Keys of the Kingdom

1895-1999
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Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

saw Stars in My Crown only once between ten and fifteen years ago and was disappointed in it despite its reputation and despite the fact that I like both Tourneur and Joel McCrea whose later 50s western The Oklahoman is one of my guilty pleasures.

Kenneth Geist makes a fool of Chris Mankiewicz more than once in his commentary, which serves to undermine Chris' more outrageous comments. He does nothing, however, to contradict him from when he asserts that the senior Mankiewicz built up Mitchell's character and the relationship between Peck and Gleason and Revere when those relationships were in fact more detailed in Cronin's novel, a huge best-seller in its day.

Stahl gave us at such unforgettable films as the original Back Street, Imitation of Life and Magnificent Obsession as well as Holy Matrimony, The Keys of the Kingdom and Leave Her to Heaven. Joseph L. Mankiewicz had a longer career, in which he directed such unforgettable films as The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, People Will Talk, Five Fingers, Suddenly, Last Summer and Sleuth as well as Cleopatra, which is unforgettable for other reasons. I'd say the senior Mankiewicz, who also produced Fury, The Philadelphia Story and Woman of the Year among many others, had the bigger impact overall but movie history would indeed be a lot poorer without Stahl's input. Shame on Chris Mankiewicz for not knowing who he was, but what can you expect from the bit player and producer of Runaway Jury?
Damien
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Post by Damien »

I haven't seen Keys Of The Kingdom since it played at the late, beloverd Regency in New York back in 1984, but it is sucha lovely film. In addition to Thomas Mitchell's atheist, I also remember fondly the affection between Peck's priest, and the Protestant missionaries played by James Gleason and Anne Revere.

Shame on Christopher Mankiewicz for not knowing John M. STahl or, even more so, for not studying up on him before doing the damned commentary. Stahl was one of the best directors of the 30s and 40s, with an output that rivals anyone's (other than a handful of giants like Ford, Hitchcock, McCarey, Cukor) from that era -- and he was one of the most compassionate. And, I'd say, a damned sight more talented a director than Christopher's pop.


Magilla, another film in which a non-believer turns out to be so much more Christian than the "religious" pillars of the community is Jacques Tourneur's beautiful "Stars In My Crown" in which ne'er do well Alan Hale behaves just as Jesus would.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

The Keys of the Kingdom has always been one of my favorite films. Along with Goodbye, Mr. Chips and It's a Wonderful Life, it's one of three great films about the life of a simple man the sum of whose life is not so simple. Gregory Peck's performance established him as a superstar in only his second film, a position he held for the next 55 years. It's a film that is unusual for its time in that one of its main characters, played by Thomas Mitchell, is an atheist who is depicted as a better man than the second most prominent priest, later bishop, Vincent Price. It's also inique for its time in that all the major Asian characters, and there are many, are played by Asian actors.

The new DVD has commentary by film historian Kenneth Geist and Christopher Mankiewicz, son of the film's writer-producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Rosa Stradner who plays the mother superior role intended for Ingrid Bergman who turned it down because the part wasn't big enough, waiting another year to play her own nun in The Bells of St. Mary's and starring opposite Peck in Spellbound.

Geist's commentary is mostly on the money, though he does get a few dates wrong. Edmund Gwenn died in 1959, not 1949 and Anne Revere won an Oscar as best supporting actress of 1945, not 1944. Like Keys, National Velvet was not released in L.A. until the year after its N.Y. premiere.

Mankiewicz, on the other hand, doesn't seem to know much about the project, attributing themes that were in A.J. Cronin's novel to his father's screenplay and referring to John M. Stahl only as "the director" and confessing he doesn't know anything about him. He compensates with rich anecdotes about his parents, one of which is that the Bette Davis character in All About Eve was based on Stradner, in which case the Anne Baxter character must have been based on Luise Rainer. Stradner never got over the fact that Rainer, who was Stradner's understudy in Vienna, came to Hollywood and won two Oscars while Stradner's own Hollywood career never got off the ground, Keys providing her only indelible screen role.
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