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The Motivations of John Ford: Arrowsmith (1931)

Started by tomwatson · 11 months ago

Arrowsmith (1931) is a fine example of the fact that, auteurism notwithstanding, you can’t judge a film by its pedigree. This one, based on Sinclair Lewis’s Pulitzer-winning book, had John Ford directing, Sidney Howard writing the screenplay, Samuel Goldwyn pr ... Continue reading »

2 comments

  • roxtar

    2 years ago

    Reading a Sinclair Lewis novel always induces the same sensation in me. I feel like a kid who has discovered that he is descended from a race of aliens. He draws his characters in bold strokes, but he stops short of making them cartoonish.

    Arrowsmith was on TV recently, and I watched it without realizing that John Ford had directed it. I'll have to give it another look. Elmer Gantry is another classic that was made into an excellent film, featuring Shirley Jones speaking of Burt Lancaster:

    "Oh, he gave me special instructions back of the pulpit Christmas Eve. He got to howlin' "Repent! Repent!" and I got to moanin' "Save me! Save me!" and the first thing I know he rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!"
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  • Self Styled Siren

    2 years ago

    Roxstar, Elmer Gantry is an excellent film, both for Shirley & Burt Lancaster but also for Jean Simmons' underrated performance. But my favorite Sinclair Lewis adaptation must be Dodsworth, which I caught up with only last year and blogged about here.

    The only Lewis novel I have read is the one my parents happened to have, "It Can't Happen Here," which in high school struck me as overdrawn and unlikely. But now, as I refresh my memory with this review, I am thinking it is probably more relevant now than at the time I was reading.
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