IMDb > Kings Row (1942)
Kings Row
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Kings Row (1942) More at IMDbPro »

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Kings Row (1942) -- A great character steps out of a great book in this trailer

Overview

User Rating:
7.8/10   1,439 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Sam Wood
Writers:
Casey Robinson (screenplay)
Henry Bellamann (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for Kings Row on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
18 April 1942 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Mystery | Romance more
Tagline:
Perfect Players . . . in the 4 Star Best-Seller Story now becomes your Top Screen Triumph! . . . in Kings Row more
Plot:
The dark side and hypocrisy of provincial American life is seen through the eyes of five children as they grow to adulthood at the turn-of-the-century. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for 3 Oscars. more
NewsDesk:
Former President Ronald Reagan Dies at 93
 (From IMDb News. 6 June 2004)
User Comments:
Quite marvelous more (49 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

Ann Sheridan ... Randy Monaghan

Robert Cummings ... Parris Mitchell

Ronald Reagan ... Drake McHugh
Betty Field ... Cassandra Tower
Charles Coburn ... Dr. Henry Gordon

Claude Rains ... Dr. Alexander Tower
Judith Anderson ... Mrs. Harriet Gordon
Nancy Coleman ... Louise Gordon
Kaaren Verne ... Elise Sandor
Maria Ouspenskaya ... Madame von Eln
Harry Davenport ... Colonel Skeffington
Ernest Cossart ... Pa Monaghan
Ilka Grüning ... Anna (as Ilka Gruning)
Pat Moriarity ... Tod Monaghan
Minor Watson ... Sam Winters
Ludwig Stössel ... Professor Berdorff (as Ludwig Stossel)
Erwin Kalser ... Mr. Sandor
Egon Brecher ... Dr. Candell
Ann E. Todd ... Randy Monaghan, as a girl (as Ann Todd)
Scotty Beckett ... Parris Mitchell, as a boy
Douglas Croft ... Drake McHugh, as a boy
Mary Thomas ... Cassandra Tower, as a girl
Julie Warren ... Poppy Ross
Mary Scott ... Jinny Ross
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leah Baird ... Aunt Mamie (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin ... Deputy Constable (uncredited)
Henry Blair ... Willie (uncredited)
Joan Duvalle ... Louise Gordon, as a girl (uncredited)
Eden Gray ... Mrs. Tower (uncredited)
Ludwig Hardt ... Porter (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood ... Arnold Kelly (uncredited)
Danny Jackson ... Benny Singer (uncredited)
Payne B. Johnson ... Boy in party scene (uncredited)
Fred Kelsey ... Bill Hockinson (uncredited)
Hank Mann ... Stable Keeper (uncredited)
Frank Mayo ... Conductor (uncredited)
Frank Milan ... Bank Teller (uncredited)
Jack Mower ... Freight Conductor (uncredited)
Hattie Noel ... Daisy / Gordon family maid (uncredited)
Emory Parnell ... Harley Davis (uncredited)
Bertha Powell ... Esther (uncredited)
Thomas W. Ross ... Patterson Lawes (uncredited)
Hermine Sterler ... Secretary (uncredited)
Elizabeth Valentine ... Nurse (uncredited)
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Directed by
Sam Wood 
 
Writing credits
Casey Robinson (screenplay)

Henry Bellamann (novel)

Produced by
David Lewis .... associate producer
Hal B. Wallis .... executive producer
 
Original Music by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold 
 
Cinematography by
James Wong Howe 
 
Film Editing by
Ralph Dawson 
 
Production Design by
William Cameron Menzies 
 
Art Direction by
Carl Jules Weyl 
 
Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly (gowns)
 
Makeup Department
Perc Westmore .... makeup artist
 
Production Management
Lonnie D'Orsa .... production manager (uncredited)
 
Sound Department
Robert B. Lee .... sound
 
Special Effects by
Robert Burks .... special effects
 
Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein .... musical director
Hugo Friedhofer .... orchestral arranger
Ray Heindorf .... orchestrator (uncredited)
Bernhard Kaun .... orchestrator (uncredited)
Milan Roder .... orchestrator (uncredited)
 
Crew verified as complete


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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
127 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | French
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #7337) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:S
Filming Locations:
Saugus, California, USA more
Company:
Warner Bros. Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold had written the scores for a number of important movies for Warners, including The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). Korngold was told he was to write a score for a new picture, 'Kings Row'. According to Brendan Carroll in his biography of Korngold, the composer, thinking this was another royal story, set about writing the celebrated fanfare theme of the picture. Despite the wrong assumption, Korngold decided to keep and develop the theme into what has become a classic score. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Parris is speaking to his instructor in Vienna, Dr. Kendell strikes a match to light his pipe. In the next shot, the match has disappeared and there is no evidence that he lit the pipe. more
Quotes:
Dr. Alexander Q. Tower: Well, a little loneliness won't hurt you to speak of... you get used to it. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Bette Davis: A Basically Benevolent Volcano (1983) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
My Gal Is a High-Born Lady more

FAQ

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful.
Quite marvelous, 2 December 2007
9/10
Author: arturus from New York, NY

I've only recently seen this film in its entirety (after decades of watching the clip of Ronnie Reagan's best scene in it) and am totally surprised by how fine this film really is; in fact, when it ended, I found myself wanting to burst into applause. But to appreciate it you must put yourself into the time it was made, mid- to late 1941. This picture was meant to be an "A" picture (that is, the first picture to be shown on a double bill, or the only film being shown) showcasing the up and coming generation of Warners actors. None of the young players was particularly well-known, except in supporting roles. The older players were all familiar to film, theater and radio audiences. Radio, since radio drama was a major national venue then and all of these older players, in fact, most major stars, had starring roles in radio plays.

This picture would have been shown in its first run in the chain of theaters owned by Warners, mostly large ones, and shown in a large house, holding an audience of a thousand people or more, with a very large screen yards wide and high and a sound system that was louder and definitely more "high fidelity" than any member of the audience had at home or had heard anywhere else.

The book on which the film was based had been a scandalous best seller two years before and many if not most had read it (people read books then!) and in fact many in the audience were probably alive when this film takes place, in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. Everyone would have been familiar with the style of dialogue and acting, which seems stilted to us, since it originated on the stage, with no microphones; the costumes, customs and speech would have been in living memory for many watching it in its first run, if not theirs, then their parents'.

As for Korngold's superb score, this too was a familiar part of a theatrical experience at the time. Most stage plays had live incidental music accompanying them. All major Broadway plays did. Opera, operetta and vaudeville were all part of the audience's experience, all with live music as part of the experience, and no one would have found Korngold's score obtrusive, just part of the show and gorgeous to hear. In fact, Korngold's score for "Robin Hood" in 1938 was premiered live on network radio as a major event, before the picture opened!

As for black and white, these films were truly in "black and white" on the big screen. Blacks WERE black and whites were silvery white. We see then on video screens, and so far, even with the best of those, these films look to be in "gray and grayer", with not the high contrast they had in the theater. So we dismiss them as flat and lifeless; in the theater, black and white has quite a lot of depth and sparkle.

So in its proper context, this film is really quite astonishingly good. The production design is by the same man who designed the look of "Gone With the Wind", so there are the gorgeously composed shots, the depth of field, use of light and shadow and attention to detail in that film. Even the landscapes, matte paintings that so many of them are, most have looked quite beautiful projected large. The acting is all first rate. All the actors, in their late twenties and early thirties, are playing younger than their ages. Cummings has the right wide eyed innocence of an only child reared in relative isolation by his grandmother, Sheridan is beautiful and true, Reagan lively and cocky, and Field, the disturbed adolescent. Reagan is the real surprise here; totally unaffected, he acts effortlessly here on film, building a character, listening to the actors in the scene and reacting in the moment. And his best scenes, "THAT" one, and the final scene, are excellent.

And when it ends, with a flourish those audiences would have found entirely familiar and even comforting, I can imagine an audience of a thousand bursting into prolonged applause.

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PARRIS MITCHELL'S CHILDHOOD HOME? louie78956
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