The Magnificent Yankee (1950)

Note Générale:

7,1/10   

Réalisateur:

John Sturges

Scénaristes:

Francis Biddle (book)
Emmet Lavery (play)

Genre:

Biographie | Drame

Intrigue:

Biography of celebrated American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. |

Plot Keywords:

Historical | 1900s | Supreme Court | 1930s | Judge

Récompenses:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

Literate, gracious, film

Ensemble

Louis Calhern	...	Oliver Wendell Holmes
Ann Harding	...	Fanny Bowditch Holmes
Eduard Franz	...	Judge Louis Brandeis
Philip Ober	...	Owen Wister / Narrator
Ian Wolfe	...	Adams
Edith Evanson	...	Annie Gough, Holmes' Housekeeper
Richard Anderson	...	Reynolds, Secretary
Jimmy Lydon	...	Clinton, Secretary (as James Lydon)
Herbert Anderson	...	Baxter, Secretary (as Guy Anderson)

Autre(s) titre(s):

The Man with Thirty Sons (UK)

Durée:

89 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Rapport de forme:

1,37 : 1

Son:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Société:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Guillemet:

[referring to President Theodore Roosevelt]
Oliver Wendell Holmes: He said, among other things, that he could carve a judge with more backbone out of a banana.
Fanny Bowditch Holmes: [outraged] Well, the very idea!
Graham, reporter for Boston Transcript: Is there any statement, Mrs. Holmes, that you would make?
Fanny Bowditch Holmes: Yes, Mr. Graham, there is.
Oliver Wendell Holmes: Fanny...
Fanny Bowditch Holmes: You may say that we adore dear Mr. Roosevelt at all times -
Graham, reporter for Boston Transcript: Adore, Mrs. Holmes?
Fanny Bowditch Holmes: Yes, Mr. Graham, we adore everything about him... except his taste in bananas.

Connexions:

figure dans The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (1951)

Literate, gracious, film

At first I was surprised at the number of votes for this film, but on reflection, it becomes all too clear why this is so. This film may be too literate for contemporary audiences. How many people now know who Henry Adams, Owen Wister, and Louis Brandeis WERE? Still, one shouldn't have to be a constitutional law scholar to love a film so well acted and so rich in Human interest. Yes, the film does occasionally sentimentalise Holmes. So? I find it fascinating that Emmett Lavery, a devout Catholic, educated by Jesuits, was able to paint such a warm portrait of the atheist (and lets not mince words-he WAS an atheist) Holmes, who had little use for moral absolutes or the Natural Law. In short, a very fine film, of the sort that is impossible to make nowadays.