Blast from the Past: Popular Movies of Yesteryear
George Sidney, perhaps better known for his musicals, directed this soap opera pretending to be a serious romantic drama, probing issues of love and trust.
Grade: B-
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Theatrical poster
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Starring Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner and Zachary Scott, the film was based on Sinclair Lewis’s 1945 novel “Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives,” his 19th book and one of his last.
Cass Timberlane, a middle-aged, incorruptible, respected judge, enjoys good books and playing the flute. He falls for Ginny, a much younger girl from the lower class in his small Minnesota town. At first, the marriage is happy, but Ginny becomes bored with the small town and its social milieu. She leaves him for an affair with a lawyer (his boyhood friend). Eventually, disillusioned with her lover, Ginny returns to her husband and becomes his loyal wife.
David Ogden Stewart, who worked on the script, recalled: “Spencer Tracy was a terribly professional actor who worked on the script and knew it by heart, and Lana would come onto the set unprepared. Spencer was very angry during the first weeks, but the relationship got better, and at the end she got his respect as an actress
Though it received tepid critical reviews, the film was a box office hit, earning $3,983,000 in the U.S. and $1,203,000 elsewhere, but due to its high production cost, it generated a modest profit of only $746,000.
Recycling:
“Cass Timberlane” was presented on Theatre Guild on the Air February 15, 1953. The one-hour adaptation starred Fredric March and Nina Foch.
Cast
Spencer Tracy as Cass Timberlane
Lana Turner as Virginia “Ginny” Marshland
Zachary Scott as Brad Criley
Tom Drake as Jamie Wargate
Mary Astor as Queenie Havock
Albert Dekker as Boone Havock
Margaret Lindsay as Chris Grau
Rose Hobart as Diantha Marl
John Litel as Webb Wargate
Mona Barrie as Avis Elderman
Josephine Hutchinson as Lillian Drover
Selena Royle as Louise Wargate
Frank Wilcox as Gregg Marl
Richard Gaines as Dennis Thane
John Alexander as Dr. Roy Drover
Cameron Mitchell as Eino Roskinen
Howard Freeman as Hervey Plint
Griff Barnett as Herman
Jessie Grayson as Mrs. Higbee
Gordon Richards as the Butler (uncredited)
Credits:
Directed by George Sidney
Written by Donald Ogden Stewart (Adaptation and Screenplay), Sonya Levien (Adaptation), based on “Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives, Sinclair Lewis’ 1945 book.
Produced by Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
Cinematography Robert Planck
Edited by John Dunning
Music by Roy Webb
Production: MGM
Distributed by Loew’s, Inc.
Release date: Nov 6, 1947 (NYC)
Running time: 119 minutes
Budget $2,733,000
Box office $5,186,000 (worldwide rentals)
