| Ten North Frederick | |
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The ambitious but unsatisfying screenplay is based on the 1955 best-selling novel of the same name by John O’Hara.
In April 1945, in the fictional town of Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, a radio reporter is describing the funeral of a distinguished attorney Joseph Chapin (Gary Cooper).
While his shrewish wife Edith (Geraldine Fitzgerald) delivers eulogy, his daughter Ann (Diane Varsi) looks back into Joe’s fiftieth birthday party five years earlier.
Via flashbacks, we learn details about the ttroubled dysfunctional family. Joby (Ray Stricklyn), Joe’s rebellious and ne’er-do-well son, was expelled from boarding school and wants to become a jazz musician, a decision that Edith feels might harm the family’s reputation.
Determined to get Joe elected as Lieutenant Governor, the snobbish Edith uses her wealth, political connections, and social influence to achieve her goal. Threatening this ambition is Ann’s secret marriage to trumpet player Charley Bongiorno (Stuart Whitman), who had impregnated the naïve girl.
Meanwhile, corrupt power broker Mike Slattery (Tom Tully) and district attorney Lloyd Williams (Philip Ober) threaten to charge Charley with statutory rape if he refuses to accept their bribe and agree to annulment.
Shortly after, Ann suffers a miscarriage, and when she learns that her father condoned the deal that drove her husband away, she moves to New York City.
When party leaders refuse to back Joe, he withdraws from the race to Edith’s dismay. Angry, she reveals she had an affair with Lloyd and bitterly tells him that she wasted her life.
Deeply depressed, Joe begins to drink heavily. On a business trip, he meets Ann’s roommate, model Kate Drummond (Suzy Parker), and the begin a relationship.When the young woman’s friends mistake Joe for her father, he realizes that he’s unable to handle their age difference and ends the affair. Joe’s alcoholism takes toll on his health but he refuses medical attention.
At the funeral, Joby accuses Slattery of betrayal and Edith of being responsible for Joe’s decline. Prior to Kate’s wedding, Ann realizes that her father was Kate’s true love and that for a brief time he experienced happiness.
Dunne decided to focus his script on Joe Chapin’s affair with his daughter’s friend which only took up several segments of the novel. In the original novel Joe’s daughter has an abortion but this was changed to miscarriage due to strictures of the Production Code, which was still in effect.
The first choice to play the lead role was Spencer Tracy, but due to conflicting schedules, he withdrew and Cooper got the part. Tracy was working on The Old Man and the Sea, which turned out to be a troubled producton.
Dunne later recalled: “Cooper jumped at it, saying, ‘I’ve lived in that guy’s shoes.’ He’d had a long affair with Patricia Neal before eventual return to his wife.
John O’Hara said it was the only decent movie adaptation of one of his books, though most of it was not used in the plot.
For commercial reasons, the screen telling of O’Hara’s novel sacrifices detail and explanation, though, ultimately, the movie was a failure, and did not recoup its production expense.
A confusing movie from a complex book with a performance by Cooper that almost manages to save the story.”
Cast
The novel, which was published in 1955, became a best seller
Gary Cooper as Joseph Chapin
Geraldine Fitzgerald as Edith Chapin
Diane Varsi as Ann Chapin
Ray Stricklyn as Joby Chapin
Suzy Parker as Kate
Tom Tully as Mike Slattery
Philip Ober as Lloyd Williams
Stuart Whitman as Charley Bongiorno
Linda Watkins as Peg Slattery
John Emery as Paul Donaldson
Barbara Nichols as Stella
Melinda Byron as Hope
Credits:
Directed by Philip Dunne
Screenplay by Dunne, based on “Ten North Frederick,” 1955 novel by John O’Hara
Produced by Charles Brackett
Cinematography Joseph MacDonald
Edited by David Bretherton
Music by Leigh Harline
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date: May 22, 1958
Running time: 102 minutes
Budget $1,550,000
Box office $2 million
