''The Power and the Glory'' is a 1933

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

film starring

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 ...

and

Colleen Moore Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...

, written by

Preston Sturges Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film '' The Great McGinty'' (1940), h ...

, and directed by William K. Howard. The picture's screenplay was Sturges' first script, which he delivered complete in the form of a finished shooting script, for which he received $17,500 ($ today) and a percentage of the profits. Profit-sharing arrangements, now a common practice in Hollywood, were then unusual and gained Sturges much attention. The film, told through flashbacks, was cited by

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

in her essay "

Raising Kane "Raising Kane" is a 1971 book-length essay by American film critic Pauline Kael, in which she revived controversy over the authorship of the screenplay for the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane''. Kael celebrated screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, first-c ...

", as a prototype for the narrative structure of ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...

'' (1941). (Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who along with

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, f ...

of ''Citizen Kane'', was a friend of Sturges.) ''The Power and the Glory'' was loosely based by Sturges on the life of C. W. Post, his second wife's grandfather, who founded the

Postum Cereal Company Post Consumer Brands (previously Post Cereals and Postum Cereals; also known as simply "Post") is an American breakfast cereal manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota. The company, founded in 1895 by C. W. Post, owns a large portfoli ...

, which later became

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

. Like Tom Garner, the lead character of the film, Post worked his way up from the bottom, and ended his own life. Otherwise, according to Sturges, their lives did not correspond. In 2014, ''The Power and the Glory'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

and selected for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

. The film's copyright was renewed. The film is unrelated to the 1940

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

of the same title by

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

Premise

After the funeral service for Tom Garner (

), a powerful and much-hated railroad tycoon who committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

, his best friend Henry ( Ralph Morgan) recalls Garner's life, his family problems, and his rise from track walker to president of the railroad.

Cast

as Tom Garner *

as Sally Garner * Ralph Morgan as Henry *

Helen Vinson Helen Vinson (born Helen Rulfs, September 17, 1907 – October 7, 1999) was an American film actress who appeared in 40 films between 1932 and 1945. Early life Vinson was born in Beaumont, Texas, the daughter of oil man Edward Rulfs. She de ...

as Eve Borden * Phillip Trent as Tom Garner, Jr. *

Henry Kolker Joseph Henry Kolker (November 13, 1874 ome sources 1870– July 15, 1947) was an American stage and film actor and director. Early years Kolker was born in Quincy, Illinois. Career Kolker, like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Wa ...

as Mr. Borden *

J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...

as Mulligan *

Sarah Padden Sarah Ann Padden (16 October 1881 – 4 December 1967) was an English-born American theatre and film character actress. She performed on stage in the early 20th century. Her best-known single-act performance was in ''The Clod'', a stage pr ...

as Henry's Wife *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the televi ...

as Young Member – Board of Directors (uncredited) * Edward LeSaint as Doctor (uncredited) * Russell Simpson as College Professor (uncredited) *

Robert Warwick Robert Warwick (born Robert Taylor Bien, October 9, 1878 – June 6, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introduction ...

as Edward (uncredited) ;Cast notes *The cast includes four actors who had been film directors during the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

era:

Phillips Smalley Wendell Phillips Smalley (August 7, 1865 – May 2, 1939) was an American silent film director and actor. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was the grandson of Wendell Phillips; he was the son of George Washburn Smalley, a war corres ...

, E. H. Calvert,

Frank Beal Frank Beal (September 11, 1862 – December 20, 1934) was an American actor and film director of the silent film era. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1862, Beal began acting in 1880 and gained fame as a director and an actor. In 1908, ...

and

Tom Ricketts Thomas B. Ricketts (15 January 1853 – 19 January 1939) was an English-born American stage actor, stage and motion picture, film actor and film director, director who was a pioneer in the film industry. He portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the fi ...

.TCM Notes ''The Power and the Glory''
/ref> *Some 400 extras were used in the railroad roundhouse scene.

Production

Sturges originally wrote the script as a freelance project after being let go by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. He told the story to producer Jesse L. Lasky, who had his own unit at

Fox Film The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

, and requested a treatment. Sturges refused to do a treatment, and instead delivered a finished shooting script, which Lasky said was "the most perfect script I'd ever seen", with nothing that needed to be trimmed. Sturges offered the script to Lasky for $62,475, but Lasky instead structured a deal in which Sturges got $17,500 upon signing, 3% of the first $500,000 in receipts, 5% of the next $500,000, and 7% of all receipts over $1,000,000. Such a percentage deal was highly unusual at that time, and caused an uproar among producers and writers. Both director William K. Howard and Spencer Tracy were supposed to have worked on ''

Marie Galante Marie-Galante ( gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Mawigalant) is one of the islands that form Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. Marie-Galante has a land area of . It had 11,528 inhabitants at the start of 2013, but by the start of 2018 th ...

'', but when it was postponed, they were transferred to ''The Power and the Glory''.

Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other gen ...

and

Mary Astor Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...

were both considered for the part of Sally Garner, played by Colleen Moore. Moore was lent to Fox by MGM, as was

, and had not appeared in a film since 1929. The film was in production from 23 March to late April 1933, with some re-shooting in June 1933.TC
Overview
/ref> It had originally been set to begin in late February 1933, but was postponed several times. Location shooting took place at the Hasson station beyond the

Santa Susana Pass The Santa Susana Pass, originally Simi Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Simi Hills of Southern California, connecting the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles neighborhood of Chatsworth, to the city of Simi Valley and eponymous valley. It h ...

, using the largest locomotive in the west, leased from the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

; and at the Iverson Movie Ranch in

Chatsworth, California Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area was home to Native Americans, some of whom left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish b ...

. During filming, Sturges served as the dialogue director, working with the actors much as he had done in stage rehearsals as a playwright. The Power of the Glory (poster detail -

The film was previewed in Los Angeles on 17 June 1933, and after objections from the

Hays Office The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

about the sexual nature of the relationship between a stepmother (Eve Borden) and her stepson (Tom Garner Jr.), some re-editing was done. When this did not satisfy the censors, reshooting and more extensive re-editing was done to alleviate their concerns. The film was premiered in New York City on 16 August 1933 at the Gaiety Theatre, and was generally released on 6 October of that year. Fox coined the word "narratage" to describe the non-chronological narration of the story.

Response

Although the film was well received by critics, and Spencer Tracy's performance was especially praised, the film was not successful at the box office, except in New York City. The film was a box office disappointment for Fox. By the end of 1940, it had grossed a little over $500,000, which meant that Sturges had received only about $2,000 over his advance. By 1957, it had grossed around $1 million. Sturges' innovative narrative structure was singled out by critics, and the praise was so great, the studio put a bronze plaque up on the New York movie theater where it had its world premiere. The bronze tablet hailed ''The Power and the Glory'' as "the first motion picture in which narratage was used as a method of telling a dramatic story." Sturges' screenplay was widely praised. It was published in book form in 1934, and he received the 1933 ''Hollywood Reporter'' Award of Merit for Best Original Story. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds a rating of 86% from 42 reviews.

Temporarily lost film

When film critic

wrote "Raising Kane", her 1971 ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...

'' article on the genesis of ''Citizen Kane'', ''The Power and the Glory'' was virtually a "

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

". After writing about how

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 ...

had praised the movie back in 1933 by putting up a bronze plaque on the New York movie theater where it had its premiere, she chided the movie industry for failing to preserve it. "Hollywood, big on ballyhoo but short on real self-respect, failed to transfer the nitrate negative to safety stock, and modern prints of ''The Power and the Glory'' are tattered remnants." The movie was later restored and is now complete.

References

External links

*''The Power and the Glory'' essa

by Aubrey Solomon at National Film Registry * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Power And The Glory, The 1933 films 1933 drama films Fox Film films American drama films American black-and-white films Films directed by William K. Howard Films about suicide United States National Film Registry films Films with screenplays by Preston Sturges 1930s English-language films 1930s American films