''Plymouth Adventure'' is a 1952 American

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

with an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

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 Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the ...

Gene Tierney Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920November 6, 1991) was an American stage and film actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, Tierney was a prominent Leading actor, leading lady during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. Sh ...

, Van Johnson and Leo Genn, made by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, directed by

Clarence Brown Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director. Early life Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when h ...

, and produced by Dore Schary. The

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

was adapted by Helen Deutsch from the 1950 novel ''The Voyage of the Mayflower'' by Ernest Gébler. The supporting cast includes Barry Jones,

Dawn Addams Victoria Dawn Addams (21 September 1930 – 7 May 1985) was a British actress, particularly in Hollywood motion pictures of the 1950s and on British television in the 1960s and 1970s. She became a princess in 1954 (until 1971). Early years Ad ...

, Lloyd Bridges and John Dehner. This was veteran director Brown's final film.

Plot

The film tells a fictionalized version of the Pilgrims' voyage across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

aboard the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

''. During the long sea voyage, Capt. Christopher Jones falls in love with Dorothy Bradford, the wife of William Bradford. The love triangle is resolved in a tragic way at the film's conclusion. Ship's carpenter John Alden — said to be the first person to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620 — catches the eye of Priscilla Mullins, one of the young Pilgrims following William Bradford. Alden ultimately wins Priscilla in another, if subtler, triangle with Miles Standish.

Cast

as Christopher Jones *

as Dorothy Bradford * Van Johnson as John Alden * Leo Genn as William Bradford * Barry Jones as William Brewster *

as Priscilla Mullins * Lloyd Bridges as First Mate Coppin * Noel Drayton as Miles Standish * John Dehner as Gilbert Winslow * Tommy Ivo as William Butten * Lowell Gilmore as

Edward Winslow Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a English Separatist, Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both ...

Paul Cavanagh William Grigs Atkinson (8 December 1888 – 15 March 1964), known professionally as Paul Cavanagh, was an English film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1928 and 1959. Life and career Cavanagh was born in Felling ...

as Governor John Carver ''(uncredited)'' * Don Dillaway as Stephen Hopkins ''(uncredited)'' * Elizabeth Flournoy as Rose Standish ''(uncredited)'' * Ivis Goulding as Alice Mullins ''(uncredited)'' * Harvey M. Guzik as Oceanus Hopkins ''(uncredited)'' * Elizabeth Harrower as Elizabeth Hopkins ''(uncredited)'' * Kathleen Lockhart as Mary Brewster ''(uncredited)'' * Murray Matheson as Christopher Martin ''(uncredited)'' * Matt Moore as William Mullins ''(uncredited)'' * Hugh Pryne as Samuel Fuller ''(uncredited)'' * John Sherman as John Billington ''(uncredited)'' * Rhys Williams as Mr.

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

''(uncredited)''

Production

Schary said at the time "I don't think that historical era has been done properly on screen before because the people were too soft. The pilgrims had to be tough and lusty to accomplish what they did. So that's the kind we cast in the film."

Reception

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,909,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,116,000 elsewhere; but, because of its high cost, ended up incurring a loss of $1,856,000. Major film reviewers in newspapers and magazines tended to praise the film's production values, while noting to different degrees performances and lapses in historical accuracy.A bibliography of contemporary reviews, some of them annotated, can be found a
Reel American History
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Awards and honors

The picture won the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for Best Effects. The actual model of the Mayflower ship from the movie is on display at the Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood restaurant in

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the "Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. Its ...

. The model was purchased in an auction in the mid-1980s.

References

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Plymouth Adventure 1952 films 1950s historical drama films American historical drama films American films based on actual events Films based on Irish novels Films directed by Clarence Brown Films set in 1620 Films set in Massachusetts Films set in the Thirteen Colonies Films set in England Films that won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award Mayflower Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Sea adventure films Films scored by Miklós Rózsa 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language historical drama films