the land he needs for his new railroad cheaply. Everybody hopes...

Plot Keywords:

Speech | Marriage Proposal | Rancher | Fistfight | Irish American

Cast

Nelson Eddy	...	Steve Logan
Virginia Bruce	...	Maggie Adams
Victor McLaglen	...	Chris Mulligan
Lionel Barrymore	...	Thomas Logan
Edward Arnold	...	Jim Knox
Guy Kibbee	...	Judge David Bronson
Charles Butterworth	...	The Mackerel
H.B. Warner	...	Ned Rutledge
Raymond Walburn	...	Underwood - Editor
Dick Rich	...	'Bumper' Jackson
Trevor Bardette	...	Gagan
George 'Gabby' Hayes	...	Jerry 'Pop' Wilkie (as George F. Hayes)
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Ned Wilkie
Sarah Padden	...	'Ma' Logan
Eddie Dunn	...	'Curly' - Bartender

Also Known As:

Song of the Plains (Australia)
Song of the West (USA) (working title)
The Dusty Road (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #5064)

Filming Locations:

San Jacinto Mountains, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The setting is 1868, but Steve sings the 1904 song "Ten Thousand Cattle Straying" and the 1912 song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Big Noise (1944)

Soundtrack:

Yankee Doodle

Polemic provides a source of good music.

Scenarist Ben Hecht's tract to ethnic toleration does not lack the production values and quality of acting necessary for its artistic success. Within the format of a Hollywood-style Western, it is an easy task for Hecht to insert his typical hyperbole in the form of some truly crimson prose directed against big business represented by expanding railroad interests. Edward Arnold gives a solid performance as Jim Knox, a railway plutocrat who is determined to manipulate and exploit a polyglot force of European immigrant workers, led by their rough and ready Irish foreman, played to the hilt by Victor MacLaglen in this post-War Between the States musical melodrama. How to oppose Knox' land grabbing is the plight of a small coterie of settlers led by Tom Logan and his recently Harvard-graduated son Steve, portrayed by Lionel Barrymore and baritone Nelson Eddy. Reliable Jack Conway directs with proletarian emphasis, featuring closeups of seamed and craggy-faced railroad laborers, whose basic needs are apparently implemented whenever the sturdy Eddy bursts into song. Eddy employs the method of a clandestine newspaper to undermine the plans of the villainous capitalist Knox, working hand-in-hand with a sidekick, acted very nicely by the extraordinary ad lib performer, Charles Butterworth, whose nonpareil timing is a delight in his every scene. This is the first appearance of the seasoned Eddy without an equal singing partner, and he proves more than capable of carrying the show, although he is joined briefly during one number by his romantic interest, the talented and beautiful Virginia Bruce. Without question a disputation against capitalist profiteering, LET FREEDOM RING is even more a rousing entertainment, knitted with wonderful music, a top-flight cast, and neatly crafted direction.