Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''
A Night at the Opera'', ''
A Day at the Races'', ''
Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', ''
The Pride of the Yankees
''The Pride of the Yankees'' is a 1942 American film produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Sam Wood, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, w ...
'', and ''
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'''' and for his uncredited work directing parts of ''
Gone with the Wind''. He was also involved in a few acting and writing projects.
As a youth, Wood developed an enthusiasm for physical fitness that persisted into his senior years and influenced his interest in making sports-themed films.
Wood advanced from making largely competent yet routine pictures in the 1920s and 1930s to directing several highly regarded works during the 1940s at the peak of his abilities, among them ''
Kings Row'' (1942) and ''
Ivy
''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...
'' (1947).
Wood's quick, efficient and professional execution of his film assignments endeared him to studio executives, and though not a "brilliant" director, Wood's legacy represents "a long and respectable film career."
Early life and family
Samuel Grosvenor Wood was born on July 10, 1883, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to William Henry Wood and Katherine (née Corn) Wood. He attended M. Hall Stanton School. One of Wood's daughters, born Gloria Wood, was film and television actress
K.T. Stevens.
Early career in Hollywood
When Wood turned 18 years old in the summer of 1901, he and a companion began a year-long trek across the United States, ultimately arriving in Los Angeles, where Wood embarked on a successful career as a real estate broker. By 1906, the then-primitive film industry in Southern California enticed Wood to gain entrée into the nascent industry by acting, adopting the screen name "Chad Applegate." He carefully concealed his (then regarded) ill-reputed avocation from real estate associates and clients.
In 1908, Wood married Clara Louise Roush, who encouraged her spouse to commit to a career in film. Spurred by a collapse in the real estate market, Wood obtained work as a movie production assistant and, by 1914, was serving as an assistant director to
Cecil B. DeMille. During the next five years, Wood contributed to the manufacture of hundreds of movies
shorts as an assistant director, mostly for Paramount Pictures.
Directorial debut: The Wallace Reid films, 1920
At the end of 1919, Wood won his first assignment as director in the Paramount feature ''
Double Speed
''Double Speed'' is a lost 1920 American silent comedy-drama film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was the debut directorial effort of Sam Wood and starred Wallace Reid in another of his racing car films ...
'', the first of five films he was paired with screen star
Wallace Reid
William Wallace Halleck Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923) was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver.
Early life
Reid was born in St. Louis, M ...
, all of which were filmed and released in 1920. Wood demonstrated efficient and effective direction that made him attractive to Paramount executives. The success of these hour-long action comedies were highly praised by production head
Jesse Lasky
Jesse Louis Lasky (September 13, 1880 – January 13, 1958) was an American pioneer motion picture producer who was a key founder of what was to become Paramount Pictures, and father of screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
Early life
Born in to ...
for their "assembly line" output and profitability.
Actor Reid, injured during a shoot in 1919, suffered from chronic pain that he treated with morphine. (A functioning addict during his collaboration with Wood, he would die in 1923 at the age of 32 due to complications related to his addiction.)
Despite the outstanding success of his Reid features, Wood expressed a desire to work on other projects. Paramount, "perhaps as a sign of displeasure" obliged Wood by demoting him to their subsidiary movie unit,
Realart, a venue for the production of low-budget "routine programme pictures" that offered little in the way of substance. Wood endured the assignment, making four films at Realart, starring
Ethel Clayton
Ethel Clayton (November 8, 1882 – June 6, 1966) was an American actress of the silent film era.
Early years
Born in Champaign, Illinois, Clayton attended St. Elizabeth's school in Chicago.
Career
Clayton debuted on stage as a professional ...
and
Wanda Hawley
Wanda Hawley (born Selma Wanda Pittack; July 30, 1895 – March 18, 1963) was an American actress during the silent film era. She entered the theatrical profession with an amateur group in Seattle, and later toured the United States and Can ...
, all filmed in 1920. Wood's perseverance at Realart earned him a reputation as a reliable studio asset.
The Swanson-Wood pictures, 1921-1923
Paramount's appreciation for Wood's "fast, efficient" delivery of film products and his excellent rapport with his cast and crew landed him the honor of directing their recently acquired actor
Gloria Swanson in her first starring vehicle, ''
The Great Moment'' (1921).
DeMille DeMille or De Mille is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Agnes De Mille, American dance and choreographer
* Beatrice deMille, English-born American playwright and screenwriter
*Cecil B. DeMille, American film director
* Constance ...
, whom Wood had served as an assistant director from 1914 to 1916, and Swanson, a close personal friend to Wood, each influenced Paramount's choice.
With the popular success of ''The Great Moment'', co-starring
Milton Sills (in one scandalous scene, he sucks rattlesnake venom from Swanson's chest) Paramount proceeded to finance nine more Swanson-Wood collaborations over the next two years, beginning with ''
Under the Lash'' (1921) and finishing with ''
Bluebeard's 8th Wife'' (1923). Cameraman
Alfred Gilks photographed all ten of the productions. During the Wood-Swanson series of films "the costume department broke all records for Hollywood lavishness..."
Wood's pictures included an array of scenarios and settings, providing abundant opportunities for Swanson and her leading men to "besport themselves in a variety of period costumes" (e.g. ''
Beyond the Rocks'' (1922) with
Rudolf Valentino), and to appear in the "daring modern clothing" of the
Jazz Age (e.g. ''
Prodigal Daughters'' (1923) with
Ralph Graves
Ralph Graves (born Ralph Horsburgh; January 23, 1900 – February 18, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and actor who appeared in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1949.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Graves had already ...
). Swanson's silent film career was significantly enhanced by these Wood productions. However, In 1923 by mutual consent, Swanson and Wood agreed to conclude their collaboration.
Sam Wood and Swanson "had clearly found the formula for success in these romantic comedies of marriage and intrigue laced with a series of handsome leading men and a never-ending parade of fabulous gowns."
Principal Pictures and Irving M. Lesser, 1924-1925
In late 1923, Wood's relationship with Paramount began deteriorating due to his discontent over the quality of his project assignments. Wood completed the "heavy-handed morality tale" ''
His Children's Children'' at the end of 1923, and only made ''
Bluff'' (1924) with
Agnes Ayers under protest due to his low appraisal of Ayers' star potential.
Wood accepted two offers from producer Irving
"Sol" Lesser of the newly formed Principal Pictures to make "a most unusual film", ''
The Female'' (1924), set in the South African
Veld
Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Bot ...
starring
Betty Compson
Betty Compson (born Eleanor Luicime Compson; March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. She is best known for her performances in '' The Docks of New York'' an ...
, as well as a Western and Wood's first effort in this genre, ''
The Mine with the Iron Door'' (1924) with
Dorothy Mackaill. Wood consented to make another film with Dorothy Mackaill for Paramount in ''
The Next Corner'' (1924) that despite its "expensive production values" was burdened with a "meager plot". Wood and Paramount reached an impasse when he refused to direct another Agnes Ayers vehicle. Wood was officially suspended from Paramount and the other major studios for a year.
Sol Lesser at Principal Pictures reached out to Wood to direct a film version of novelist
Harold Bell Wright's ''The Re-Creation of Brian Kent'', a soap opera. When
Wood's adaptation proved a box office success, Paramount executives sought to lure Wood back to the studio, bestowing on him a lavishly financed production, ''
Fascinating Youth
''Fascinating Youth'' is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Sam Wood. It starred Charles "Buddy" Rogers (in his feature debut), along with Thelma Todd and Josephine Dunn in supporting roles. Many well-known personalities ...
'' (1926). Wood completed the "light comedy" but remained convinced that he had no future with Paramount and successfully arranged for a release from his contract.
Wood's separation from Paramount proved to be fortuitous for the director. Indeed, it was "a major turning point in his career." In 1927, he briefly directed films for
Cole-Robertson Pictures, a small Boston outfit, and simultaneously negotiated a long-term commitment to Hollywood's dominant studio,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
(M-G-M).
Harold "Red" Grange and the Cole-Robertson Pictures, 1926-1927
Robertson-Cole Pictures (soon to be the
Film Booking Company, F.B.O and later associated with
RKO Radio Studios) instantly picked up the now available Wood. Production manager
Joseph P. Kennedy had famous sports hero
"Red" Grange under contract and Wood, a gridiron enthusiast, welcomed the opportunity to deliver a compelling football story, ''
One Minute to Play'' (1926). Wood directed Grange a second time in a small epic honoring horse racing. Emphasizing the virtues of the sport rather than the less than impressive acting performance by Grange, ''
A Racing Romeo'' (1927), completed Wood's duties for Cole-Robertson.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M-G-M), 1927-1939
Wood's first two assignments for M-G-M, ''
Rookies'', with
Karl Dane and
George K. Arthur
Arthur George Brest (27 January 1899 – 30 May 1985), known professionally as George K. Arthur, was an English actor and producer, born in Aberdeen, Scotland,. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1919 and 1935, and is best known as t ...
, and ''
The Fair Co-Ed'' with
Marion Davies
Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...
were comedies, both made in 1927, earning him a long-term contract with the studio for whom he would almost exclusively make films for over ten years.
Wood proceeded to bring his signature speed and efficiency to M-G-M, directing their top stars and supplied with screenplays "of the slimmest material":
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O' ...
in ''
The Latest from Paris'' (1928),
William Haines in ''
Telling the World'' (1928), the
Duncan Sisters (1929) in ''
It's a Great Life'' and in his first
sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decad ...
in 1929, introduced actor
Robert Montgomery.
Wood was renowned for consistently delivering his features "on time and on budget", but these virtues, which pleased the Front Office, "militated against his getting worthier assignments."
Two more comedies followed in 1930, ''
The Girl Said No'' and ''
They Learned About Women
''They Learned About Women'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code sports drama musical film directed by Jack Conway and Sam Wood, and starring Van and Schenck in their final film appearance together.
Although predominantly a black and white film, the "H ...
'', the latter with a baseball theme and a sentimental vehicle starring German actor
Louis Mann in a fine performance, and with co-star Robert Montgomery.
Wood directed silent matinee idol
John Gilbert in a maritime romance-adventure ''
Way for a Sailor'', a vehicle that the actor hoped would redeem his reputation in the emerging
"talkies". Gilbert was poorly cast as a tough seaman opposite
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' ( ...
. Legend has it that M-G-M's studio chief
Louis B. Mayer was complicit in miscasting Gilbert in a virile role that did not suit his image, and Wood failed to salvage his performance. Concentrating on action scenes depicting high seas shipwrecks and rescues, Wood invested ''Way for the Sailor'' with no more than a measure of realism.
Silent movie
flapper
Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
and rising talkie star
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...
was paired with Wood for ''
Paid'' (1930), a crime drama that benefited from Wood's "taut" execution and
Charles Rosher's cinematography,
Wood followed with two less fortunate assignments and the last two of the four features he would make with William Haines: ''
A Tailor Made Man
''A Tailor Made Man'' is a 1931 American MGM pre-Code comedy film directed by Sam Wood. Adapted from the 1908 Hungarian play ''A Szerencse Fia'' by Gábor Drégely (staged in English in New York in 1917), the film stars William Haines and Dor ...
'' and ''
New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford'', both 1931. Haines would subsequently retire from acting to become a successful interior decorator. Wood finished off the year by directing his final and successful film with Robert Montgomery, ''
The Man in Possession'', a "knockabout comedy."
Ramon Novarro: ''Huddle'' and ''The Barbarian'', 1932-1933
The 1932 ''
Huddle'' was another opportunity for Wood to demonstrate his talent for presenting American collegiate football.
Madge Evans appears opposite leading man
Ramon Novarro, a silent era star who struggled to make the transition to sound films.
In a bid to revitalize Novarro's career, M-G-M tasked Wood with filming a remake of the "romantic-exotic" silent era success ''The Arab,'' originally filmed by director
Cecil B DeMille in
1915 starring
Edgar Selwyn
Edgar Selwyn (October 20, 1875 – February 13, 1944) was a prominent figure in American theatre and film in the first half of the 20th century. An actor, playwright, director and producer on Broadway, he founded a theatrical production ...
, and in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hold ...
, starring the then 25-year old Navarro, both carrying the same title. Wood remade ''
The Barbarian'' with emerging film star
Myrna Loy as the object of Novarro's affection, who steals her from fiancé
Reginald Denny in this cinematic ally "attractive minor package".
''Prosperity'' (1932) and ''Christopher Bean'' (1933): Marie Dressler
A former star in stage and
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
, the 62-year-old
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. Sh ...
and co-star
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' ( ...
scored a huge financial success for M-G-M, with the 1930
Min and Bill, directed by
George Hill, earning her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Wood directed Dressler in this fast-paced light comedy ''
Prosperity
Prosperity is the flourishing, thriving, good fortune and successful social status. Prosperity often produces profuse wealth including other factors which can be profusely wealthy in all degrees, such as happiness and health.
Competing notions ...
'' (1933), about a small-town bank president (Dressler) who spars with her provincial neighbors and patrons. Wood was reunited with Dressler in 1933 to make ''
Christopher Bean'', a light burlesque on the humorous aspects of greed.
''Hold Your Man'' (1933): Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
Wood served as both producer and director on ''
Hold Your Man
''Hold Your Man '' is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by an uncredited Sam Wood and starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, the third of their six films together.Landazuri, Margarit"Hold Your Man" (TCM article)/ref> The scre ...
'', a dual role that he did not relish within the "assembly-line" organization that prevailed in the major studios of the 1930s.
The assignment, however, was a promotion for Wood, providing him with the opportunity to make a crime-romance that is "sentimental, cheeky, wise-cracking" and as always "swiftly paced" and featuring two of M-G-M's top stars of the period,
Jean Harlow and
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
.
After finishing his two Dressler features, Wood made the second of his three films with Myrna Loy, ''
Stamboul Quest'' (1934), a spy-romance set in Turkish
Dardanelles during World War I. Loy plays a
Mata Hari-like character pursued by counter-spies and her devoted swain
George Brent. Wood enjoyed the services of
James Wong Howe
Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most sou ...
's expert cinematography.
During Wood's decade-long tenure with M-G-M, he made only one film for another studio,
Edward Small
Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891, Brooklyn, New York – January 25, 1977, Los Angeles) was a film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movi ...
's
Reliance studios. ''
Let 'Em Have It'' (1935) stars
Richard Arlen in an
Underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwo ...
vs.
G-man themed story that Wood attempted to add substance by including sequences describing
U.S. Department of Justice's modern crime-fighting methodology.
Irving Thalberg and The Marx Brothers, 1935-1937
In 1935, head of production for M-G-M studios, the highly regarded
Irving Thalberg, hired the comedy team
The Marx Brothers who had made five career-defining movies films at
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, but whose dispute with Paramount over unpaid monies as well as the tepid box office of their now-classic "Duck Soup" (1933) resulted in their 5-picture contract not being renewed. Thalberg, in offering them a film contract with M-G-M, demanded a significant degree of control over every aspect of the project. To this the Marx Brothers acquiesced. Zeppo had left the team in 1934 to focus on other business ventures and the trio now consisted of
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...
,
Harpo Marx and
Chico Marx
Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx (; March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, actor and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Adolph ("Harpo"), Julius ("Groucho"), Milton ...
.
Thalberg's decision to approach Wood to direct the Marx Brothers would mark a "turning point" in the director's professional career. Now in his late forties and "largely undistinguished" during the silent era (though exhibiting "unexpected moments of genius") Wood was regarded as one of M-G-M's "top men."
A Comedy Magnum Opus: ''A Night At The Opera'' (1935)
Initially skeptical about undertaking ''
A Night at the Opera'', Thalberg assured Wood that a coherent film structure would be imposed to incorporate love interests and musical numbers, alternating with the Marx Brothers' comedy creations. Wood's masterful control over the screenplay and cast served to integrate these elements into the film. Historian John Baxter observes that:
Wood's "perfectionist" approach to shooting ''A Night at the Opera'' involved daily reviews of the footage and editing the scenes, a process that guaranteed reshoots that "endangered the spontaneity of the humor." Wood's often tedious approach to re-filming key Marx Brothers scenes placed a strain on cast and crew that Wood addressed with good-natured blandishments.
The enormous success of ''A Night At The Opera'' ensured that a sequel would be made, but Thalberg had declared a temporary moratorium in order to increase interest in the public for the anticipated feature. Wood was designated in advance as its director.
While Paramount planned the next Marx Brothers comedy epic, Wood was occupied with a two-picture assignment. The first was ''
Whipsaw'' (1936), a romance-crime drama with Myrna Loy and
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
. The shooting included a brief clash between Wood and Tracy, the actor rebelling against the director for being "too meticulous". Wood's second effort was a "slick and glossy melodrama" with "M-G-M's stylish trimmings" with
Loretta Young and
Franchot Tone and a fine supporting cast: ''
The Unguarded Hour
''The Unguarded Hour'' is a 1936 American drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Loretta Young and Franchot Tone. In England, a prominent young prosecutor in a murder trial is unaware that his wife is involved.
It is based on Bernard Meri ...
'' (1936).
''A Day at the Races'' (1937)
The Marx Brothers arrived for the filming of ''A Day at the Races'' having tested new routines at burlesque venues, and Thalberg and Wood were prepared to use this material to emulate the profitability of ''A Night At the Opera''. Shortly into the filming, Thalberg unexpectedly died, at thirty-seven, from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
, a loss that left Wood personally shaken. Wood proceeded with the picture, adhering to the formula that balanced the "romance and musical numbers" with the fulsome humor offered in the Marx Brothers sequences.
Final years at M-G-M, 1937-1938
After the success of his two Marx Brothers features, Wood requested and was awarded more substantial stories and scripts from M-G-M. Wood furnished the studio with "good pieces of entertainment" in his next four works "but nothing memorable".
''
Navy Blue and Gold'' (1937): Here Wood returned to collegiate athletics, endowing this "light comedy" - starring
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
,
Robert Young and
Tom Brown—with a "rousing"
Army-Navy football game.
Florence Rice provides the love interest.
''
Madame X
''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-fiv ...
'' (1937): A popular stage play by
Alexandre Bisson
Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a signi ...
that enjoyed numerous film adaptations until
1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...
, Wood directed
Gladys George as the long-suffering mother who sacrifices for her children. Biographer Tony Thomas reports that the actress was one of the rare cases in which Wood developed a personal dislike for a player.
''
Lord Jeff
''Lord Jeff'' is a 1938 MGM film, set in England, starring Freddie Bartholomew as a spoiled orphan who has gotten mixed up with some crooks, but gets set straight by a stint in a mercantile marine vocational school for orphaned boys.
Plot
Young ...
'' (1938): A sentimental tale of orphan boys preparing for an apprenticeship in the British navy. Popular child actor
Freddy Bartholomew undergoes correction by an older fellow orphan
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
, with assistance from
Peter Lawford.
''
Stablemates
''Stablemates'' is a 1938 American sports drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney.
Plot
Aspiring jockey Mickey idolizes hard-drinking former veterinarian Tom Terry, who shares advice about horses with Mickey ...
'' (1938): In Rooney's second appearance in a Wood film, a "race-track waif" he reforms the alcoholic yet good-hearted horse veterinarian
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' ( ...
. Wood, in his handling of these inherently sentimental vehicles, avoids descending into "bathos", a temptation that "he avoided in all his films."
[Thomas, 1974 p. 152]
During the next 10 years until his death in 1949, Wood would direct and produce his most substantial work as one of Hollywood's major filmmakers.
''Raffles'' (1939) and Samuel Goldwyn Productions
A perennial favorite among filmmakers since 1904, ''
Raffles'' is based on the popular short story "
The Amateur Cracksman
''The Amateur Cracksman'' is an 1899 short story collection by E. W. Hornung. It was published in the UK by Methuen & Co., London, and in the US by Scribner's, New York.Rowland, p. 280. Many later editions (Thomas Nelson (publisher), T. Nelson & S ...
" (1899) by
E.W. Hornung and filmed by director
King Baggot
William King Baggot (November 7, 1879 – July 11, 1948) was an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent film era. The first individually publicized leading man in Americ ...
in 1925, and
Harry D'Arrast and
George Fitzmaurice in 1930. Wood made the film while loaned out to
Sam Goldwyn for this production.
Raffles' stars
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
and debuts
David Niven as the gentleman jewel thief who good-naturedly thwarts Scotland Yard. Wood, like a number of his fellow directors, among them
King Vidor, suffered from Goldwyn's intrusiveness on the set.
''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939)
The film rights to British novelist
James Hilton's popular novelette ''
Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' were obtained by M-G-M's Irving Thalberg after literary critic
Alexander Wolcott
Alexander Wolcott (September 15, 1758 – June 26, 1828) was a United States politician, customs inspector, and nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States. Nominated by James Madison in 1811, to replace the late William Cushing, he was rej ...
's praise for the work helped popularize it in the United States. Wood traveled to England to make ''
Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', the only professional sojourn of his career, part of an attempt by M-G-M to accommodate demands by British trade unions for a share of the lucrative American film exports market.
The novel spans the life of an English school master
Robert Donat
Friedrich Robert Donat (18 March 1905 – 9 June 1958) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's '' The 39 Steps'' (1935) and ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for ...
whose lonely and inhibited existence is transformed through the love of his understanding spouse
Greer Garson into a good-natured pedagogue beloved by generations of his students. Wood's direction of Donat was painstaking in its precision, a role that required the actor to portray his character in youth and old age (in four stages, at twenty-four, forty, sixty-four and eighty-three years-of-age). An inherently touching tale, Wood demonstrated his restraint in telling the story convincingly without lapsing into sentimentality. Actress Greer Garson made her Hollywood debut with ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips''. Just days before "the still uncast" actress was to return to Great Britain after M-G-M had withdrawn her film option, Wood by chance saw her screen test and quickly informed M-G-M that he wanted her to play the role of Katherine.
''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' won Donat a Best Actor Oscar, and Wood received the first of his three Academy Award nominations for Best Director. Upon his return from England, Wood determined he would end his long association with M-G-M, confident that he could thrive by offering his services independently to any of the major studios.
''Gone with the Wind'' (1939)
Wood's parting assignment under M-G-M was to take over the filming of ''
Gone with the Wind'' when the director
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were '' Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director, and '' The Wiza ...
collapsed during shooting and did not return to the studio for a month. The film epic was based on
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel '' Gone with the Wind'', for which she wo ...
's popular novel set during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. Fleming received screen credit for directing the film, though the precise contribution by Wood, as well as that of several other contributors, including
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...
,
Leslie Howard,
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture.
...
, and
William Wellman has not been fully documented. A number of uncredited cinematographers also shared in making the picture, among them
Joseph Ruttenberg, Wilfred Cline and
Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes, A.S.C. (May 27, 1898 – August 31, 1978) was an American cinematographer. During his career, he worked with directors Howard Hawks, Max Ophüls, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Nicholas Ray and Henry Hathaway, whom ...
, who often worked "at first units located on widely separated locations".
Other than overseeing the vast operations at the movie's multiple venues, Wood with certainty filmed the entire sequence where Scarlett O'Hara (
Vivian Leigh) shoots a Yankee
bummer (Paul Hurst) who broke into the plantation household. Wood also personally handled some of the scenes that depict wounded
Confederate troops at the
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
train depot, Whatever way the attributions are allocated, the collective efforts of the cast and crew produced "a remarkable film."
''Our Town'' (1940)
Now operating as an independent agent, Wood was instantly offered the option by his former associate and producer Irving "Sol" Lesser to adapt
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...
's play ''
Our Town
''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 thr ...
''. Wilder's
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
-winning play had first been staged on Broadway in 1938, and was "not the kind of vehicle that 1940 Hollywood would have been expected to produce", but Lesser was determined to bring the "unusual" qualities of the work faithfully to the screen.
[Thomas, 1974 p. 157]
Wilder worked closely with both Wood and Lesser to help preserve the qualities of the stage production by retaining narrator
Frank Craven, who on-screen observes the lives of two rural families in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
near the turn of the 20th century. Lesser and Wood convinced Wilder to permit one major alteration in his allegorical play: Emily Webb, played by
Martha Scott, does not die in childbirth, but only in a dream sequence, a re-write that Wilder admitted was preferable in a cinematic treatment of his work. The atmosphere of the picture was enhanced by the simplicity of the scenery conceived by set designer
William Cameron Menzies and by the haunting musical score by American composer
Aaron Copland. The excellent supporting cast, including
Fay Bainter
Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''Jezebel'' (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life
Bainter wa ...
,
Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...
,
Thomas Mitchell and
Guy Kibbee contributed to the ''Our Town'' nomination for Best Picture.
''Kitty Foyle'' (1940): Ginger Rogers
Based on a
Christopher Morley story entitled "Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman",
Ginger Rogers plays the working class protagonist who struggles to choose between two men in a love triangle.
Wood approached the filming of ''Kitty Foyle'' with immense care, delineating camera orientation, a precise script and "notes on interpretation" to achieve the "utmost clarity." However implausible the narrative of the love story, Wood maintained his signature control that balances the film's "tenderness and intelligence" with a firmness of direction that avoids sentimentality. The director was emphatic in his disdain for over-acting: "I find
ver-actingunforgivable because it destroys realism. I don't allow scenery chewing while emoting." Wood received the second of his three Academy Award Best Director nominations for Kitty Foyle and a nomination for Best Picture. Ginger Rogers won for Best Actress.
Wood returned to Paramount Pictures to make an action-packed Western that borders on a burlesque of the genre, ''
Rangers of Fortune
''Rangers of Fortune'' is a 1940 American Western film directed by Sam Wood. The plot revolves around three heroes, played by Fred MacMurray, Albert Dekker, and Gilbert Roland, as they battle a ruthless land baron who is intent on driving out s ...
'' (1940). Starring
Fred Macmurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...
and
Gilbert Roland with supporting cast
Albert Dekker and
Betty Brewer. The madcap escapades of these desperadoes stop short of "buffoonery" when Wood applies his story-telling skills to assert his "sense of balance...one of the most valuable assets" that Wood possessed as a filmmaker.
''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941): Jean Arthur, RKO Pictures
Wood opted for RKO Pictures to film Norman Krasner's original screenplay ''
The Devil and Miss Jones'', a comedy starring
Jean Arthur and
Charles Coburn.
Frank Ross, Arthur's husband, produced the picture. The stars delivered superb performances in a "social satire" that pits a department store saleswoman-cum-strike organizer (Arthur) against the
Scrooge-like owner (Coburn). As with most of Wood's work, consistency, pace and balance characterized his expert handling of the story and script.
A collaborative masterpiece: ''Kings Row'' (1942), Warner Brothers
After a protracted struggle to formulate a screenplay satisfactory to censors at the
Hays Office, Wood and Warner Brothers commenced to film
Henry Bellamann's grim and anti-nostalgic novel of American small-town life: ''
Kings Row''.
Wood's "discipline as a story-teller" was essential in conveying to the screen Kings Row "troubling message without sacrificing its integrity."
The high quality of Wood's directorial performance was augmented by three of Hollywood's finest professionals in their fields: Set designer
William Cameron Menzies, cinematographer
James Wong Howe
Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most sou ...
and composer
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, collectively creating a film of "classical proportions."
Biographer Tony Thomas offers this appraisal:
''The Pride of the Yankees'' (1942): Sam Goldwyn and RKO
When beloved baseball player
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...
of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
died, aged thirty-seven in 1941 of
ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...
, a fatal neuromuscular disorder, Wood determined that a film biography was in order. The career of the "modest and likable" Gehrig spanned 17 years (1923-1939), during which he played more than two thousand consecutive games.
Though idolized by his fans, Wood met with resistance from studio executives to a project that was likely to appeal to only half of the American demographic: male sports fans. Wood, an ardent sports enthusiast, was able to sway producer Sam Goldwyn to sponsor the film, and they both agreed that the picture would be an "ideal vehicle" for Gary Cooper, "a kind of idealization of the American male", and significantly, under contract to Goldwyn, to whom Cooper owed one more film.
An avid outdoorsman, Cooper was virtually ignorant of baseball as a professional sport, but complied with his contract. Wood's encouragement and support for Cooper served to create a satisfactory portrayal of Gehrig, matching "the perfect actor with the perfect director" assuring the film's success.
While filming on set, Wood was initially dismayed at what at first appeared to be Cooper's inept acting. Upon reviewing the actual footage, Wood was relieved and pleased to discover that Cooper's "underplaying" translated effectively to the screen.
Cooper was nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for Best Actor, and the film earned nine more nominations, including Best Picture. ''The Pride of the Yankees'' remains "one of the best and most popular screen biographies as well as the quintessential baseball movie."
Even as Wood was filming ''Kings Row'' for Warner Brothers in 1941, he began working on his major project for Paramount: an adaption of novelist Ernest Hemingway's ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigne ...
''. Wood proceeded to shoot numerous landscape scenes in the High
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...
range before the cast for the movie had been selected. Production on the film was set aside when Wood made ''The Pride of the Yankees'' for Samuel Goldwyn, and only returned to ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' when that project was completed.
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943), Paramount Pictures
Wood's 1943 ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigne ...
'' was "the major project of
iscareer." Adapting
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
's
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
epic had a personal and political significance to Wood, identifying as he did with Hemingway's idealistic protagonist Robert Jordan and the
Republican cause for which he fought.
Paramount Pictures' casting of the doomed hero was a foregone conclusion, as the book's author, Hemingway, had his friend and actor
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...
in mind as Robert Jordan when he conceived the story. Cooper was conveniently already under contract with the studio and owed producer Sam Goldwyn one more film. Wood was obliged to complete
Pride of the Yankees
''The Pride of the Yankees'' is a 1942 American film produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Sam Wood, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who die ...
(1942) before could commit himself fully to ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', already under production since late 1941.
Wood favored ballet dancer and actress
Vera Zorina for the role of the young guerrilla fighter, Maria, an opinion that was at odds with Hemingway and as well as members of "Wood's own family." During shooting on location, Wood realized his error when Zorina did not take to the part, and
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary '' Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is ofte ...
, who had coveted the role, was auditioned after completing her role as Ilsa Lund in director
Michael Curtiz's ''
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
'' (1942), and winning "the coveted role."
Audiences and critics felt "the love interest was over-played" in ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' at the expense of clarifying the political issues that defined the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
: a brutal and violent struggle between
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
and
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...
forces.
Wood was undoubtedly disappointed when "the major project of his career" did not garner him an Academy Award nomination, an honor that was bestowed on his cinematographer
Ray Rennahan
Ray Rennahan, A.S.C. (May 1, 1896 – May 19, 1980) was a motion picture cinematographer.
Biography
For his work in films, he became one of the only six cinematographers to have a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the other five being Hask ...
, his set designer
William Cameron Menzies, musical director
Victor Young
Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor.
Biography
Young is commonly said to ...
and his four leading cast members, with
Katina Paxinou
Katina Paxinou ( gr, Κατίνα Παξινού; 17 December 1900– 22 February 1973) was a Greek film and stage actress.
She started her stage career in Greece in 1928 and was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of Greece in ...
winning Best Supporting Actor in her role as the revolutionary matron Pilar.
Filmed shortly after the United States entered World War II, the government placed wartime limits on Hollywood's access to new building materials. To obviate these restrictions, Wood chose to do most of the filming outdoors at the picturesque
Sonora Pass
Sonora Pass (el. 9,624 ft. / 2,933 m.) is a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada in California. It is the second-highest in California and in the Sierra Nevada. lower by 321 ft. (about 98 m.) than Tioga Pass to the south. State Route 108 ...
in the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...
range. Wood recalled the ordeal of filming ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'':
Though ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' did not achieve the critical success that Paramount had anticipated, Bergman and Cooper, who recognized the potential of their film pairing, followed Wood to Warner Brothers to star in a Western romance ''
Saratoga Trunk'' (1946).
''Saratoga Trunk'' (1943, released 1945), Warner Brothers
Warner Brothers sought to exploit the "exciting potential" of a
Bergman-
Cooper
Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to:
* Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels
Arts and entertainment
* Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads
* Cooper (video game character), in ...
pairing in
Saratoga Trunk (1945), an "expensive and lavish" production that did not live up to expectations. (The "
Trunk
Trunk may refer to:
Biology
* Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso
* Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure
* Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy
* Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant
Computing
* Trunk (software), in rev ...
" refers to the Saratoga Trunk Line, owned by a railway baron played by
John Warburton) Though filmed in early 1943, the picture was not given general release until early 1945, initially presented only to US servicemen stationed overseas during the
war.
Wood's direction of ''Saratoga Trunk'' lacked his characteristic celerity and its "languid" tempo earned the film only an "admirable but dull" rating by critics, despite its "rich production values." The director of Hollywood's
Production Code Administration
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
,
Joseph Breen registered some distaste for the characterization of Clio Dulaine (Ingrid Bergman) as a mixed-race (half-
Creole) courtesan who seeks matrimony with wealthy white gamblers and capitalists. The only acting Academy Award nomination went to British actress
Flora Robson, who wore
blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
makeup to portray the mulatto servant Angelique Buiton.
A commercial failure, ''Saratoga Trunk'' did not diminish the mutual esteem which Cooper and Wood held for one another. Their next feature was decidedly not of the epic-heroic proportions of their three previous collaborations, but a light comedy:
Casanova Brown
''Casanova Brown'' is a 1944 American comedy romantic film directed by Sam Wood, written by Nunnally Johnson, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Frank Morgan. The film had its world premiere in western France after the Allies had ...
.
Three Comedies: ''Casanova Brown'', ''Guest Wife'' and ''Heartbeat'': 1944-1946
Wood continued his collaboration with Cooper in a comedic vein after the delayed release of ''Saratoga Trunk'' with International Pictures' Casanova Brown (1944), a vehicle intended to appeal to female movie patrons. Cooper absconds with his own infant daughter from a maternity ward in order to prevent his former wife offering the child up for adoption. Wood's situation comedy was no more than a moderate success.
Wood followed with ''
Guest Wife'' (1946) starring
Claudette Colbert and RKO's ''
Heartbeat'' (1946) starring
Ginger Rogers.
A cinematic "trifle" largely carried by the virtues of star Colbert, ''Guest Wife'' also benefits from Wood's expert handling of his cast, "a talent in itself." Biographer Tony Thomas summarizes Wood's approach to controlling his actors:
Wood rejoined Ginger Rogers after their success in the romance ''
Kitty Foyle'' (1940) to film a remake of French director
Henri Decoin
Henri Decoin (18 March 1890 – 4 July 1969) was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 ...
's 1939 ''
Battement de coeur'', in ''Heartbeat''. The
Dickensian
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
theme features Rogers as an
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
-like character who enlists to serve the
Fagin-like figure (
Basil Rathbone
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
) as a pickpocket. The picture would have been better served is Wood possessed "the sly touch of a
Guitry or a
Lubitsch" rather than Wood's obvious humor.
A "Gaslight Noir": ''Ivy'' (1947), Universal-International Pictures
Based on a short story by
Marie Belloc Lowndes set during
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
's
Edwardian era
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Vic ...
, this 1947 melodrama is considered by some critics, but not universally, to be "a minor cinematic masterpiece." Wood's crime-noir stars
Joan Fontaine as the "ruthless" and scheming social climber whose homicidal deed leads to her sordid demise.
''Ivy'' was essentially a collaborative effort between director Wood and producer and renowned set designer
William Cameron Menzies, who also served as producer on the picture. Wood and Menzies had worked splendidly on a number of projects including ''
Gone with the Wind'' (1939), ''
Our Town
''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 thr ...
'' (1940) and ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigne ...
'' (1943). The fine rendering of the British upper-class milieu is attributed largely to the uncredited Menzies, although screen credit went to
Richard H. Riedel.
[Thomas, 1974 p. 169]
Photographed "lovingly" by cameraman
Russell Metty, Fontaine's
Orry-Kelly
Orry-Kelly was the professional name of Orry George Kelly (31 December 1897 – 27 February 1964), an Australian-American Hollywood costume designer. Until being overtaken by Catherine Martin in 2014, he was the most prolific Australian-b ...
wardrobe reduced the actress to a "gorgeous artifact" and she complained later that director Wood neglected to develop the potential dramatic complexities of her character.
Biographer Tony Thomas sums of Wood's directorial effort on ''Ivy'':
''Command Decision'' (1949), M-G-M
An adaption of the
William Wister Haines World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
drama published in 1947, Wood's portrayal of the "anguish of wartime aviation command" is "unembellished" by any combat footage and shows fidelity to the
novel of the same name.
The film's depictions of the military establishment during wartime balances "the devious expediency and opportunism" inherent to high command with "the heroism and heartfelt concern among various militarists and politicians." The film's scenario offered Wood the ideal platform on which to demonstrate his "thoroughly masculine and no-nonsense style of filmmaking" delivered by an all-male cast who represented officers and men from the
U.S. Army Eighth Army Air Corps, played by
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
,
Van Johnson
Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II.
Johnson was described as the embodiment ...
,
Walter Pidgeon,
Brian Donlevy
Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are ''Beau Geste'' (193 ...
and
Charles Bickford. Biographer Tony Thomas describes the picture as "fairly honest in revealing the almost dehumanizing function of operating a modern war machine."
A key sequence from the film, developed specifically for Clark Gable (who served as an air force combat officer during the war) and well-executed by Wood, portrays his character, Brigadier General K.C. Dennis, in his dramatic "
talking down" of a crippled
Flying Fortress attempting to land.
Sports biography redux: ''The Stratton Story'' (1949), M-G-M
Wood returned to his sports ''métier'' when he was tasked with directing the story of
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
major league pitcher
Monty Stratton
Monty Franklin Pierce Stratton (May 21, 1912 – September 29, 1982) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was born in Palacios, Texas (some sources state Wagner, Texas) and lived in Greenville, Texas, for part of his life. ...
. One of baseball's youngest and foremost pitchers, Stratton lost a leg to amputation after a hunting accident at age of twenty-six. Director Wood expertly recounted the athlete's struggle to adapt to the use of a prosthetic and return to professional baseball in the minor leagues. An inherently "maudlin" tale, Wood presented the events without succumbing to sentimentality: "it told a true story, and kept to the facts…"
Actors
Van Johnson
Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II.
Johnson was described as the embodiment ...
and
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
were considered for the role of Monty Stratton, but M-G-M settled on
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
, the actor Stratton himself felt would portray his life most effectively.
Contrary to conventional wisdom among Hollywood studio executives that sports features were "box-office poison", ''The Stratton Story'' was "the sixth-biggest theatrical draw of 1949 and Stewart's first ''bona fide'' hit since his return from World War II."
''Ambush'' (1950), M-G-M
Sam Wood's directorial
swan song
The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...
was the adventure Western ''
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind moun ...
'', filmed in 1949 and released in 1950 after Wood's unexpected death from a heart attack. A "Grade A" M-G-M production, it starred
Robert Taylor as a hardened US Army
Indian fighter and companion
John Hodiak and adversary
Chief Thundercloud
Victor Daniels (April 12, 1899 – December 1, 1955), known professionally as Chief Thundercloud, was an American character actor in Westerns. He is noted for being the first actor to play the role of Tonto, the Lone Ranger's Native-American c ...
:
When Wood was arranging a production of ''
No Sad Songs for Me'', a
Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actress.
Sullavan began her career onstage in 1929 with the University Players. In 1933, she caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl and had ...
vehicle for
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, he was suddenly stricken by a heart attack on September 22, 1949, and died a few hours later in hospital.
[Thomas, 1974 p. 172-173]
Political beliefs
Wood became a committed and ardent Anti-Communist in the years that saw the rise of
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
in the late 1940s. Wood first exhibited this political perspective In 1943, when he reduced much of the anti-fascist content of ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', saying "It would be the same love story if they were on the other side." In 1944, he founded and served as the first president of the
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, an organization that was "dedicated to seeking out and expelling those people it considered traitorous to American interests."
[Friedrich, Otto, City of Nets, Harper & Row, 1986, pg. 167-168]
The organization, "formed of management and labor in the film industry," quietly lobbied the
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, create ...
to examine purported Communist elements in the movie industry, which they did in 1947. Wood had been keeping a black notebook in which he wrote the names of those he considered subversive. His daughter Jeane Wood said that his crusade "transformed Dad into a snarling, unreasoning brute." There was nothing in Wood's personal and professional demeanor during the course of his long career that anticipated the intensity of his anti-Communist rage which "disappointed some of his friends and greatly concerned his family."
Shortly following a 1949 meeting of his Motion Picture Alliance in which he had protested against a liberal screenwriter who was suing the group for slandering him, Wood suffered a fatal heart attack. He had added a condition to his will: No one, including his children, could collect their inheritance until they filed a legal affidavit affirming that they had never been Communists. Wood's daughter and actress,
K.T. Stevens made these observations about her father's demise:
Death
Wood died from a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
, in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
, at the age of 66. His grave is located in
Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Wood received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
at 6714
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...
on February 8, 1960.
Biographer Tony Thomas provides this eulogy:
Depictions
Wood is played by
John Getz in
Jay Roach
Mathew Jay Roach (born June 14, 1957) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Austin Powers'' film series, '' Meet the Parents'', '' Dinner for Schmucks'', '' The Campaign'', '' Trumbo'', and '' Bombshell''.
Roach also e ...
's ''
Trumbo''.
Filmography
Silent Era
With Academy Award nominations and wins in the table
* ''
Double Speed
''Double Speed'' is a lost 1920 American silent comedy-drama film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was the debut directorial effort of Sam Wood and starred Wallace Reid in another of his racing car films ...
'' (1920)
* ''
Excuse My Dust'' (1920)
* ''
The Dancin' Fool
''The Dancin' Fool'' is a surviving 1920 American silent romantic comedy film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Sam Wood directed this one of his earliest efforts. Wallace Reid and Bebe Daniels star, at th ...
'' (1920)
* ''
Sick Abed
''Sick Abed'' is a 1920 silent comedy film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures/Artcraft, an affiliate of Paramount. It was directed by Sam Wood and stars matinee idol Wallace Reid. It is based on a 1918 Broadw ...
'' (1920)
* ''
What's Your Hurry?'' (1920)
* ''
A City Sparrow'' (1920)
* ''
Her Beloved Villain'' (1920)
* ''
Her First Elopement
''Her First Elopement'' is a 1920 American drama film directed by Sam Wood and written by Edith M. Kennedy. It is based on the 1915 novel ''Her First Elopement'' by Alice Duer Miller. The film stars Wanda Hawley, Jerome Patrick, Nell Craig, Luc ...
'' (1920)
* ''
The Snob'' (1921)
* ''
Peck's Bad Boy'' (1921)
* ''
The Outside Woman'' (1921)
* ''
The Great Moment'' (1921)
* ''
Under the Lash'' (1921)
* ''
Don't Tell Everything
''Don't Tell Everything'' is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson and Wallace Reid. Wood apparently created this film in part from outtakes left over from Cecil DeMille's ''The Affairs of Anato ...
'' (1921)
* ''
Her Husband's Trademark
''Her Husband's Trademark'' is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson and Richard Wayne. Produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film was shot on location in El ...
'' (1922)
* ''
Her Gilded Cage
''Her Gilded Cage'' is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was based on the play ''The Love Dreams'' by Elmer Harris and Anne Nichols.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, in or ...
'' (1922)
* ''
Beyond the Rocks'' (1922)
* ''
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
''The Impossible Mrs. Bellew'' is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. The film is based on the 1916 novel of the same name by David Lisle.
Plot
As described in a film magazine review, Lance Bel ...
'' (1922)
* ''
My American Wife'' (1922)
* ''
Prodigal Daughters'' (1923)
* ''
Bluebeard's 8th Wife'' (1923)
* ''
His Children's Children'' (1923)
* ''
The Next Corner'' (1924)
* ''
Bluff'' (1924)
* ''
The Female'' (1924)
* ''
The Mine with the Iron Door'' (1924)
* ''
The Re-Creation of Brian Kent'' (1925)
* ''
Fascinating Youth
''Fascinating Youth'' is a 1926 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Sam Wood. It starred Charles "Buddy" Rogers (in his feature debut), along with Thelma Todd and Josephine Dunn in supporting roles. Many well-known personalities ...
'' (1926)
* ''
One Minute to Play'' (1926)
* ''
Rookies (1927 film)'' (1927)
* ''
A Racing Romeo'' (1927)
* ''
The Fair Co-Ed'' (1927)
* ''
The Latest from Paris'' (1928)
* ''
Telling the World'' (1928)
* ''
So This Is College'' (1929)
* ''
It's a Great Life'' (1929)
Sound Era
Footnotes
References
*Barson, Michael. 2014. ''Sam Wood: American Director.'
Sam Wood , American director Retrieved 28 September 2020.
*Baxter, John. 1970. ''Hollywood in the Thirties''. International Film Guide Series. Paperback Library, New York. LOC Card Number 68-24003.
*Baxter, John. 1976. ''King Vidor''. Simon & Schuster, Inc. Monarch Film Studies. LOC Card Number 75-23544.
*
Durgnat, Raymond and Simmon, Scott. 1988. ''King Vidor, American.'' University of California Press, Berkeley.
*Feaster, Felicia. TMC. ''Kitty Foyle (1940)'' Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 20 September 2020.
*Feaster, Felicia. TMC. ''Saratoga Truck (1946)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 22 September 2020.
*Fristoe, Roger. TMC. ''Our Town (1940)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 20 September 2020.
*Fristoe, Roger. TMC. ''Ivy (1947)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 22 September 2020.
*LoBianco, Lorraine. TMC. ''Way for a Sailor (1930)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 20 September 2020.
*LoBianco, Lorraine. TMC. ''JOAN CRAWFORD PROFILE''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 21 September 2020.
*Nixon, Rob. TMC. ''The Pride of the Yankees (1943).'' Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 22 September 2020.
*Nixon, Rob. TMC. ''Ambush (1950)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 23 September 2020.
*Steffen, James. TMC. ''The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)'' Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 21 September 2020.
*Steinberg, Jay. TMC. ''The Stratton Story (1949)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 23 September 2020.
*Swanson, Gloria. 1980. ''Swanson on Swanson''. Random House, New York.
*Thomas, Tony. 1974. ''The Hollywood Professional Volume 2: Henry King, Lewis Milestone, Sam Wood.'' The Tanvity Press.
*Wood, Bret. TMC. ''Kings Row (1942)''. Turner Classic Movies
Retrieved 20 September 2020.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Sam
1880s births
1949 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
American anti-communists
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male silent film actors
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Businesspeople from Philadelphia
Film directors from Pennsylvania
Film producers from Pennsylvania
Male actors from Philadelphia
Screenwriters from Pennsylvania