The book’s author, Bellaman, was a professor at Vassar College.
He was a disciple of Honoré de Balzac, and his novel was in the tradition of Winesburg, Ohio and was a forerunner of the popular 1950s novel Peyton Place.
Cast
Ann Sheridan as Randy Monaghan
Robert Cummings as Parris Mitchell
Ronald Reagan as Drake McHugh
Betty Field as Cassandra Tower
Charles Coburn as Dr. Henry Gordon
Claude Rains as Dr. Alexander Tower
Judith Anderson as Mrs. Harriet Gordon
Ann Todd as Randy Monaghan as a girl
Scotty Beckett as Parris Mitchell as a boy
Douglas Croft as Drake MacHugh as a boy
Mary Thomas as Cassandra Tower as a girl
Nancy Coleman as Louise Gordon
Kaaren Verne as Elise Sandor
Maria Ouspenskaya as Madame von Eln
Harry Davenport as Colonel Skeffington
Ernest Cossart as Pa Monaghan
Ilka Grüning as Anna (as Ilka Gruning)
Julie Warren as Poppy Ross
Mary Scott as Jinny Ross
Pat Moriarity as Tod Monaghan
Minor Watson as Sam Winters
Emory Parnell as Harley Davis
Ludwig Hardt as Porter (uncredited)
Twentieth-Century Fox originally sought to buy Bellamann’s novel as a vehicle for Henry Fonda.
Philip Reed, Rex Downing, and Tyrone Power were considered for the role of Parris. In April 1941 Robert Cummings was mentioned as the leading favorite if Power could not be borrowed. Cummings did a screen test and by May had the role.
Cummings was held up filming on a Deanna Durbin film but the filmmakers were willing to postpone for him. In September filming was shut down for a week as Cummings was recalled to do reshoots on the Durbin film.
Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and Ginger Rogers were initially considered for the role of Cassandra. Director Sam Wood pushed hard to cast Lupino, saying that she “has a natural something that Cassie should have.” Wood believed that de Havilland, who refused the role, was too mature for the part. Lupino also refused it, despite Wallis’ emphatic arguments, saying that it was “beneath her as an artist.”
Bette Davis wanted the part, but the studio was against it because it was believed that she would dominate the movie, and Davis later suggested Betty Field. Among the other actresses considered for Cassandra were Katharine Hepburn, Adele Longmire, Marsha Hunt, Laraine Day, Susan Peters, Joan Leslie, Gene Tierney and Priscilla Lane.
James Stephenson was originally cast as Dr. Tower but he died. He was replaced by Claude Rains.
Before Ronald Reagan was cast, John Garfield was considered for the role of Drake McHugh, as were Dennis Morgan, Eddie Albert, Robert Preston, and Franchot Tone. Although Reagan became a star as a result of his performance, he was unable to capitalize on his success because he was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in World War II. He never regained the star status that he had achieved from his performance in the film.
Wolfgang Reinhardt refused an assignment to produce the film, saying, “As far as plot is concerned, the material in Kings Row is for the most part either censurable or too gruesome and depressing to be used. The hero finding out that his girl has been carrying on incestuous relations with her father… a host of moronic or otherwise mentally diseased characters… people dying from cancer, suicides–these are the principal elements of the story.”
Filming started in July 1941 and continued until December.
The pivotal scene in which Drake McHugh wakes up to find his legs amputated posed an acting challenge for Reagan, who was supposed to say “Where’s the rest of me?” in a convincing manner. In City of Nets, Otto Friedrich noted that the movie had a formidable array of acting talent, and the scene in which Reagan saw that his legs were gone was his “one great opportunity.” Reagan recalled in his memoir that he had “neither the experience nor talent to fake it,” so he undertook exhaustive research, talking to people with disabilities, and doctors and practicing the line every chance he got.
On the night before the scene was shot he had little sleep, so he looked suitably worn out, and Sam Wood shot the scene without rehearsal. He called out for Randy, which was not in the script, but Ann Sheridan was there and responded. The scene was extremely effective and there was no need for another take.
Kings Row and the Hays Production Code
Parris (Robert Cummings) and Cassandra (Betty Field); their illicit romance disturbed the Hays Office.
A film adaptation of Bellamann’s controversial novel, modeled on his hometown of Fulton, Missouri, presented significant problems for movie industry censors, who sought to bring the film into conformity with the Hays Code.
Screenwriter Casey Robinson believed the project was hopeless because of the Hays Code. Producer Hal B. Wallis said that Robinson felt “I was crazy to have bought so downbeat a property.” Wallis urged him to reconsider, and it occurred to Robinson that he could turn this into the story of “an idealistic young doctor challenged by the realities of a cruel and horrifying world.”
Joseph Breen, director of the Production Code Authority (PCA), which administered the Hays Code, wrote the producers that “To attempt to translate such a story to the screen, even though it be re-written to conform to the provisions of the Production Code is, in our judgment, a very questionable undertaking from the standpoint of the good and welfare of this industry.”
Breen objected to “illicit sexual relationships” between characters in the movie “without sufficient compensating moral values.”
He also objected to “the general suggestion of loose sex…which carries throughout the entire script.” Breen also voiced concern about the characterization of Cassandra, who is a victim of incest with her father in the novel, as well as the mercy killing of the grandmother by Parris also depicted in the novel, and “the sadistic characterization of Dr. Gordon.”
Incest
Dr. Tower (Claude Rains) commits incest with his daughter Cassandra in the novel. Censors forbade that in the film.
Breen said that any screenplay, no matter how well done, would likely bring condemnation of the film industry “from decent people everywhere” because of “the fact that it stems from so thoroughly questionable a novel. He said that the script was being referred to his superior, Will Hays, “for a decision as to the acceptability of any production based upon the novel, Kings Row.”
Robinson, Wallis and associate producer David Lewis met with Breen several times to resolve these issues. Wallis said that the film would “illustrate how a doctor could relieve the internal destruction of a stricken community.”
Breen insisted again and again that his office would approve the film if all references to incest, nymphomania, euthanasia and homosexuality, which had been suggested in the novel, be removed.
All references to nude bathing were to be eliminated and “the suggestion of a sex affair between Randy and Drake will be eliminated entirely.”
It was agreed that Dr. Tower would know about the affair between Cassandra and Parris, and “that this had something to do with his killing of the girl.”
After several drafts were rejected, Robinson was able to satisfy Breen.
